Earth Man Blues

Earth Man Blues is the 33rd studio album by American indie rock band Guided by Voices, released by Guided by Voices, Inc. on April 30, 2021. The album is made up of unreleased songs that frontman Robert Pollard reworked to form a loose concept album about his childhood[1] and has received positive reviews from critics.[2]

Earth Man Blues
A painting of children standing on a pier, holding balloons, with a blue-tinted photo of the Earth inserted
Studio album by
Guided by Voices
ReleasedApril 30, 2021 (2021-04-30)
Recorded2020–2021
Genre
Length37:13
LanguageEnglish
LabelGuided by Voices, Inc.
ProducerTravis Harrison
Guided by Voices chronology
Styles We Paid For
(2020)		 Earth Man Blues
(2021)		 It's Not Them. It Couldn't Be Them. It Is Them!
(2020)

Reception

Earth Man Blues received positive reviews from critics noted at review aggregator Metacritic. It has a weighted average score of 76 out of 100, based on four reviews.[2] Editors at AllMusic rated this album 4 out of 5 stars, with critic Fred Thomas writing that "despite this unending stream of new material, the band shows no signs of diluting creativity, and the 15 songs on Earth Man Blues find songwriter Bob Pollard exploring the weirder corners of his mind in between delivering more straightforward power pop bangers".[3] Robin Ferris of The Line of Best Fit rated Earth Man Blues a 5 out of 10, stating that the album "unfortunately doesn’t really do justice to either of these ambitions" of lo-fi music from their early career or polishd pop songcraft.[4] Writing for Pitchfork Media, Hubert Adjei-Kontoh rated this album a 6.5 out of 10, calling it "equally inconsistent and ingenious" and praising it for having "some of Robert Pollard’s most direct lyricism", with "slipshod and freewheeling" music.[5] Brenna Erhlich of Rolling Stone gave this release 4 out of 5 stars, stating that it "may be the power-pop heroes’ best album in decades" and that it "squarely hits all the marks that make Guided By Voices great", exhorting listeners to "put this record on and see how long it takes to utter your first joyful expletive".[1] In The Spill Magazine, Kirsten Innes gave this release 4 out of 5, calling it "an album of tremendous depth" with several genre changes that display creative freedom and confidence in the band's sound.[6]

Track listing

All songs written by Robert Pollard.

  1. "Made Man" – 1:22
  2. "The Disconnected Citizen" – 3:12
  3. "The Batman Sees the Ball" – 3:18
  4. "Dirty Kid School" – 2:56
  5. "Trust Them Now" – 2:21
  6. "Lights Out in Memphis (Egypt)" – 5:41
  7. "Free Agents" – 2:00
  8. "Sunshine Girl Hello" – 2:25
  9. "Wave Starter" – 1:34
  10. "Ant Repellent" – 2:36
  11. "Margaret Middle School" – 1:10
  12. "I Bet Hippy" – 2:30
  13. "Test Pilot" – 1:30
  14. "How Can a Plumb Be Perfected?" – 2:59
  15. "Child's Play" – 1:39

Personnel

Guided by Voices

Additional personnel

See also

References
  1. Ehrlich, Brenna (April 28, 2021). "Guided By Voices' 'Earth Man Blues' May Be the Power-Pop Heroes' Best Album in Decades". Music. Rolling Stone. Retrieved June 14, 2023.
  2. "Earth Man Blues by Guided by Voices". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Archived from the original on October 28, 2022. Retrieved June 14, 2023.
  3. Thomas, Fred (n.d.). "Guided by Voices – Earth Man Blues". AllMusic. RhythmOne. Retrieved June 14, 2023.
  4. Ferris, Robin (April 30, 2021). "Guided By Voices fail to lift off on Earth Man Blues". The Line of Best Fit. Archived from the original on November 28, 2022. Retrieved June 14, 2023.
  5. Adjei-Kontoh, Hubert (May 4, 2021). "Guided by Voices: Earth Man Blues". Pitchfork Media. Archived from the original on February 6, 2023. Retrieved June 14, 2023.
  6. Innes, Kirsten (April 30, 2021). "Spill Album Review: Guided by Voices – Earth Man Blues". Album Reviews. The Spill Magazine. Retrieved June 14, 2023.
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