They Might Be Giants - C/D, S/D, OPO etc

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I can't make up my mind.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 19:09 (6 years ago) Permalink

Awful band. Really, I can't understand the appeal. Sort of catchy (but not really) songs, inane lyrics. (The Statue Got Me High???) I bet their kids albums are great though.

― Mr. Que (Mr.Que), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 19:14 (6 years ago) Permalink

Great band. Use the search function.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 19:15 (6 years ago) Permalink

search function only turns up a random assortment of threads ("could they write a musical?" "change things about the band" etc.)

I'm more interested in an overview of their ouevre/"schtick", their songwriting, and the issue of their "dorkiness" (particularly how that has limited their appeal and why that is). Also how, at least on their first three albums, they fit into that 80s tendency of nerdy white guys appropriating and using explicitly non-nerdy white guy idioms - folk, reggae, world music, dance music (see also David Byrne, Paul Simon - I wanna throw Pere Ubu's 80s records in here too for some reason).

I think they've written a lot of great songs, but have a tendency to retreat behind a wall of schtick that makes any kind of emotional connection with their music problematic. But some stuff, if you peel away the levels of forced irony and wordiness, is really quite bleak and despairing, genuinely moving even. (see "They'll Need a Crane", for ex.)

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 19:27 (6 years ago) Permalink

they seem doomed to be a "cult" band - like Insane Clown Posse or Phish or something - where any kind of serious critical evaluation will never happen because they've built this protective wall of schtick+diehard fans around them that prevents it.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 19:30 (6 years ago) Permalink

Though they're not exactly PIONEERS of the "catchy melody/dark content" thing, they sure are accomplished practitioners. So many songs sneakily about death, divorce, etc.

x-post um have you seen the movie about them? 100% "serious critical evaluation".

― the doaple gonger (nickalicious), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 19:32 (6 years ago) Permalink

Gigantic (A Tale of Two Johns)

― the doaple gonger (nickalicious), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 19:34 (6 years ago) Permalink

sources reported the movie was "boring" so I didn't bother. Who's providing the critical evaluation in the movie...? They make a lot of jokes/references to other bands in their early material, but they don't strike me as even being on the radar of most of their contemporaries/peers.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 19:37 (6 years ago) Permalink

(altho Linnell blows crazy sax on an early JSBX tune - that always struck me as an odd pairing of NY art rockers)

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 19:39 (6 years ago) Permalink

They are the Dilbert of music.

― polyphonic (polyphonic), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 19:43 (6 years ago) Permalink

Who's providing the critical evaluation in the movie...?

Look at cast list in link provided! Jon Stewart! Dave Eggers! Paul Simon! Sarah Vowell! Etc!

― the doaple gonger (nickalicious), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 19:44 (6 years ago) Permalink

Since you give the "Destroy" option above, I will choose Destroy.

― Mr. Que (Mr.Que), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 19:47 (6 years ago) Permalink

Classic.

― zeus (zeus), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 19:58 (6 years ago) Permalink

I don't think even Jon Stewart would consider his own opinion a "critical reevaluation"... I wonder what someone like Christgau has to say (he probably hates them)

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 21:31 (6 years ago) Permalink

I stand corrected (at least in regards to the first three):

They Might Be Giants [Bar/None, 1986]
Two catchy weirdos, eighteen songs, and the hits just keep on coming in an exuberantly annoying show of creative superabundance. Their secret is that as unmediated pop postmodernists they can be themselves stealing from anywhere, modulating without strain or personal commitment from hick to nut to nerd. Like the cross-eyed bear in the regretful but not altogether kind "Hide Away Folk Family," their "shoes are laced with irony," but that doesn't doom them to art-school cleverness or never meaning what they say. Their great subject is the information overload that lends these songs their form. They live in a world where "Everything Right Is Wrong Again" and "Youth Culture Killed My Dog." A

