Styles We Paid For
Styles We Paid For | ||||
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Studio album by Guided by Voices | ||||
Released | December 11, 2020 (2020-12-11) | |||
Recorded | 2020[1] | |||
Studio |
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Genre |
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Length | 38:15 | |||
Language | English | |||
Label | Guided by Voices, Inc. | |||
Producer | Travis Harrison | |||
Guided by Voices chronology | ||||
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Styles We Paid For is the 32nd studio album by American indie rock band Guided by Voices, released on December 11, 2020. The album was initially intended to be recorded only with analog technology and was entitled Before Computers, but the band had to scrap that idea due to the COVID-19 pandemic and instead assembled the recordings by sharing digital files from their respective homes.[3][4] The album was preceded by the single "Mr. Child" in October[5] and has received positive reviews from critics.
Reception
Editors at AllMusic rated this album 4 out of 5 stars, with critic Timothy Monger writing that it is "no slouch of a record" in spite of Guided by Voices' prodigious output and the band members "gamely readjusted their approach to suit the times and continued their hot streak with another reliably solid latter-day release" with remote collaboration during the COVID-19 pandemic.[1] Writing for Guitar.com, Gary Walker rated Styles We Paid For a 7 out of 10, characterizing it as "restless, varied, challenging and absolutely teeming with ideas" and praising the guitar playing of Doug Gillard.[3] A brief review in Rolling Stone rates it 3.5 out of 5 stars—between "good" and "excellent"—and calls this album "piled high with indie-rock anthems of a guy who never runs out of garage-rock kicks".[2] The Spill Magazine's Matt Morris rated Styles We Paid For 3 out of 5, stating that the album lacks variety: "[u]nfortunately the earworms are only scattered. While nothing is bad, only a few songs truly stick out. With very little instrumental variation and few changes in tempo songs quickly start to blend into each other."[6]
Track listing
All songs written by Robert Pollard
- "Megaphone Riley" – 2:06
- "They Don't Play the Drums Anymore" – 2:08
- "Slaughterhouse" – 4:32
- "Endless Seafood" – 2:58
- "Mr Child" – 3:22
- "Stops" – 2:04
- "War of the Devils" – 2:32
- "Electronic Windows to Nowhere" – 1:57
- "Never Abandon Ship" – 1:56
- "Roll Me to Heaven" – 2:16
- "In Calculus Strategem" – 2:04
- "Crash at Lake Placebo" – 2:45
- "Liquid Kid" – 3:23
- "Time Without Looking" – 1:43
- "When Growing Was Simple" – 2:31
Personnel
Guided by Voices
- Bobby Bare Jr. – guitar, backing vocals
- Doug Gillard – guitar, backing vocals
- Kevin March – drums, backing vocals
- Robert Pollard – lead vocals, guitar, cover art, layout
- Mark Shue – bass guitar, backing vocals
Additional personnel
- Matt Davis – engineering
- Travis Harrison – engineer, mixing, production
- Ray Ketchem – drum engineering
- Mike Lipps – engineering
- Joe Patterson – layout
- Jeff Powell – mastering for vinyl LP edition
- Jamal Ruhe – mastering
See also
References
- ^ a b Monger, Timothy (n.d.). "Guided by Voices – Styles We Paid For". AllMusic. RhythmOne. Retrieved June 14, 2023.
- ^ a b c "Quick Hits". Reviews. Rolling Stone. No. 1346. December 2020. p. 70. ISSN 0035-791X.
- ^ a b Walker, Gary (December 14, 2020). "The Big Listen: Guided By Voices – Styles We Paid For". Reviews. Guitar.com.
- ^ Erhlich, Brenna (July 23, 2020). "Guided By Voices' Robert Pollard Talks Record-Breaking Livestream, (Another) New Album". Music. Rolling Stone.
- ^ Erhlich, Brenna (October 15, 2020). "Guided By Voices Announce Third Album of 2020, Drop New Song 'Mr. Child'". Music. Rolling Stone.
- ^ Morris, Matt (December 11, 2021). "Spill Album Review: Guided by Voices – Styles We Paid For". Album Reviews. The Spill Magazine.
External links
- Entry in the Guided by Voices Database
- Styles We Paid For at Discogs (list of releases)
- Styles We Paid For at MusicBrainz (list of releases)
- Review from Spectrum Culture
- Review from Tinnitist
- v
- t
- e
- Robert Pollard
- Doug Gillard
- Mark Shue
- Bobby Bare Jr.
