The umpteenth reformation of Guided by Voices makes for a very enjoyable 20 songs crammed into 38 minutes, in an album called Motivational Jumpsuit.

Under the guiding (!) hand of Robert Pollard, Guided by Voices have constructed a legendary status over the years with a prolific output of groundbreaking material. Quite unexpectedly on this outing there are massive echoes of the 1960s, which make the whole album really enjoyable.

The album blasts off with a power pop classic ‘Littlest League Possible’ and the project evolves into a tight and almost comfortable affair. ‘Jupiter Spin’ makes for a superb psychedelic moment, ‘A Bird with no Name’ is short but very sweet. Nothing over 3 minutes long here, each offering could be a fragment of genius to be expanded at a later date (‘Calling up Washington’, for example.)

I often wondered what bands like The Searchers, Buffalo Springfield or The Seeds might have sounded like if they had stayed together. The answer might be partly found among this assortment of goodies!

Be Guided by Keefy on this one. 4/5!

Words: Keith How