May 31, 2002

Guided By Voices : Everywhere With Helicopter

...if you haven't already tuned in, it's time to drop by...

Taken from Guided By Voices' 978th album, this single is another amazing
testament to Bob Pollard's enduring songwriting gifts. Admittedly, it's
difficult not to think of GBV's hyper-prolific mainman as a rock
"character", like some old man memorising the phone book in the corner
of your local pub, yet his ability to turn out endlessly brilliant songs
called things like ‘He Is Orc Food' and ‘Truckstop Error Continuum' ensures "hero" comes first on his CV.

‘Everywhere With Helicopter' is another mysterious GBV hieroglyph, an ectoplasmic smudge of a song sticky with Pollard's McCartneyesque keen and channelling psyche-pop attitude. American rock would be immeasurably poorer without Guided By Voices- if you haven't already tuned in, it's time to drop by.

Victoria Segal