Closer You Are

Sitting down to write this review, the lyrics to the Guided by Voices song "I am Produced" popped into my head, and I think it's because this authorized biography is just a little too official. While Bob isn't afraid to let himself be seen as an asshole, and allows certain details to be included that point that way, there seems to be a real focus on codifying the official narrative.

That isn't to say that the book isn't good or worth reading, and for a more general audience, this should be the standard source. But for a die hard fan, the book's main interest is in filling or confirming details of Bob and the band's history already established by Jim Greer's Hunting Accidents, the 33 1/3 volume on Bee Thousand, and major articles and interviews over the years.

Former collaborators Bruce "Smitty" Smith and the late Tony Conley, of Bob's 1970s metal band Anacrusis, have offered recollections that are at times very at odds with details, disagreeing about specific dates for their pre-GBV collaborations, and even in one case declaring that the name Guided by Voices was in place years before the official founding in 1983.

All of that is fine, and the book should have received 4 or even 5 stars, despite the grumblings of a super fan. The largest knock on the book is that, while adding details missing elsewhere, it reads like the first volume of a larger work. The latter years, for which we have fewer other sources, are so briefly treated that they may as well not have been included in the book.