I procured this 15 track collection of GBV rarities a few years ago On Soulseek, but I know nothing of it's origins. Not even listed among the many GBV bootlegs on the great and otherwise thorough Guided By Voices Database, this is obviously a fan-assembled compilation. Carefree Kitchens is akin to the much lengthier To Trigger a Synapse clusterfuck I posted last Halloween.
Surprisingly, for a GBV mix of this scarcity, there's some pretty substantive and revealing cuts, not the least of wish demo incarnations of later to be classics "Echos Myron," "Smothered In Hugs," and even "Glad Girls," which much to my surprise began life all the way back in 1993. Almost as rewarding is "Sleepers," a buried gem which had a significant portion of it's melody grafted onto Bee Thousand's "Peep-Hole." Same situation with "Song of Below," which served as a demo of sorts for "The Goldheart Mounatintop Queen Directory," which appeared on Bee Thousand.
As many of you know, Robert Pollard and Co. for no explicable reason, aborted an entire album's worth of material that was to be released as The Power of Suck. Many of it's songs were later released on official GBV albums including Under the Bushes Under the Stars, but Carefree Kitchens ostensibly contains four songs from the abandoned Suck sessions, with only "I Am Decided" seeing the light of day on any official release (specifically the Suitcase 2 box). By the way, "Decided" has it's antecedents in a much rawer and livelier unreleased GBV song, "Whiskey On Your Breath" that I will try to upload in the not too distant future.
In the midst of all the aforementioned are a handful brief but admirable sketches, "Separation of Church and State," "Roving Reporter," "Good Old Mr. Expandable," and the distorto-punk outburst, "I Can't Win," all presumably recorded prior to GBV's notoriety. All in all, Carefree Kitchens is a real find for the die-hards out there. My tip of the hat to the fine soul(s) that cobbled together this collection, and of course, the bard of Dayton himself.
01. I Can't Win
02. Separation of Church and State
03. Echos Myron (acoustic demo)
04. I Am Decided (Power of Suck demo)
05. Song of Below
06. Stingy Queens (Power of Suck demo)
07. Roving Reporter
08. Sleepers
09. Speak Like Men (Power of Suck demo)
10. In Need You Now
11. Stumbling Blocks Into Stepping Stones
12. Good Old Mr. Expandable
13. Sweeping Bones (Power of Suck demo)
14. Glad Girls (1993 demo)
15. Smotherd in Hugs (demo)