Pitchfork

To get to the gems on Robert Pollard's Crickets compilation, you need to do a bit more sifting than expected for a supposed best-of. Still, the very best tracks from the set compete with anything from Guided by Voices' spine-tingling and life-affirming basement arena peak. Here are some of those highlights.

The chemistry between Pollard and late-era GbV guitarist Doug Gillard seemed too fertile to be contained by the band's output alone, and they snuck out some of their finest anthems on records only heard by the devoted-- unless you were at the many GbV shows where these songs were staples. Speak Kindly of Your Volunteer Fire Department would have been another GbV record if not for bad timing, and for the uninitiated, "Pop Zeus" is one of more than a few must-hear tracks.

Crickets also throws on "Bunco Men," a catchy and well-paced highlight still bristling with a certain pre-discovery hunger, culled from the first 4-disc Suitcase box that was probably a little intimidating to casual fans.

And I'd just be insane not to mention "Time Machines", another Pollard/Gillard collaboration from the Lexo and the Leapers EP that's among Pollard's most infectious.