Alien Lanes: 25th Anniversary Edition＜Blue&Green&Red Multicolored Vinyl/数量限定盤＞

US・オハイオのインディーロック・レジェンド!
ガイデッド・バイ・ヴォイシズ〈Matador〉移籍1作目が発売25周年記念カラー・ヴァイナルでリイシュー!!

1983年に当時学校教師だったロバート・ポラードを中心に結成されたバンド、ガイデッド・バイ・ヴォイシズによる〈Matador〉移籍後第1弾作品として1995年にリリーされたアルバム『Alien Lanes』が発売25周年を記念して数量限定カラー・ヴァイナルでリイシュー。

ソングライター兼フロントマンのボブ・ポラードによる抽象的かつ叙情的な詩によって楽曲の強みが全体を通して表現される本作は、ロックンロールのアルバムという概念を根本的に変えた革新的な作品。

「Game of Pricks」「Closer You Are」のような威勢の良いクラシック・ロックサウンドから、「My Valuable Hunting Knife」「Motor Away」のアンセミックなパワー・ポップ、パンク・サウンドが詰まった「Pimple Zoo」「My Son Cool」、サイケデリックな実験的楽曲「Ex-Supermodel」「Alright」、そしてテープがねじれたような異色なバラード・ソング「King And Caroline」「Blimps Go 90」「Chicken Blows」まで、驚くべきほどの知性と感情とともに現在でも傑作として語り継がれてる。

今回のリイシューはアルバムのアートワークに登場するマルチカラーのドラムヘッドにインスパイアされた、ブルー、グリーン、レッドのマルチカラー・ヴァイナル仕様でのリリースとなる。

It's surprising what a difference it makes when a musician knows someone will actually be hearing his work. After 1994's charmingly sloppy Bee Thousand gained Guided By Voices a nationwide cult following (instead of the local cult following they were accustomed to), 1995's Alien Lanes found Robert Pollard and his partners in hard pop cleaning up their act a bit. For the most part, Alien Lanes isn't radically different from Bee Thousand -- it was primarily recorded on a four-track cassette machine (and sounds like it), and Guided By Voices was still a garage band with more in the way of inspiration than chops. But the musicians have put a bit more care and focus into their performance on this set; the playing is tighter and sharper, and the band plays toward their strengths, pushing their occasional sloppiness into a harder, more rock-oriented direction. And if Pollard and Tobin Sprout were still obsessed with tiny fragments of pop song wonderment, they also rounded up a more consistent collection of them; there aren't quite as many obvious masterpieces as on Bee Thousand, but also fewer obvious mistakes, and the sequencing gives the album a more consistent flow than before. Pollard also made genuine inroads into more lyrically cognizant material (though don't fret, "Auditorium" and "Blimps Go 90" are as cryptic as ever), and "Watch Me Jumpstart," "Striped White Jets," and "Motor Away" are simply superb pop/rock songs. (Sprout also gets a few shining moments on "A Good Flying Bird" and "Straw Dogs.") Both Bee Thousand and Alien Lanes sound like they were made by a band of inspired amateurs with great ideas; the difference is that Alien Lanes suggests that Guided By Voices wanted to prove that they could turn pro some day. ~ Mark Deming