Lincoln [Restless/Bar/None, 1988]
XTC as computer nerds rather than studio wimps--change for chord change and beat for irrelevant beat, they're actively annoying even if intelligence is all you ask of your art-pop. Except maybe on the antiboomer "Purple Toupee," side one's hooks begin and end with "Ana Ng," a beyond-perfect tour de force about a Vietnamese woman they never got to meet; until "Kiss Me, Son of God," which closes the album and could be anti-Castro if they let it, side two's are cleverness for cleverness's sake. And damned clever they are. B+

Flood [Elektra, 1990]
tunes, aarghh, tunes--please not more tunes ("Dead," "Your Racist Friend") **

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 21:32 (6 years ago) Permalink

well sorta - he calls them annoying twice...

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 21:34 (6 years ago) Permalink

What's all this "serious critical evaluation" nonsense. They are about one tenth as dorky as ILM.

Classic.

― everything (everything), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 21:40 (6 years ago) Permalink

C'est Classique.

― Mallory L . O'Donnell (That Bitch Camille), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 21:44 (6 years ago) Permalink

Search:

Lincoln
Flood
Apollo 18

OPO:

Tough call. I'll go with "Ana Ng" for now.

― Mallory L . O'Donnell (That Bitch Camille), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 21:48 (6 years ago) Permalink

Although "I've Got A Match" is tempting, given my emotional state...

"I'm gonna die / if you touch me one more time
Well I guess that I'm / gonna die no matter what"

― Mallory L . O'Donnell (That Bitch Camille), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 21:49 (6 years ago) Permalink

that could almost be a Will Oldham line

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 21:51 (6 years ago) Permalink

Search also: John Henry and about two-thirds of Factory Showroom.

― everything (everything), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 21:55 (6 years ago) Permalink

They are better at writing miserable songs about dying, being dead or death in general that anyone else I can think of right now.

― everything (everything), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 21:56 (6 years ago) Permalink

TMBG OPO
T M B G P O X

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 22:05 (6 years ago) Permalink

ah, I didn't search for "TMBG" - thx

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 22:06 (6 years ago) Permalink

TMBG were my favourite band, in 1990, when I was 15 or 16. They were my first ever gig, in 92. But I thought I'd grown out of them by the end of 94, and stopped paying attention. Then I caught up with them again in about 2001, and realised they'd never really lost it, but that if anything, they'd got a bit less wacky, which meant there were more sweet clever pop songs on the later albums (unfortunately this has changed again, more recently).

So these days, as a grown-up non-wacky non-fanboy, my picks would be:

Spiralling Shape. A very OTM song about novelty fixation and the race to hip, and the fact those things don't bring any happiness. "Nobody knows what it's really like, but everyone says it's great".

I Can Hear You. Recorded on an old wax cylider, it's just a small handful of two-line vignettes about different forms of communications technology, and the lengths people will go to to find new ways of just talking to each other. It can move me to tears. First time I heard it, I immediately ripped it to mp3 and emailled it to somebody, because that just made sense.

Four of Two. From the first kids' album, a little nonsense song which is in fact a sneaky allegory about how easy it is to think you'll one day meet your ideal partner, but then wake up one morning to realise that you're old and your life's flown by and it's too late...and yet to still think you're bound to meet them, soon.

She's An Angel. A very sweet and simple first love song, which is amazed and shocked by the way it feels, and is too shy to say "I really like you", so hides behind random tangents and adolescent surrealism...but doesn't manage to hide its real message very well, in the end.

Till My Head Falls Off. Drug addled suicide note. Which rocks.

Dr. Worm. Possibly their most archetypically TMBG sounding chorus ever, and the words are about a nice old man who's always wanted to be a famous jazz drummer and thinks he still can be, one day, if he just practices a bit more. Beautiful.

I could probably go on for a while, but I won't.

― JimD (JimD), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 23:20 (6 years ago) Permalink

"Birdhouse in Your Soul" is one of the greatest songs ever written.

