Alien Lanes
| Alien Lanes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by Guided by Voices | ||||
| Released | April 4, 1995 | |||
| Recorded | 1995 | |||
| Genre | Indie rock, lo-fi | |||
| Length | 41:00 | |||
| Label | Matador | |||
| Producer | Mr. Japan at Collider X-L | |||
| Guided by Voices chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    |
| Entertainment Weekly | B+ |
| The Guardian | |
| Pitchfork Media | 9.2/10 |
| Rolling Stone | |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | |
| Spin | 7/10 |
Alien Lanes is the eighth full-length album by American lo-fi band Guided by Voices, released on April 4, 1995.
The album was GBV's first release with Matador Records. According to James Greer's book Guided by Voices: A Brief History: Twenty-One Years of Hunting Accidents in the Forests of Rock and Roll the advance for the record was close to a hundred thousand dollars, one of the more expensive deals in Matador's history. In contrast to the lucrative deal, Greer mentions that "The cost for recording Alien Lanes, if you leave out the beer, was about ten dollars."
In contemporary reviews, Matt Diehl of Rolling Stone described the album's music as "hooky rock that infuses songwriting smarts and a love of melody with a sometimes spiky, sometimes whimsical sense of experimentation". Caroline Sullivan of The Guardian gave the album a positive review, stating that "Pollard's songs are gems that stay just this die of self-conscious eccentricity". Sullivan noted the song's lengths, stating that they were "just enough time for Pollard to wheeze a few oblique lines and guitarist Tobin Sprout to trace out a raucous melody."Robert Christgau of The Village Voice gave the album a "dud" rating.
Mark Deming of AllMusic described Alien Lanes as being similar to Bee Thousand, though without "as many obvious masterpieces" and "fewer obvious mistakes".
Pitchfork Media included Alien Lanes in their 'Top 100 Albums of the 1990s' polls, at No. 27.Magnet named it the best album of 1995. The album was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
All songs written by Robert Pollard unless otherwise noted.
Tracks from the album have been covered by various artists since its release. These include:
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