Friday SOS Record Reviews
Guided by Voices
Please Be Honest (Rockathon)
By Neph Basedow, Fri., Nov. 4, 2016
Regressing to points along GBV's Eighties timeline, sole mainstay Robert Pollard wrote every word and played every instrument on the Dayton-ers' 23rd LP. Following opening anthem "My Zodiac Companion," the playful melody and slinking bass of "Kid on a Ladder" evokes 1995 group high-water mark Alien Lanes. Several of PBH's 15 tracks stop short of blossoming into the hooky, soaring choruses for which GBV were revered – half bar band, half Grand Funk Railroad – but the title track won't disappoint via breezy-but-glum lo-fi. Bizarro flecks ("Sad Baby Eyes") recall the 58-year-old frontman's Frogs-like eccentricity. If fans approach this idiosyncratic half-hour listen like a Pollard solo work rather than band output, it assimilates a slightly disjointed but fascinating character study. (Fri., 6:40pm, Dragon's Lair stage)