Nowadays, their childrens albums are about fifty billion times better than their "real" ones.

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 23:23 (6 years ago) Permalink

I think I scared a girl off with the sun song.

― Major Alfonso (Major Alfonso), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 23:26 (6 years ago) Permalink

TMBG's first 5 or so records ruled!!!! The rest is not so great. "John Henry" (the first time they recorded w/an actual band) is brilliant and remains my favorite.

"road movie to berlin," from "flood," was the first song my wife ever saw me sing in public...we've been married over 13 years now. I totally credit John and John of TMBG. Thanks, nerds!

-chadly con Queso

― chadbeck (squirrel boy), Wednesday, 2 August 2006 00:04 (6 years ago) Permalink

My friend's mom and stepdad had "Birhouse in your Soul" as their wedding song. That's pretty adorable, especially since they're old NPR nature-loving types.

I wish no particular harm on TMBG. Flood is a nice album.

― Racist Friend (Roger Fidelity), Wednesday, 2 August 2006 01:00 (6 years ago) Permalink

they had a good run in the '80s and early '90s, and some of the children's stuff and one-offs were nice too, but tmbg are so beyond dreadful now i can't imagine they keep putting out music for any other reason than the money.

― Jonas Bronck (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 2 August 2006 01:21 (6 years ago) Permalink

long tall weekend was good too.

― Jonas Bronck (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 2 August 2006 01:24 (6 years ago) Permalink

Probably "Birdhouse In Your Soul" was the song which got me into contemporary pop music (before that I was listening only '60s music). Still a damn perfect song, though "Don't Let's Start" or "Snail Shell" are exceptionally great too, and they have loads of more great stuff. I haven't listened their post '96 stuff much, just their 2004 album, which was a disappointment.

― zeus (zeus), Wednesday, 2 August 2006 06:12 (6 years ago) Permalink

"Ana Ng"

― sovietpanda (sovietpanda), Saturday, 5 August 2006 22:11 (6 years ago) Permalink

OPO: Birdhouse definitely.

I'm conflicted about "Shoehorn with Teeth": either it's meaningless and infuriating or it's wonderfully oblique. I can't make up my mind.

― The Mad Puffin (The Mad Puffin), Saturday, 5 August 2006 22:43 (6 years ago) Permalink

4 years pass...

Wonder if anyone's heard their newer records? The Else was surprisingly good. Very straightforward but just a good rock record. I actually kind of enjoy the kids stuff. I'm a dork.

I mostly bumped this to say that "Narrow Your Eyes" may be their best song ever. The lyrics on that one kill me - "I get off the bus/ride past our stop/and though I'm late/I can't get off/I just can't bear/to tell you some lies/so narrow your eyes" **shudder**

― frogbs, Thursday, 24 February 2011 19:24 (2 years ago) Permalink

i've heard most of their later albums and while there are definitely some good songs here and there, the children's albums are by and large better than the 'regular' albums. also the bonus disc for The Else is more fun than the proper album.

but yeah "Narrow Your Eyes" is great, they can kill you with occasional sincere moments.

― some dude, Thursday, 24 February 2011 19:27 (2 years ago) Permalink

I'm a dork.

also this sentence is just kind of assumed when you're posting on a TMBG thread, no need to type it

― some dude, Thursday, 24 February 2011 19:30 (2 years ago) Permalink

Yeah I was surprised by the amount of effort they put into those kids albums. They remind me of the earlier stuff but with somewhat dumber lyrics. I don't know if they're better than The Else but some of it is very good. "Can You Find It?" and "C is For Conifers" are just oddly touching, I guess

― frogbs, Thursday, 24 February 2011 19:39 (2 years ago) Permalink

the kids stuff is fun. for the most part, not all that diff (musically at least) from their regular stuff. and kids do indeed love it.

