Guided By Voices: Robert Pollard (vocals, guitar); Steve Wilbur (guitar, bass); Jim Pollard (guitar); Mitch Mitchell (bass); Payton Eric, Kevin Fennell (drums).

Additional personnel includes: Tobin Sprout, Bruce Smith.

Producers: Bob, Guided By Voices, Steve Wilbur.

Engineers include: Steve Wilbur.

Recorded between 1986 and 1993.

Most bands don't generate enough material for a five-CD box set in their entire careers, but Guided by Voices didn't break a sweat in collecting this trove. Active in their hometown of Dayton, Ohio since the mid-'80s, Robert Pollard, Jim Pollard, Tobin Sprout, and Mitch Mitchell had recorded over a dozen albums, EPs, and singles before 1994's BEE THOUSAND made them the darlings of the newly dubbed lo-fi underground. So new fans might have a chance to catch up with the band's long pre-"fame" career, GbV released the unpretentiously titled BOX.

This handsome package containins four of GbV's first five albums--DEVIL BETWEEN MY TOES, SANDBOX, SELF-INFLICTED AERIAL NOSTALGIA, and SAME PLACE THE FLY GOT SMASHED--excluding only the debut FOREVER SINCE BREAKFAST. The set also includes an exclusive CD of 19 previously unreleased tracks, many of them outtakes from the BEE THOUSAND sessions. BOX documents GbV's growth as the musicians shattered their influences--Wire, R.E.M., British Invasion pop, and jangly '80s post-punk-and gradually reassembled the shards into something startlingly new. Hardcore GbV enthusiasts and casual fans alike will find this collection essential and illuminating.