Splitting the Difference # 15 - Bevil Web/3 Dream Bag 7" (1994, Simple Solution)

This slab of wax featuring no less than three prominent Guided By Voices "guildsmen" between both sides (Tobin Sprout = Bevil Web; Greg Demos & Don Thrasher = 3 Dream Bag) was probably by no coincidence recorded and ultimately released during the Vampire on Titus/Bee Thousand bumper crop heyday era of GBV. The grainy, and now fabled lo-fidelity aesthetic, manages to seap it's way into each pore and crevace of this record, almost to the extent that it struck my ears as though Sprout and his next door neighbors on the other side were slaving at a fever pitch to keep up with The Joneses (i.e. Robert Pollard).
There's little to separate Bevil Web from Tobin Sprout's solo work of the same period (check out my spotlight on another Bevil Web single here). In fact, "Gleemer (The Deeds of Fertile Jim)" was later (or perhaps prior) cut in a slightly alternate version for Guided By Voices Vampire on Titus LP. Here is some background details on 3 Dream Bag, as laid out on their Myspace page (linked above):

3 Dream Bag is a home recording project featuring Greg Demos (Guided By Voices) and Don Thrasher (Guided By Voices, Swearing at Motorists) The former bandmates in the New Creatures, gathered together on several occassions in the early '90s and recorded more than 70 songs. Some of the material has been released, most recently on the new Gas Daddy Go! Records limited edition CD "Memory Garden." Other releases include the 4-song EP "A Frenzy In Frownland" (Gas Daddy Go!), split 7-inch with Tobin Sprout's Bevil Web (Simple Solution Records) and the vinyl-only LP release "The Fertile Octagenarian" (Naked Fat Baby Records). Fresh new review: 3 Dream Bag / Memory Garden (Gas Daddy Go! Records) ...while there have been countless satellites hovering around the gravitational pull of the Guided By Voices galaxy for years, it's been a while since the elusive3 Dream Bag has made any waves.

Bevil Web
01. Dig The Catacombs
02. Apple Cores & Plums
03. Gleemer (The Deeds Of Fertile Jim) [Different Version]

3 Dream Bag
04. Saline Man
05. Demons Become Doves
06. Bad Rice Stew/Chase & Sanborn

Hear