Mag Earwhig!

Studio album by Guided by Voices

Released

May 20, 1997

Recorded

1997
609, Cleveland, OH; Cro-Magnon, Dayton, OH; Refraze, Dayton, OH

Genre

Rock

Length

45:52

Label

Matador

Producer

"Everyone involved"^[1]
John Croslin (Tracks 8, 18)

Guided by Voices chronology

Tonics and Twisted Chasers
(1996)

Mag Earwhig!
(1997)

Do the Collapse
(1999)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	^[2]
Pitchfork Media	(8.0/10)^[3]

Mag Earwhig! is a 1997 (see 1997 in music) 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; the Matador Records description of the record mentions that a first set of tracks were recorded with "a real producer," former Reivers leader John Croslin (who also produced Spoon's early records, and who is credited on this record as engineer rather than producer). A second session included "spontaneous, basement-sounding stuff."^[4] 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. In the words of the band's press release for 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."^[5]

Track listing

All songs written by Robert Pollard unless otherwise noted.

"Can't Hear the Revolution" – 1:36
"Sad If I Lost It" – 3:10
"I Am a Tree" (Doug Gillard) – 4:40
"The Old Grunt" – 1:28
"Bulldog Skin" – 2:59
"Are You Faster?" (Jim Pollard, R. Pollard, Tobin Sprout) – 1:13
"I Am Produced" (R. Pollard, Sprout) – 1:06
"Knock 'Em Flyin'" – 1:52
"Not Behind the Fighter Jet" – 2:13
"Choking Tara" – 1:24
"Hollow Cheek" – :32
"Portable Men's Society" – 4:16
"Little Lines" – 2:02
"Learning to Hunt" – 2:24
"The Finest Joke Is Upon Us" – 3:08
"Mag Earwhig!" – :39
"Now to War" – 2:44
"Jane of the Waking Universe" – 2:25
"The Colossus Crawls West" – 2:13
"Mute Superstar" – 1:24
"Bomb in the Bee-Hive" – 2:03

References

^ The inside cover of the CD sleeve states "Produced by everyone involved", but also clarifies that tracks 8 and 18 are produced by John Croslin.
^ Allmusic review
^ Pitchfork Media review
^ Matador Records website's Guided by Voices biography.
^ GBV.com press release for Mag Earwhig.

Guided by Voices

Robert Pollard Tobin Sprout • Mitch Mitchell • Kevin Fennell • Greg Demos

Former members	Nate Farley • Doug Gillard • Jim Pollard • Chris Slusarenko • Kevin March • Jim Macpherson • Tim Tobias • Don Thrasher • James Greer

Albums	Devil Between My Toes (1987) • Sandbox (1987) • Self-Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia (1989) • Same Place the Fly Got Smashed (1990) • Propeller (1992) • Vampire on Titus (1993) • Bee Thousand (1994) • Alien Lanes (1995) • Under the Bushes Under the Stars (1996) • Tonics and Twisted Chasers (1996) • Mag Earwhig! (1997) • Do the Collapse (1999) • Isolation Drills (2001) • Universal Truths and Cycles (2002) • Earthquake Glue (2003) • Half Smiles of the Decomposed (2004) • Let's Go Eat the Factory (2012) • Class Clown Spots a UFO (2012)

EPs	Forever Since Breakfast (1986) • The Grand Hour (1993) • Static Airplane Jive (1993) • Get Out of My Stations (1994) • Fast Japanese Spin Cycle (1994) • Clown Prince of the Menthol Trailer (1994) • I Am a Scientist (1994) • Tigerbomb (1995) • Sunfish Holy Breakfast (1996) • Plantations of Pale Pink (1996) • Wish in One Hand... (1997) • Plugs for the Program (1999) • Hold on Hope (2000) • Dayton, Ohio–19 Something and 5 (2000) • Daredevil Stamp Collector: Do the Collapse B-sides (2001) • The Pipe Dreams of Instant Prince Whippet (2002)

Box sets	Box (1995) • Suitcase: Failed Experiments and Trashed Aircraft (2000) • Hardcore UFOs: Revelations, Epiphanies and Fast Food in the Western Hemisphere (2003) • Suitcase 2: American Superdream Wow (2005) • Suitcase 3: Up We Go Now (2009)

Compilation	The Best of Guided by Voices: Human Amusements at Hourly Rates (2003) • Crickets: Best of the Fading Captain Series 1999–2007 (2007)

Related articles	Discography • Airport 5 • Boston Spaceships • Circus Devils • Cobra Verde • Todd Tobias

Robert Pollard solo albums	Not in My Airforce (1996) • Waved Out (1998) • Kid Marine (1999) • Motel of Fools (2003) • Fiction Man (2004) • From a Compound Eye (2006) • Normal Happiness (2006) • Standard Gargoyle Decisions (2007) • Coast to Coast Carpet of Love (2007) • Superman Was a Rocker (2008) • Robert Pollard Is Off to Business (2008) • The Crawling Distance (2009) • Elephant Jokes (2009) • We All Got Out of the Army (2010) • Moses on a Snail (2010) • Space City Kicks (2011) • Lord of the Birdcage (2011) • Mouseman Cloud (2012)

Tobin Sprout albums	Carnival Boy (1996) • Moonflower Plastic (1997) • Let's Welcome the Circus People (1999) • Lost Planets & Phantom Voices (2003) • The Bluebirds Of Happiness Tried To Land On My Shoulder (2010)

Airport 5 albums	Tower in the Fountain of Sparks (2001) • Life Starts Here (2002)

Boston Spaceships albums	Brown Submarine (2008) • The Planets are Blasted (2009) • Zero to 99 (2009) • Our Cubehouse Still Rocks (2010) • Let It Beard (2011)

Acid Ranch albums	Some Of The Magic Syrup Was Preserved (2002) • As Forever: A Manifesto Of Fractured Imagination And Wreckless Living (2005) • The Great Houdini Wasn't So Great (2007)

Circus Devils albums	Ringworm Interiors (2001) • The Harold Pig Memorial (2002) • Pinball Mars (2004) • Five (2005) • Sgt. Disco (2007) • Ataxia (2008) • Gringo (2009) • Mother Skinny (2010) • Capsized! (2011)