The Best of Jill Hives

At their root, the best Guided by Voices songs are driven by Robert Pollard's vocal melodies. Plenty of the band's songs have fantastically interesting and catchy instrumentation, of course, but no one hums a GBV riff the way they do one of Pollard's vocal lines. "The Best of Jill Hives" is perfect evidence of this. Built on little more than a rumbling bass line and some strummed guitar, the song is the catchiest thing on Earthquake Glue and is among Pollard's best singles.

Polalrd had done this before. "The Official Ironmen Rally Song" from Under the Bushes, Under the Stars is built on similar minimalism, largely kept together by his vocal. Sometimes such songs need several repeat listens before their charms set in, time for the listener to realize that this primary hook is really the only hook, and that the absence of extraneous sound is intended, all the better to expose that gorgeous centerpiece. That is not the case with "The Best of Jill Hives," however. It lodges itself in the ear immediately, a song that almost seems like a cover because of its instant classic feel.

It sounds like a narrative story until one actually listens to the lyrics and realizes that Pollard isn't really saying anything more than is required to carry the melody, and that Jill Hives is a made up name that simply sounds good (and that rhymes with "come alive"). Only on the chorus does he actually seem to say something: "I don't know where you find your nerve, I don't know how you choose your words/ speak the ones that suit you worse, keep you grounded, sad and cursed, circle the ones that come alive, save them for the best of Jill Hives."