― tylerw, Thursday, 24 February 2011 19:41 (2 years ago) Permalink

the bonus disc for The Else is more fun than the proper album

Oh, fer sher! "Why the Christ, why the Devil, Why did you grow a beard?!?"

Of the later stuff, "Mink Car" is brilliant but "The Spine" is their absolute nadir, just completely unredeemable.

― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Thursday, 24 February 2011 20:03 (2 years ago) Permalink

Oh, and Tyler I wanna party with you, always find you on my fave threads. :-)

― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Thursday, 24 February 2011 20:05 (2 years ago) Permalink

Really really liked "Brain Problem Situation", "We Live in a Dump", "Yeah, the Deranged Millionaire" and "Cast Your Pod to the Wind". I don't think it's better than the main disc but it's a great bonus. TMBG were really a band built for these types of podcasts.

Agree that "The Spine" is the worst. I mean it is fairly decent in spots but I really hate how every song on the first half sounds like every other song on the first half. I really liked "Broke in Two"

― frogbs, Thursday, 24 February 2011 20:11 (2 years ago) Permalink

haaa right back atcha, gerald. and i agree about the spine -- i remember listening to that a bunch and deciding it really was *bad*. or just completely lifeless.

― tylerw, Thursday, 24 February 2011 20:12 (2 years ago) Permalink

So these guys are releasing a new album this year and will be touring the US in September. Which is when I was thinking of visiting. They've already announced a few cities and SF and ATL are among them so now I am really really wondering I cant only get over but get to see the beloves Johns live again woo!

― berk psychosis (Trayce), Thursday, 24 February 2011 20:17 (2 years ago) Permalink

Here was my review:

"John Flansburgh, attempting to describe why "Sensurround" was left off of Factory Showroom: "For me, I think of every song as its own thing. I think it's interesting to see the shape of an album after it's put together; you can create a different listening experience depending on how you stack up the songs. The most discipline that we ever apply to an album sequence is avoiding like-sounding songs. If we have too many mid-tempo songs, we'll leave a couple of them off. Or if we have a better example of a song than another, we tend to leave the second-rate one off." Ignoring the fact that I find “Sensurround” to be perhaps the best song of the Factory Showroom era, I really do like the sentiment behind this statement. So it's a little disappointing to find them pretty much ignoring their old values - here comes The Spine, a disc that fills nearly the entire first half with mid-tempo rockers, of which only “Experimental Film” makes an impression. No, none of these songs are bad in isolation, but stacked one after another gives the album a really bland feel, completely atypical of what we’ve come to expect from these guys. The experimentation is toned down – there’s auto-tune on “Bastard Wants to Hit Me”, and one song that’s reminiscent of Flood but only about half as catchy (“Stalk of Wheat”). Other than that, they’ve almost fully transformed into your typical rock band, although the lyrical puzzles are still abound – Linnell sings about resignation from life (“Memo to Human Resources”), drug addiction (“Thunderbird”), and bizarre strings of cause-and-effect relationships (“Wearing a Raincoat”). The unfortunate thing is that the lyrics are the really the only interesting parts of them. I’m not exactly sure what happened here – maybe they purposely decided to write a more “adult” album to offset the kids’ one – but this group never really did the “mature adult rock” thing in the first place. The saving grace of the album is that side 2 has a few legitimately great tracks - “Museum of Idiots” gets by on a strong and punchy horn section, “Damn Good Times” is an energetic slice of power-pop with an accelerating guitar solo ending, and “Broke In Two” rides a wonky guitar line into the stratospheres of catchiness that this group was always capable of. But other than those tracks (and “Experimental Film”), there’s little on here you’ll want to hear again. So give it credit for those few great songs and making an album that’s at least listenable all the way through, but you know the band can do better than this. It's funny to hear them sing on "Stalk of Wheat" that they're "out of ideas", but less funny when it actually seems true."

