Tonics and Twisted Chasers in Bloomington, MN

Originally a fan club only release of all new compositions, most of them co-written by
Robert Pollard
and
Tobin Sprout
,
Tonics and Twisted Chasers
was reissued on CD by
Rockathon Records
with five bonus tracks in 1997. The characteristic
Guided by Voices
hallmarks are here: contorted psyche fuzz guitar on
"Satellite"
; lovely, pensive ballads like
"Key Losers"
"Look, It's Baseball"
; rawboned, fractured
Who
(
"Ha Ha Man,"
"Girl From the Sun"
); a helium-toned piano jingle,
"Universal Nurse Finger."
At times,
is almost the concept album -- though on a less-grand and less-produced scale-that
Mag Earwhig!
wanted to be but didn't quite reach, revolving around the point of view of growing up in Midwest nowhere (
"At the Farms,"
), and so is melancholy and resigned while somehow remaining celebratory. It even contains a similar but stripped-down and shorter version of a song that became a part of the
song cycle,
"Knock 'Em Flyin.'"
What is most amazing about
(and
GBV
's ouevre, in general) is that this album, despite its original limited pressing, is not even close to a throwaway or fan-only release. It may not be quite as accessible as the band's larger indie-label output, but it nonetheless stands up exceptionally well to the rest of the
catalog. ~ Stanton Swihart