Mag Earwhig!

Mag Earwhig! is a 1997 album release by indie rock band Guided by Voices. Following the dissolution of the "classic lineup," band-leader Robert Pollard hired Cleveland rockers Cobra Verde and formed a new GBV unit. This move was somewhat controversial among GBV fans, especially those who were loyal to the lo-fi lineups stretching back to the mid-1980s. Mag Earwhig! is a step-up in production from the band's trademark lo-fi sound, and while the album includes a few tracks with the classic lineup ("Jane of the Waking Universe" being the last), the so-called "Guided by Verde" grouping is the album's dominant force.

Mag Earwhig as a rock opera
Mag Earwhig! is a rock opera according to GBV frontman Robert Pollard. The press releasing concerning the album made the following statement about the album:

"Pollard is the main character in this sprawling narrative, an insectile cartoon figure named the Magnificent Earwhig, who interacts with a wild cast of characters in songs evoking nostalgiac memories of an Ohio boyhood, starting one's first band, and inhaling American roadside pop culture."

The press release also goes on to state that "despite the progressive conceptual 70's mindset informing this project, the record is still a collection of beautifully twisted pop songs and can be listened to as either an opera or just a series of rock arias."

Read the GBV.com press release concerning Mag Earwhig here.

Track listing

 * 1) "Can't Hear the Revolution" – 1:36
 * 2) "Sad If I Lost It" – 3:10
 * 3) "I Am a Tree" – 4:40
 * 4) "The Old Grunt" – 1:28
 * 5) "Bulldog Skin" – 2:59
 * 6) "Are You Faster?" – 1:13
 * 7) "I Am Produced" – 1:06
 * 8) "Knock 'Em Flyin'" – 1:52
 * 9) "Not Behind the Fighter Jet" – 2:13
 * 10) "Choking Tara" – 1:24
 * 11) "Hollow Cheek" – 0:32
 * 12) "Portable Men's Society" – 4:16
 * 13) "Little Lines" – 2:02
 * 14) "Learning to Hunt" – 2:24
 * 15) "The Finest Joke Is Upon Us" – 3:08
 * 16) "Mag Earwhig!" – 0:39
 * 17) "Now to War" – 2:44
 * 18) "Jane of the Waking Universe" – 2:25
 * 19) "The Colossus Crawls West" – 2:13
 * 20) "Mute Superstar" – 1:24
 * 21) "Bomb in the Bee-Hive" – 2:03