― frogbs, Thursday, 24 February 2011 20:18 (2 years ago) Permalink

I stil havent got round to hearing some recent albums. I love "Sensurround", its a great song.

― berk psychosis (Trayce), Thursday, 24 February 2011 20:22 (2 years ago) Permalink

i've heard most of their later albums and while there are definitely some good songs here and there, the children's albums are by and large better than the 'regular' albums.

"The Spine" is their absolute nadir,

agree with all this

― yesterday's twat (sic), Thursday, 24 February 2011 22:38 (2 years ago) Permalink

i covered "narrow your eyes" for a fan-assembled TMBG tribute album when i was like 16

― congratulations (n/a), Thursday, 24 February 2011 22:40 (2 years ago) Permalink

At parties some of us have been known to break out into spontaneous acapella barbershop renditions of "Kiss me, son of god".

― berk psychosis (Trayce), Thursday, 24 February 2011 22:43 (2 years ago) Permalink

Skipping 110 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

lol

― some dude, Wednesday, 22 August 2012 19:22 (9 months ago) Permalink

The best post-Factory Showroom song is "A Certain Person I Could Name". That would be in my POX for sure.

― justfanoe (Greg Fanoe), Wednesday, 22 August 2012 19:30 (9 months ago) Permalink

Obviously, that's "Certain People I Could Name". Whoops.

― justfanoe (Greg Fanoe), Wednesday, 22 August 2012 19:37 (9 months ago) Permalink

you guys have all heard "Sensurround", right?

― frogbs, Wednesday, 22 August 2012 19:50 (9 months ago) Permalink

Sensurround is top 10 for me.

― Doctor Casino, Wednesday, 22 August 2012 19:55 (9 months ago) Permalink

it's v good

― some dude, Wednesday, 22 August 2012 19:57 (9 months ago) Permalink

I remember being a little upset at Flansy for saying "we didn't put it on the album because it was too close to Spiralling Shape (another excellent tune)", then they put out The Spine which had like, seven or eight songs in a row that were basically all the same

Again, this is what I'm really liking about Join Us, every song is its own thing and nothing really sounds like anything else. Right now I'm obsessed with the one that sounds like a Pure Guava-era Ween outtake ("Dog Walker")

― frogbs, Wednesday, 22 August 2012 20:00 (9 months ago) Permalink

After a couple listens, seriously digging "Can't Keep Johnny Down" - which is to say, I really dig "Here Comes My Baby" by Cat Stevens. Generally an enjoyable listening experience although few things are really jumping out at me - there's something generally flat and even about their sound these days, not sure how to describe it...just sort of "clean studio rock band" or something. Not sure it needs to be 18 tracks. But I'm gonna keep it in rotation, I suspect there's some growers here....

― Doctor Casino, Wednesday, 22 August 2012 21:02 (9 months ago) Permalink

the disconcertingly clean sound of Join Us is actually one of its strengths imo, struck me as off-putting at first but then i realized how well it served the lyrics

― some dude, Wednesday, 22 August 2012 21:07 (9 months ago) Permalink

"Join Us" may just be my jumping off point for these lads. It just hasn't made an impression at all. I liked "The Else" though I can't remember much from that either. The kids albums were all much catchier and fun for me.

― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Wednesday, 22 August 2012 22:40 (9 months ago) Permalink

I was so disappointed State Songs was original songs and not Linnell just singing the official state songs. Really wanted him to bust out the old accordion for the nice waltz that is "Here We Have Idaho." I just couldn't listen to the album because of flase advertising!

― drawings by teen cultists (Crabbits), Thursday, 23 August 2012 00:08 (9 months ago) Permalink

It's just kind of weird, like... these guys used to be able, just the two of them, generate a really full and interesting sound. And yet with a full band they either do kind of generic uptempo stuff in the general sonic territory of "Boss of Me," or, inexplicably, something like "Cloisonne" which just seems totally lazy, demo-button-on-the-keyboard stuff. I mean, even "Which Describes How You're Feeling" has a more interesting and surprising arrangement.

