<<Bee Thousand (1994) by GBV is widely considered to be the band's masterpiece ... However, if you are put off by lo-fi, this record is most likely not for you.  Although it cleans up a lot of the problems from earlier releases, it still has that low-budget 4-track feel, and there are plenty of song fragments and some good ideas that are never
finished.>>

the funny thing about "bee thousand" and "alien lanes" (1995) which are indeed gbv's two masterpieces, is that they (along with "vampire on titus," which came in 1993), are much LOWER fidelity than the several gbv albums that came before.  they cleaned up by lowering their budget.  they started out as a studio band, and made several interesting, but somewhat sterile, cheap-but-proper studio albums before realizing they'd be much better off, and much happier, recording at home (using both 4- and 8-track machines, with tobin sprout generally but not always at the controls). "vampire on titus," "b000" and "alien lanes" are the great gbv home-recording trilogy, and the latter two albums are the ones on which they entirely made their reputation.  they are to gbv what "workingman's dead" and "american beauty" were to the grateful dead.  for example.  it's a toss-up between the two, but the slightly rockier "alien lanes," which is essentially an album of arena-rock miniatures, including the great "motor away" and "my valuable hunting knife," might be the best starting point.  the first song on "b000" is the fabulous "hardcore ufos," which has an extremely noticeable and extremely amusing tape dropout on the second chorus.  viva la cassette!

<<If you're a fan of bigger, brighter, cleaner production (which many people on this list are), you
may be better served by 'Isolation Drills,' or even their most recent, 'Earthquake Glue,' both of which 
are full of catchy songs, some of which make it beyond the three-minute mark.

i think "earthquake glue," along with most recent gbv, is mediocre through and through, but i agree that "isolation drills" is as good as gbv got in their high-fidelity years, and is a damn nice loud guitar-pop record, and if "glad girls" doesn't get you singing in the shower, then you probably aren't taking showers.

the other thing you want to eventually do, if and only if you love the lo-fi, is to pick up all of the ep's gbv made right around the time of "b000 and "alien lanes," including "fast japanese spin cycle," "get out of my stations," "clown prince of the menthol trailer" and "the grand hour."  for three or four years, they really, really, really had it going on.

matty