At the end of 1994 my #1 album of the year was Neil Young and Crazy Horse's excellent Sleeps with Angels—which I feel would reign as his finest work for another 15+ years—but later I determined that my favorite album of the entire decade of the '90s is another 1994 release, Bee Thousand by Dayton, Ohio, lo-fi heroes Guided by Voices. I didn't discover them until this, their seventh album; my brother and I quickly set out to collect as many of their albums and limited-edition singles as possible. I can't quite express how exciting and fun this was; GbV felt almost like a modern indie Beatles to me, and their music at the time was eminently playable and re-playable. Bee Thousand spent many, many hours on my stereo. And for those who may wonder, the title (and several other lyrics) refer to an agricultural process, another cryptic reference to the band's Midwestern upbringing.   2

noyoucmon 4 Sep 2015