Don't get me wrong, though, the good songs on this are probably the best songs I've heard from them in over a decade, although I guess I didn't really give this many listens to the other post-Factory Showroom records. Definitely a lot of good stuff to cherry-pick from this. Still think it could be pruned and tightened a bit, although at least at 47 minutes it doesn't overstay its welcome.

― Doctor Casino, Thursday, 23 August 2012 00:37 (9 months ago) Permalink

I basically cosign every word uttered by Doctor Casino itt

― Guayaquil (eephus!), Thursday, 23 August 2012 01:42 (9 months ago) Permalink

Picking this album back up again, still liking it okay, still convinced it's got too many tracks, or too many things that feel like they'd make solid endings. I would happily cut "Three Might Be Duende," "Cloisonne," and "Protagonist," and there's a few others that are good but not that good. Just kind of dilutes the impact of what could be a pleasant, chewy platter of songs a la Factory Showroom.

― Doctor Casino, Thursday, 30 August 2012 03:06 (9 months ago) Permalink

incidentally, pulling out Factory Showroom - - - how did this cover art get so bad? Really one of the ugliest things I've ever seen.

― Doctor Casino, Thursday, 30 August 2012 03:08 (9 months ago) Permalink

tbf NOBODY had a good album cover in 1996

― some dude, Thursday, 30 August 2012 03:09 (9 months ago) Permalink

Has our burgeoning 90s rock revival hegemony yet produced a "worst album cover of 1996" poll? Because that would be HARD if this one wasn't in the list.

― Doctor Casino, Thursday, 30 August 2012 03:11 (9 months ago) Permalink

no but that would be a competitive poll

― some dude, Thursday, 30 August 2012 03:19 (9 months ago) Permalink

But the Factory Showroom artwork is good

― Supper's Burnt (PaulTMA), Thursday, 30 August 2012 11:49 (9 months ago) Permalink

If you feel like doing some looking, I know he sang a whole bunch of the real state songs when he did his solo tour around that time.

― ENERGY FOOD (en i see kay), Thursday, 30 August 2012 12:20 (9 months ago) Permalink

he did stuff like "California Uber Alles" too, which is hilarious

― frogbs, Thursday, 30 August 2012 13:54 (9 months ago) Permalink

the whole "State Songs" project was really one of the least ambitious albums of all time and I love it for that. here's a quote from Linnell himself:

"I don't think that the songs are liable to be adopted as the state anthems of the actual states, sadly. I was thinking initially that that might be a nice thing, but thinking about it I think songs like 'Oregon is bad' are not likely to go down very well in Oregon."

― frogbs, Thursday, 30 August 2012 13:55 (9 months ago) Permalink

frogbs, i'm curious what you mean about "high school band" and "least ambitious" and "cheaply made" re State Songs -- to me the recording is indistinguishable from TMBG records of the same period

― Guayaquil (eephus!), Thursday, 30 August 2012 14:05 (9 months ago) Permalink

oh the arrangements are definitely more spare than live band era TMBG (and less polished and drum machine-driven than early TMBG)

― some dude, Thursday, 30 August 2012 14:09 (9 months ago) Permalink

It's similar to some early stuff, but there are more horn players, and none of the musical parts are tricky like, say, "Puppet Head". IMO it's very distinguishable from Apollo 18 and beyond. I have no idea if it really was cheaply made, but the synthesizer sounds all make it seem that way; most of the musicians really do sound like high schoolers. As far as the ambition goes, I can't speak for Linnell, but to me it's always felt like he was doing it because TMBG was on break, the only concept was "I'm going to write a bunch of songs titled after states, that are only vaguely about those states", y'know, just to keep his muse strong or whatever. It's very charming.

