In the 1990s, Guided by Voices were like a mythic one-legged Third World distance runner who miraculously overcomes adversity to win a medal. Despite manifest deficits – lousy sound quality, half-finished songs, titles like “Kicker of Elves” – their albums were tune orgies, suggesting Cheap Trick getting Schlitzed in a Midwestern rec room. The band’s first since 2004 is no different. Robert Pollard and Tobin Sprout toss off minute-long power-pop goofs that make intermittent blasts of real-rock transcendence – like "The Unsinkable Fats Domino," a riff-hammering tribute full of collegial affection – feel all the more striking. GBV are unsinkable too.  

Listen to "The Unsinkable Fats Domino":

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“Is It True”

As the British Invasion reached its peak in 1964, Brenda Lee went from Nashville to London to record one of her hardest-rocking hits, her perky vocal backed by a stuttering, squalling guitar. That guitar was played by session musician Jimmy Page, yet to skyrocket to fame with first the Yardbirds and then Led Zeppelin. "She said to me, 'I've come here to make a record with the British sound,'" remembered producer Mickie Most. "She felt she wouldn't get the same sound in Nashville because they're only just catching up on the British beat group sound of about six months ago."