I Am a Scientist

n Guided by Voices' 1994 release, Bee Thousand, the group created their masterpiece, combining '60s British Invasion pop with lo-fi production, and helped confirm that Robert Pollard is one of today's top songwriters. Deservedly, it also turned out to be their most popular and critically acclaimed album up to that point. Soon after, rumors began circulating among Guided by Voices fans that there was an abundance of unreleased material from the Bee Thousand recording sessions, and the rumors turned out to be right. The majority of the leftover tracks would later turn up on the 1995 box set Box, coming close to filling up an entire disc on their own. But four remaining tracks from those same sessions reside on the I Am a Scientist EP, and are unavailable anywhere else. It's here you'll find a live and more rocking alternate take of the classic "I Am a Scientist," which is unfortunately one of the more overlooked alternative anthems from the '90s. The remaining three songs are very short ("Curses of the Black Ass Buffalo" and "Planet's Own Brand" barely stretch over the one-minute mark, and "Do the Earth" lasts for more than two minutes), but are still worthwhile to fans of Pollard's imaginative songwriting. This also proved to be one of the last releases by the original GbV lineup (they were replaced by the members of Cobra Verde). ~ Greg Prato|