The best way to approach this Guided by Voices album is to hear it in a dive bar. “A Salty Salute” is a call to arms to hit the pub. “Pimple Zoo” is for those days when you’re annoying the bartender. “My Valuable Hunting Knife” is a talk you have with a stranger by the counter after the third pint.
Every song fits one of the following contexts:
- I want a beer;
- I’m holding a beer;
- I had too many beers;
It’s drunk talk that speaks volumes, enough to fill up a stadium and impossible to ignore. A nonstop influx of tales from bar regulars and their craves and concerns. You’ll know all the lyrics by the time the record is over.
I usually think of concerts as contemplative moments, but if Guided by Voices ever returns to Montréal, I’ll be in the front row holding my beer can high and singing along:
Fools and kings decide
Ways to live your life
This is just the way we want to be