― frogbs, Thursday, 30 August 2012 14:33 (9 months ago) Permalink

yeah it was during that long period after they got dropped from Elektra where they seemed to be actively avoiding doing a new studio album until they knew if they were going to another major or whatever; live album, internet-only rarities album, EPs, side projects, endless tours, etc. also feels like the beginning of them just picking a theme to write tons and tons of songs around (Venue Songs, Here Come The ABCs/123s/etc.)

― some dude, Thursday, 30 August 2012 14:41 (9 months ago) Permalink

They wrote a lot of good tunes in that period; it's a shame that so few of them ended up on Mink Car (and the ones that did were often in inferior versions). I think I've been a fan since '97 (as an 11 year old!) and I remember how frustrating it was for the "new" TMBG album (Long Tall Weekend) to be basically inaccessible. It was pioneering in retrospect but having no physical product was a pretty bad idea at the time.

― frogbs, Thursday, 30 August 2012 14:46 (9 months ago) Permalink

Yeah, that was exactly the period where I fell off as a fan, and I don't know if that's because the content was really in decline, or because it felt sort of ephemeral and stopgap, or because my own tastes were shifting or what.

― Doctor Casino, Thursday, 30 August 2012 15:00 (9 months ago) Permalink

see i only bought Flood like less than a year before Factory Showroom and saw them live for the first time '98 so that was a whole period of me getting into the band and exploring the back catalog. although by the time Mink Car came along i'd kind of exhausted my interest in them and didn't cop it or see them live for a few years.

― some dude, Thursday, 30 August 2012 15:12 (9 months ago) Permalink

2 of 70 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars Hmmmm! Time to make lemonade!, November 23, 1999
By Bruce Richardson (Herscher, IL United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: State Songs (Audio CD)
(Updated from previous review after some more listening)
I was sent to this album through a link on the State Song Web Site. Even though I recognized the TMBG name as something I wouldn't normally buy, I was totally unprepared for the disappointment I was soon to feel. They are far from the Official state songs, as one would be led to expect from the title, etc.

I was hunting for a reference recording to use with my music students. I now have a recording for when I want to play Crazy music for my 1st graders. This music should prove very enjoyable to those fans of Barney and Teletubbies.

Can you tell I am sincerely disappointed in this album. My colleague sympathized with me on this Dog purchase

― Guayaquil (eephus!), Thursday, 30 August 2012 21:17 (9 months ago) Permalink

That's pretty much OTM, and I like the album

― frogbs, Thursday, 30 August 2012 21:20 (9 months ago) Permalink

haha the album really does serve a nice function as a rickroll

― some dude, Thursday, 30 August 2012 21:21 (9 months ago) Permalink

I love the line on the first song: "The songs of the 50 states/The songs of the 50 states/I'm not gonna say they're great/I ain't gonna say they ain't"

― frogbs, Thursday, 30 August 2012 21:24 (9 months ago) Permalink

I feel like any album that serves well as "Crazy music for 1st graders" is a must-buy for me

― Guayaquil (eephus!), Thursday, 30 August 2012 21:26 (9 months ago) Permalink

one of the main reasons State Songs is great is that Flans didn't write any of the songs

― * The "no hands" rule can be compared to socialist tax policies (Autumn Almanac), Thursday, 30 August 2012 22:29 (9 months ago) Permalink

I have nothing against him, but especially lately his melodies haven't exactly been setting the LPs alight

― * The "no hands" rule can be compared to socialist tax policies (Autumn Almanac), Thursday, 30 August 2012 22:29 (9 months ago) Permalink

Melody wise Linnell's always been at the front for me anyway...most of the early singles etc

― Master of Treacle, Friday, 31 August 2012 02:37 (9 months ago) Permalink

Linnell definitely has the stronger melodic gifts of the two. Flansburgh is no slouch, and makes up for it in ideas and personality, he's just a bit less consistent or subtle by comparison.

