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Please Be Honest

Guided By Voices

Released: 04/22/2016
Format: CD
Label: Guided By Voices Inc.
Catalog #: GBVI-66
Country: U.S.A.
Discs: 1
# Tracks: 15
Images
Front Cover
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Pressing Details
Vinyl Color # Pressed
N/A
Comments
Original Release Notes: Robert Pollard wrote and recorded and played all the instruments on Please Be Honest, and when he finished, it felt to him like a Guided By Voices record. He's not wrong. The songs are compact and tuneful, the playing expertly slack, the production raw and unpolished: sounds pretty much like every review of Bee Thousand.

A better cognate, however, might be Vampire on Titus, Pollard's 1993 pre-Bee Thousand (somewhat overlooked) lo-fi tour de force. On that record, Pollard similarly played every instrument�though his drumming skills then were so rudimentary that he had to record the bass drum and the snare parts separately, which is no longer the case�and as with everything he does, it's about the songs, man. Of which Please Be Honest has no shortage, fifteen of them clocking in at just over 33 minutes. The point being there's precedent for a GBV record where Pollard plays everything, and maybe more importantly there's a reason for that precedent.

Robert Pollard is Guided By Voices. This has never not been true, certainly, and is now more true than ever. He delights in confounding expectations, and you have to at least suspect that after over 20 years of making records under any number of pseudonyms, of which Guided By Voices is just one, and maybe not even his favorite one, he chafes at the notion that there exists some Platonic ideal of 'Guided By Voices' that isn't just Bob writing and recording the songs with whatever musicians he wants to use. Guided By Voices' new live line-up reflects not just a possibly subconscious desire to prove that unalterable fact, but fits with Pollard's unchanging changeability. He does what he wants. He is who he is. The only 'classic lineup' that has ever mattered is singer / songwriter / multi-instrumentalist / band leader / magician / thunderstorm Robert Pollard. Long may he rain.
Please Be Honest
1.   My Zodiac Companion 2:12
2.   Kid On A Ladder 1:47
3.   Come On Mr. Christian 2:04
4.   The Grasshopper Eaters 3:22
5.   Glittering Parliaments 2:27
6.   The Caterpillar Workforce 1:29
7.   Sad Baby Eyes 0:35
8.   The Quickers Arrive 2:56
9.   Hotel X (Big Soap) 3:01
10.  I Think A Telescope 2:30
11.  Please Be Honest 2:05
12.  Nightmare Jamboree 2:00
13.  Unfinished Business 1:30
14.  Defeatists' Lament 2:23
15.  Eye Shop Heaven 3:00
Total Length: 33:21
Other Formats
Label - Catalog [Format] (Country) # Tracks
Guided By Voices Inc. - GBVI-66 [LP] (U.S.A.) 15

Album Credits
Artwork/Design
Role Name
Art Department Joe Patterson
Art Department Robert Pollard
Art Department Vince Williams
Art Management Sarah Zade-Pollard
Cover Robert Pollard
Layout Joe Patterson
Layout Robert Pollard
Musician
Role Name
Instruments Robert Pollard
Vocals Robert Pollard
Production
Role Name
Engineer Phil Mahaffey
Mastering Phil Mahaffey
Mixing Phil Mahaffey
Studio Assistance Scott
Studio Assistance Steve H.
Studio
Role Name
Mastering Location Cyberteknics - Dayton, OH
Mixing Location Cyberteknics - Dayton, OH
Recording Location Cyberteknics - Dayton, OH
Publishing
Role Name
Copyright 2016
Publisher Needmore Songs
Songwriter Robert Pollard
Management/Business
Role Name
Business Management Eric Weiss
Legal Richard Grabel
Management David Newgarden
Other
Role Name
Additional Album Text A Factory Of Raw Essentials Product
Additional Album Text Guided By Voices, Inc.
Additional Album Text Keep It In Motion
Additional Album Text www.robertpollard.net
Additional Album Text www.rockathonrecords.com
Rockathon Records Kevin Poindexter
Rockathon Records Matt Davis
Rockathon Records Mike Lipps
Thanks Nick Mitchell