I be downloadin' the Rush one for sure!
The Super-Duper Ultra-Zesty Guided By Voices Introductory Compilation From Planet Cool (You Love It)
link
If you go by Last.fm scrobbles, Guided By Voices are far and away my favourite band ever.
It was very arduous narrowing it down to an honest and accessible thirteen tracks, as I believe this band are best heard in one sitting, many times over, preferably whilst playing
Mario Kart Double Dash on the Gamecube.
Robert Pollard was great at writing hooks and seemed to have melodic A.D.D.; and GBV, like all the finest rock bands (the Fall), are the definition of 'a grower'. For this reason I mainly just incorporated the most immediate tracks - the ones that sink their hooks in and kept me listening through the initial period of uncertainty.
When GBV first garnered press attention none of them were young hipsters on the cusp of some 'movement', indeed Pollard was married with kids and a schoolteacher of 14 years. There was a complete lack of pretension about them, always existing somehow outside the indie-journo 'lo-fi' agenda despite pretty much defining it. They just wrote great songs and had fun, and somehow the content was characterized and emoted by the form. The flaws become virtues.
All these tracks are from the pre-'clean' studio era ('97/'98 onwards) and include fan favourites as well as some more obscure choices.
1. Over the Neptune/ Mesh Gear Fox
2. Chicken Blows
3. We've Got Airplanes
4. Buzzards And Dreadful Crows
5. (Some Drinking Implied)
6. To Remake The Young Flyer
7. Game Of Pricks
8. Echos Myron
9. I Certainly Hope Not
10. The Key Losers
11. I Am A Scientist
12. Postal Blowfish
13. I'm Cold