― some dude, Friday, 31 August 2012 02:47 (9 months ago) Permalink

Well "Judy is Your Vietnam" off Join Us is definitely a highlight. Agreed that Linnell usually writes the better melodies (he has a superhuman gift for that) but I can't talk shit about the guy behind "Put Your Hand Inside the Puppet Head", "Narrow Your Eyes", and "See the Constellation"

― frogbs, Friday, 31 August 2012 04:17 (9 months ago) Permalink

what i'm saying

Flansburgh being better than usual is i think what made the difference in Join Us being an improvement from other later albums

― some dude, Friday, 31 August 2012 04:19 (9 months ago) Permalink

This is all reminding me of an incomplete project I began sometime in the late 90s with the intent of "proving," Paul-Is-Dead-style, that John Flansburgh conspired to have John Linnell murdered and replaced by a robot duplicate, all of which was spelled out in their songs before, during, and after the crime.

― Doctor Casino, Friday, 31 August 2012 05:34 (9 months ago) Permalink

Man, I got a lot further along with this than I thought!

March 1992: Apollo 18 (1992) This bleak, darkly-shaded album is the core of the entire murder theory. It seems apparent that the attack and switcharoo took place directly after the completion of these recordings, which are top-heavy with references to death, murder, and duplication. There is little of the (admittedly black) humor that made "Miscellaneous T" so easy to swallow; Linnell has reached the nadir of his Hamlet-like state of inaction, writing and performing songs which refer without much artifice to his own very imminent doom. As a final general note, the album's cover art is again significant here: a whale and a giant squid are depicted locked in mortal combat, with a spaceship floating nearby. So it was with the band: the original duo was stalemated, and a machine waited in the wings to take the place of one of them.
The songs themselves, up until the Fiingertips Medley that concludes the album with a barely-concealed murder song-cycle, trade more than usual in images of death, from both singers. In fact, the two sing together more than usual, perhaps again due to Linnell's resignation. They cooperate on the scene-setting album-opener "Dig My Grave" (could it be any more obvious?), as well as "The Statue Got Me High," in which an automaton (statue) "makes" Linnell "fry" and "die."
We must linger on the extended narrative of "Turn Around"...

etc., etc., etc. Ahh, youth!

― Doctor Casino, Friday, 31 August 2012 05:46 (9 months ago) Permalink

Linnell seems to recognize that Flansburgh will kill him, but wants to leave a final message to his one-time friend: After you kill me, don't forget me. Look behind you and see my skull on the ground. Flansburgh would later throw this request back in the metaphorical face of his deceased collaborator by titling the band's next major release Back to Skull - by implication refusing to turn around and behold Linnell's legacy.

― Doctor Casino, Friday, 31 August 2012 05:48 (9 months ago) Permalink

yes, and now the Linnell-bot is going to murder Flans, hence "When Will You Die?"

― frogbs, Friday, 31 August 2012 13:42 (9 months ago) Permalink

Flood book coming: 33 1/3 Series of books

― some dude, Friday, 31 August 2012 21:44 (9 months ago) Permalink

YES, will buy without hesitation.

― Doctor Casino, Friday, 31 August 2012 23:09 (9 months ago) Permalink

screw the 33 1/3 book, I want Doctor Casino's Linnell-is-dead book!

― Guayaquil (eephus!), Saturday, 1 September 2012 00:14 (9 months ago) Permalink

hahaha, I wish I still had a really stupid, geeky, cornucopia-of-random-articles type website, it's kind of hard to think of what venue this sort of thing belongs on...

― Doctor Casino, Saturday, 1 September 2012 00:21 (9 months ago) Permalink

The Awl? =

― Guayaquil (eephus!), Tuesday, 4 September 2012 13:18 (9 months ago) Permalink

Sure I saw some John-on-John slash fiction once

― Supper's Burnt (PaulTMA), Tuesday, 4 September 2012 13:58 (9 months ago) Permalink

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