- Kevin March
- Tobin Sprout
- Mitch Mitchell
- Greg Demos
- Kevin Fennell
- Jim Macpherson
- James Greer
- Devil Between My Toes (1987)
- Sandbox (1987)
- Self-Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia (1989)
- Same Place the Fly Got Smashed (1990)
- Propeller (1992)
- Vampire on Titus (1993)
- Bee Thousand (1994)
- Alien Lanes (1995)
- Under the Bushes Under the Stars (1996)
- Tonics & Twisted Chasers (1996)
- Mag Earwhig! (1997)
- Do the Collapse (1999)
- Isolation Drills (2001)
- Universal Truths and Cycles (2002)
- Earthquake Glue (2003)
- Half Smiles of the Decomposed (2004)
- Let's Go Eat the Factory (2012)
- Class Clown Spots a UFO (2012)
- The Bears for Lunch (2012)
- English Little League (2013)
- Motivational Jumpsuit (2014)
- Cool Planet (2014)
- Please Be Honest (2016)
- August by Cake (2017)
- How Do You Spell Heaven (2017)
- Space Gun (2018)
- Zeppelin Over China (2019)
- Warp and Woof (2019)
- Sweating the Plague (2019)
- Surrender Your Poppy Field (2020)
- Mirrored Aztec (2020)
- Styles We Paid For (2020)
- Earth Man Blues (2021)
- It's Not Them. It Couldn't Be Them. It Is Them! (2021)
- Crystal Nuns Cathedral (2022)
- Tremblers and Goggles by Rank (2022)
- La La Land (2023)
- Welshpool Frillies (2023)
- Nowhere to Go but Up (2023)
- Strut of Kings (2024)
- Forever Since Breakfast (1986)
- The Grand Hour (1993)
- Static Airplane Jive (1993)
- Get Out of My Stations (1994)
- Fast Japanese Spin Cycle (1994)
- Clown Prince of the Menthol Trailer (1994)
- I Am a Scientist (1994)
- Tigerbomb (1995)
- Sunfish Holy Breakfast (1996)
- Plantations of Pale Pink (1996)
- Wish in One Hand… (1997)
- Plugs for the Program (1999)
- Hold on Hope (2000)
- Dayton, Ohio–19 Something and 5 (2000)
- Daredevil Stamp Collector (2001)
- The Pipe Dreams of Instant Prince Whippet (2002)
- Down by the Racetrack (2013)
- Wine Cork Stonehenge (2018)
- 100 Dougs (2018)
- 1901 Acid Rock (2019)
- Umlaut Over the Ozone (2019)
- Live from Austin, TX (2007)
- The Best of Guided by Voices: Human Amusements at Hourly Rates (2003)
- Crickets: Best of the Fading Captain Series 1999–2007 (2007)
- Scalping the Guru (2022)
- Box (1995)
- Suitcase: Failed Experiments and Trashed Aircraft (2000)
- Hardcore UFOs: Revelations, Epiphanies and Fast Food in the Western Hemisphere (2003)
- Suitcase 2: American Superdream Wow (2005)
- Suitcase 3: Up We Go Now (2009)
- Suitcase 4: Captain Kangaroo Won the War (2015)
solo albums
- Not in My Airforce (1996)
- Waved Out (1998)
- Kid Marine (1999)
- Motel of Fools (2003)
- Fiction Man (2004)
- Relaxation of the Asshole (2005)
- From a Compound Eye (2006)
- Normal Happiness (2006)
- Silverfish Trivia (2007)
- Standard Gargoyle Decisions (2007)
- Coast to Coast Carpet of Love (2007)
- Superman Was a Rocker (2008)
- Weatherman and Skin Goddess (2008)
- Robert Pollard Is Off to Business (2008)
- The Crawling Distance (2009)
- Elephant Jokes (2009)
- We All Got Out of the Army (2010)
- Moses on a Snail (2010)
- Space City Kicks (2011)
- Lord of the Birdcage (2011)
- Mouseman Cloud (2012)
- Jack Sells the Cow (2012)
- Honey Locust Honky Tonk (2013)
- Blazing Gentlemen (2013)
- Faulty Superheroes (2015)
- Of Course You Are (2016)
- Carnival Boy (1996)
- Moonflower Plastic (1997)
- Let's Welcome the Circus People (1999)
- Lost Planets & Phantom Voices (2003)
- The Bluebirds of Happiness Tried to Land on My Shoulder (2010)
- The Universe & Me (2017)
- Tower in the Fountain of Sparks (2001)
- Life Starts Here (2002)
- Brown Submarine (2008)
- The Planets are Blasted (2009)
- Zero to 99 (2009)
- Our Cubehouse Still Rocks (2010)
- Let It Beard (2011)
Doug Gillard albums
- Speak Kindly of Your Volunteer Fire Department (1999)
- Mist King Urth (2003)
- Waving at the Astronauts (2011)
- In Shop We Build Electric Chairs: Professional Music by Nightwalker 1984–1993 (1999)
- Big Trouble (2000)
- Choreographed Man of War (2001)
- Calling Zero (2002)
- Blues and Boogie Shoes (2006)
- Ringworm Interiors (2001)
- The Harold Pig Memorial (2002)
- Pinball Mars (2004)
- Five (2005)
- Sgt. Disco (2007)
- Ataxia (2008)
- Gringo (2009)
- Mother Skinny (2010)
- Capsized! (2011)
- When Machines Attack (2013)
- My Mind Has Seen the White Trick (2013)
- Escape (2014)
- Stomping Grounds (2015)
- Laughs Last (2017)