GUIDED BY VOICES Vinyl Records and CDs

Begun as a side project to singer/lyricist Robert Pollard's teaching career, Guided By Voices' brief, Lo-Fi bursts of pop brilliance came to the attention of Scat Records only after Pollard's friends secretly distributed a demo. Since then it's been a Cinderella story: Pollard and a revolving group of backup musicians have tirelessly peddled their arty, sophisticated anthems across the U.S. and elsewhere, releasing over a dozen full length LPs and receiving a growing chorus of critical acclaim. Twelve years after the appearance of their first locally released cassette (and six years after their much heralded Bee Thousand) it was finally, in Pollard's words, "time to get paid." Do the Collapse, produced by the Cars' Ric Ocasek, found the band as sharp and poignant as ever, but more pristinely recorded and finally ready for the stadium. That catchy record is the thickest and most accessible the band has ever made, although it remains to be seen whether GBV will attain Big Rock status from a new school of fans, and if Pollard's Roger Daltrey comparisons will start being taken a bit more seriously.