Guided by Voices: new and reformed or same old boys?

Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy. But fun, yeah, it was fun. Guided by Voices is slated for the `Sco this Wednesday, and memories of their performance in the same space two years ago keep coming back to the same theme - it was fun, but they were sooo drunk.

The oft-heard complaint that, "they could have been so much better if they weren't so loaded," might be resolved with GBV's new, and 51st, line-up. Not only does the new line-up consume less alcohol, the average age of the band has dropped from 39 to 33 years and the new blood has even led to snazzier stage clothes.

Not that snazzy stage clothes are the point. But the new duds might be indicative of a larger change within the originally lo-fi band from Dayton, Ohio. Bob Pollard, fourth-grade teacher cum indie rock star, is back with his brother Jimmy and guitarist Mitch Mitchell, who's now on bass. Ditching what's-his-name, columnist for SPIN, husband of Kim Deal (sorry, no pool game with Kim this year) and former GBV bass player, Pollard is now rounding out his sound with members of the Cleveland `80's glamsters Cobra Verde.

Gone is the old four-track - apparently it was sold to pay for Pollard's snazzy new suit - the new album was recorded at a 16-track studio in Bedford, Ohio. "There's a possibility that some of the lo-fi-type kids might get a little upset, saying, `Hey, man, this is big rock,'" Pollard says in an interview in Alternative Press. But lo-fi is sooo two-years-ago anyway, isn't it now?

For those willing to follow Pollard in his experiment with a "bigger sound," they might be pleasantly surprised with GBV's tenth full-length album, Mag Earwhig, a 21-song epic rock fairy tale - or so it's lauded as. Pollard himself calls the new album the, "most diverse, fucked up, rocking, kick-ass crazy-ass saddest, get wild, sophisticated pop sounding," album they've released to date.

What this change means for the live show remains to be seen. Will they forgo the `Sco's policy of all-the-free-beer-the-band-can-drink? Will the new clothes make new men out of them? Are they now a tight combo of playful popsters? Highly doubtful. Either way, for those who saw the show two years ago, and those who just know the band through their albums, Wednesday night should be a pleasant surprise.

Guided By Voices will play at the `Sco Wednesday night at 10:00 p.m. Admission is $5.