Can't Hear the Revolution

This is Guided by Voices big rock record? After Robert Pollard jettisoned (or as he put it, accepted the resignations of) the "classic lineup" of the band and took on the glam-rocking Cobra Verde in its stead, word was that Mag Earwhig was going to be a statement, an album that would take the band to the next level and show what Pollard could do with a studio and professional players.

So, what does he do? Subvert expectations, of course. While much of the album is bit and certainly rocks harder than nearly everything that came before it, the opener, "Can't Hear the Revolution," is a song that would have fit comfortably on any of the previous three GBV discs.

The first sound you hear is a high-pitched Casio keyboard note wavering along in lo-fi splendor, soon joined by a crunching guitar power chord progression and a snare and kick drum. Then Pollard and Tobin Sprout (making one of his last few appearances on a Guided by Voices song) begin to sing: "Can't hear the revolution."

Then Pollard, doing his best Michael Stipe, begins to intone in a mumble buried in the mix: "God rolls the sun as he walks down the highway" and so on and so forth (the GBV database seems off base on this one). There is a short guitar solo, followed by Pollard and Sprout singing the title a couple more times before the song is over, all accomplished in a brisk 1:36.

It's a strange way to start the album, though perhaps it's all simply part of the "concept" that I've never been able to figure out. According to Matador's press release at the time, "Pollard is the main character in this sprawling narrative, an insectile cartoon figure named the Magnificent Earwhig, who interacts with a wild cast of characters in songs evoking nostalgic memories of an Ohio boyhood, starting one's first band, and inhaling American roadside pop culture." OK, sure. Whatever you say.