bee thousand

Guided By Voices were better than ever with the incurable basement belief of these lo-fi lessons and true pop confessions (or something like that). The Dayton group had formed in 1983 and began making their own records in limited pressings ('Devil Between My Toes' on Shwa, 'Sandbox' on Halo, 'Self-Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia' on Halo, and 'Same Place the Fly Got Smashed' on Rocket #9) until 'Propeller' and 'Vampire on Titus' (in between which they had actually broken up) gained them an audience outside of Ohio.   For their next album, the prolific Robert Pollard reached back into his back catalogue of songs and the band recorded demos on four track machines in various garages and basements around Dayton.  Many of the performances were spontaneous and included recording errors.  The working titles for 'Bee Thousand' were 'All That Glue' and 'Instructions for the Rusty Time Machine'.  The raw recordings were finished in three days and featured Robert Pollard on vocals, guitar, and other instruments;  Jim Pollard on bass guitar and feedback;  Tobin Sprout on bass guitar, guitar, piano, and other instruments;  Mitch Mitchell on guitar;  and Don Thrasher on drums and percussion;  with Dan Toohey and Greg Demos on bass guitar; Kevin Fennell on drums and percussion;  and Randy Campbell on backing vocals. 

Robert Pollard reflects:    "Most record stores wouldn't have those [early] records. There was even a label guy who put our first record out -- his label was called I Wanna Records -- Rev Cool, he called himself. When we made our first record, we didn't even have a label, so we put his label on our record. He got all pissed off about it. Then he did a compilation record of all the bands that were on his label, and he didn't put us on there. Now he's kicking himself in the ass, because he'd probably be getting a lot of money from those records.  But anyway, most record stores wouldn't even put our records in the store. Then a friend of mine, Greg Demos, who was actually playing bass, not only did he take them to record stores but he actually started sending them out for review. We started getting some pretty good reviews on some of those early records. We got a good review in Spin, a "Spin Underground" thing. But I just totally said, "I'm not going to do anything with this stuff... I'm afraid" [laughs]. I was, like [whispers], "we suck." [Laughs] I thought we did suck. Maybe we did suck. I was really afraid of big cities like New York and Cleveland, because those were the rock and roll towns. I thought if Cleveland and New York heard our stuff, we'd be laughed off the planet. I really did, that's why I didn't send anything out. But critics seem to like us. We have a story [laughs] ... I have an addiction to songwriting. You know, there are people who like to play softball all the time, or basketball, or darts, or whatever. I like to write songs, so when I'm here at home, I get up in the morning and make myself some coffee, and I just get my guitar and turn on my tape recorder. I really love to write songs. Another reason is that I'm bored with music for some reason. I don't know what it is. I don't know if it's because we've become part of "rock" now, but when I was just a fan, I was an avid, enthusiastic record buyer and listener. Now I'm just bored, because I've found everything, I think. When I go into record stores, I don't look at the new-music section too much. It's pretty pathetic. There are some good underground bands coming from the same place we are, bands we've known for a long time that are still doing good stuff. Bands like Superchunk, Pavement, Sebadoh, and The Grifters are still doing good stuff. But if you look for good new music, it's just not there, so I'm always looking for old '60s and '70s compilations. If you're looking for a particular type of song that's not around or that doesn't exist anymore, the only thing you can really do is try to write it yourself, and try to find it in your own mind. So that's why I write, 'cause I'm addicted...When you write short songs, you can write more of 'em. A lot of bands like to labor over one song until they get it perfect, but I can't stand it. I don't have the patience to try to make it perfect, because it's pointless to try to labor over it. You can always make it better. The only important thing is that you capture what you heard in your head. It doesn't matter if it fits any kind of MTV standard, or radio standard, or whatever. You do the song, then you move on to the next one. That way, you get a lot of 'em out, and it's more fun."

 'Bee Thousand'  didn't chart; but it was named Album of the Year by the Village Voice and led to a deal with Matador Records.  






http://www.gbv.com/






I Am A Scientist
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zN9x6zckn18




Hot Freaks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlcuOU1tAUg






 'Bee Thousand' 
full album:



"Hardcore UFO's" – 1:54
"Buzzards and Dreadful Crows" (Jim Pollard, R. Pollard) – 1:43
"Tractor Rape Chain" – 3:04
"The Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory" – 1:45
"Hot Freaks" (R. Pollard, Tobin Sprout) – 1:42
"Smothered in Hugs" (Mitch Mitchell, J. Pollard, R. Pollard) – 2:59
"Yours to Keep" – 1:15
"Echos Myron" – 2:42
"Gold Star for Robot Boy" – 1:39
"Awful Bliss" (Sprout) – 1:12
"Mincer Ray" (Sprout) – 2:21
"A Big Fan of the Pigpen" (Randy Campbell, J. Pollard, R. Pollard) – 2:09
"Queen of Cans and Jars" – 1:55
"Her Psychology Today" (Mitchell, J. Pollard, R. Pollard, Sprout) – 2:04
"Kicker of Elves" – 1:04
"Ester's Day" (Sprout) – 1:51
"Demons Are Real" (Mitchell, J. Pollard, R. Pollard, Sprout) – 0:48
"I Am a Scientist" – 2:30
"Peep-Hole" – 1:25
"You're Not an Airplane" (Sprout) – 0:33







 'Bee Thousand:  The Director's Cut' came out ten years later with a thirty-three track early version of the album with other songs that made it onto the final version and two subsequent EP's, fifty-five tracks in all!
http://www.gbvdb.com/album.asp?albumid=1766