(MVD)

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BY RANDY HARWARD

If Robert Pollard crapped in a clamshell case, Guided by Voices fans would buy it. Same if he snipped deodorant chunks from his armpits, collected sunburn peelings, or put his ciggy ashes in a baggie. It warrants saying with every Pollard Inc. release because it's true. In the case of The Devil Went Home and Puked, a patchwork of footage from Pollard projects (really) old and new and of course GBV, as well as animations, home videos, news footage and video non-sequiturs that range from grainy to decent and are stitched together with scarcely a modicum of care.

Puked is exactly that-an emesis from which only GBV fans and forensic examiners can sort out the significance of the snippets of stories, and shots of piss-drunk Bobby P. attempting a siesta in a jetted tub and someone getting stuffed in an oven. Full songs are scattered throughout, but the charm of Puked is seeing what biographical tidbits about Pollard and GBV can be gleaned from it. Not that it completely excludes newbies or casual fans. For them, there's the occasional short-and-sweet shot, like the home video testament of a drunken former student of Pollard's: "Robert Pollard was my sixth-grade math teacher. All he did was sit around, tell us ghost stories, sing lyrics and work on fuckin' album covers. Thank you, Robert-I love you man, and I hate math!" If there's any one quote that accurately sums up the man and his work, it's that.

Special Features: Nine music videos (four GBV, four Circus Devils, one Boston Spaceships), plus the cheesy-on-purpose video yearbook "Loving Memories," and a performance art piece set to "Gold Star for Robot Boy."