Rise

Formats

• ---

  FIRECD294CD  £12.00

• ---

  FIRELP294Long Player  £15.00

Label

Fire Records

Guided By Voices

English Little League

*** Free bonus disc with initial orders ***

English Little League-the fourth album from the reunited "classic" line-up of Robert Pollard, Tobin Sprout, Greg Demos, Mitch Mitchell and Kevin Fennell-hums like angry birds along the full spectrum of rock's highways and byways (especially the byways), from rock to roll and back again. Pollard's rebus system of songwriting (sounds made visible, abstract concepts symbolized) strung like fairy lights from the opening song "Xeno Pariah" to the galvanic closer "With Glass In Foot," kettles along at full steam throughout, punctuated by the airier constructs of Tobin Sprout ("The Sudden Death of Epstein's Ways," with it's sweet/creepy emphatic refrain of "Jesus," is a particular standout). Deeper and less immediately accessible than last year's Class Clown Spots a UFO (for instance), but no less richly striated with layers of musical goo, this album is as much the work of a guild of master craftsmen as of a singular visionary genius. ELL (fookin' 'ell!) travels from hieroglyphic to hieratic smoother than a pharaoh's cartouche, and if the quadratic equation that runs through the middle of the record from "Crybaby Four Star Hotel" to "Birds" doesn't solve every problem in your life then you've got actual problems.

The Guided By Voices project, as any fan knows, both requires and rewards effortful listening, and lazybones who dismiss the volume of Pollard's output as (basically) impossible misunderstand the care with which he assembles his dreamscapes. Whiny types will thus be dismayed to learn that Pollard has recently installed a studio in his house (first fruits can be found on "A Burning Glass," among others here), the better to transform his oneiric musings to immediate art, but converts to the clubhouse will be overcome-some will in fact faint-at the news.

We will be giving away a free bonus cd with A collection of b-sides taken from the singles released ahead of the new Guided By Voices album English Little League. Jellypop Smiles from Flunk Minnows; She Wore Blue and Green and Full Framed Luberon from Island (She Talks In Rainbows); Build A Bigger Iceberg from Trashcan Full Of Nails; Little Jimmy The Giant from Xeno Pariah; Waves of Gray and See You Soon from Noble Insect. Tracks : 1 Jellypop Smiles (R. Pollard) 2 She Wore Blue and Green (T. Sprout) 3 Full Framed Luberon (R. Pollard) 4 Build A Bigger Iceberg (T. Sprout) 5 Little Jimmy The Giant (R. Pollard) 6 Waves of Gray (T. Sprout) 7 See You Soon (R. Pollard).

Tracklist

• 1"Xeno Pariah"
  2"Know Me As Heavy"
  3"Island (She Talks In Rainbows)"
  4"Trash Can Full Of Nails"
  5"Send To Celeste (And The Cosmic Athletes)"
  6"Quiet Game"
  7"Noble Insect"
  8"Sir Garlic Breath"
  9"Crybaby 4-Star Hotel"
  10"Biopgrapher Seahorse"
  11"Flunky Minnows"
  12"Birds "
  13"The Sudden Death Of Epstein's Ways"
  14"Reflections In A Metal Whistle"
  15"Taciturn Caves"
  16"A Burning Glass"
  17"W/ Glass In Foot"