Earthquake Glue - Guided by Voices
Earthquake Glue Image
Metascore

Generally favorable reviews - based on 20 Critics What's this?

User Score

Universal acclaim- based on 19 Ratings

  • Summary: The ever-prolific Robert Pollard returns with a brand-new GbV studio disc (the 15th or so since 1987), retaining the core group of musicians that has been with him for the last few albums.
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 20
  2. Negative: 0 out of 20
  1. 100
    Their best album since 1996's brilliant Under the Bushes, Under the Stars.
  2. If Earthquake Glue isn't a masterpiece, it's as close as this band can be expected to get, and is the rare Guided By Voices effort that's imaginative enough for longtime loyalists and tight enough for dabblers at the same time.
  3. Overall, it's another great GBV album that continues to spotlight the Pollard's staggering work of genius.
  4. Pollard has evolved into college-rock comfort food of little consequence. [#5, p.106]

See all 20 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 7
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 7
  3. Negative: 1 out of 7
  1. bellet
    10
    great
  2. BrianM.
    8
    Pretty solid album from start to finish. It has a nice sound to it and the production compliments the songs. If you like Isolation Drills or Universal Truths and Cycles, then you'll be in for a treat. Expand
  3. [Anonymous]
    7
    Sonically this is closest to Isolation Drills; the songwriting reminds me most of frontman Pollard's late-90s solo work. The album has a handful of immediately accessible tracks, but overall it seems fractured and directionless on first listen. Many of the songs cohere & reveal their charms with time and patience. "The Best of Jill Hives" is up with the band's best work. Expand
  4. It pains me to say, being that Robert Pollard is one of my favorite songwriters, that this is the weakest album in the Guided By Voices and Robert Pollard solo canon. Apart from the stellar Best of Jill Hives, there are but only a handful of melodies that are memorable and most of the album is buried under thick, compressed, muddy production. I recognize that a lot of critics and fans alike have overwhelmingly praised the album, however it continually disappoints whenever I give it a spin. Collapse

See all 7 User Reviews