Guided by Voices: La La Land ( 2023 )

      Hello. Sorry it's been about a week between posts. I transferred to a new store for my job and the commute is considerably longer, and it's cutting into my available free time for writing and listening to albums. Once I'm adjusted and plan my listening with my commute, I should be back on a regular posting schedule. At least that's the plan. For those of you who are exhausted with Guided by Voices content, rejoice that we have almost reached the end of this exercise. La La Land is the 13th studio album by the current lineup of Guided by Voices, and the first of three releases in 2023. It is my least favorite of the three, and of this deep dive as well. I'm rating it at 3-stars. It's actually impressive that my lowest score for this discography is 3-stars. This lineup has not released a horrible album despite 16 releases since 2017. Kudos to Uncle Bob and gang. 

     The standout track, by a wide margin, is "Cousin Jackie". It's best described as a mashup of The Who and Free. In fact, there's a section where Gillard virtually quotes the guitar riff from "Alright Now". It even has some John Entwhistle style French Horn. I love the line. "Climb a mountain to the valley, drive a highway to the alley". It's been clear during this deep dive that this lineup of Guided by Voices is influenced, quite profoundly, by The Who. Not a bad influence.

     Overall, this album lacks memorable hooks or lyrics. The second-best song is probably the 6-minute epic, "Slowly on the Wheel". What it lacks in hooks or good lyrics it makes up for with some good musicianship. Especially about 4 minutes into the song. The de facto title track, "Instinct Dwelling", is a pretty decent, sludgy hard rock number. It also has some fun lyrics from Pollard, "Better not see your contraband, you'll wind up in La La Land" and "Front door lobbies for acronyms, L.A. gyms can pack 'em in". Everything else on La La Land is C-Tier Guided by Voices material, except "Queen of Spaces". Its slow tempo and string arrangements are really not my jam though. 

     I haven't made much progress on my 2004 listening, so I'm not sure when I'm going to get to that deep dive series. Saturday, I'm going to Jerry's Records, so I will post about that as soon as I can. I'm hoping to pick up some cool stuff that I never see at shops around here. Wish me luck. Peace.