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

they would be a good late night house band. but maybe darnielle will step up

Johnny Fever, I think you should take your Colbert dream public ... or if you already have, then, like, MORE public. Start a campaign! It's a brilliant idea and should happen. The spring tour is just a bump in the road, doesn't mean it can't happen.

Just this morning I was randomly thinking about how many times I saw TMBG as a teenager (6 or 8?) and how many of their shirts I owned (probably 4 or 5?). I love these guys forever, even if I stopped paying attention.

Might have to hit that tour.

the Colbert idea really is great. he's supposedly not starting on CBS until around September, so there's still time that it's plausible!

I'd love to see that too, I think what's kind of lost on a lot of people who haven't seen them live is that they're both really funny in person, especially Flansburgh.

Oh, September really? The dream is alive!

they'd seriously be perfect for the job. personable, talented and versatile, very funny/quick-witted, quirky but can rock if necessary, based in NYC, probably not super expensive?

this has to happen. someone start a tumblr or something

RIP early TMBG booster and showbiz legend Joe Franklin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFRjVXh9_8E

new video by Mark Marek!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okT-EgXUD0M

these lyrics from "Answer" made me laugh out loud:

You wanted tall
I came in under 5'4
Then you asked for dark
I tend to sunburn a lot
As for handsome, well
Can't help you there
So make of it what you will

It may take an ocean of whiskey and time
To wash all of the letdown out of your mind
And I may not be the one you expected but
I am the answer to all your prayers

Dud.

like 'em, don't like 'em, at least watch their cover of Bills, Bills, Bills

it's good!!

http://www.avclub.com/video/they-might-be-giants-covers-destinys-child-221191

i love that song and that band too much to ever watch that

^

They'll need a crane

http://www.avclub.com/video/they-might-be-giants-covers-destinys-child-221191

This is really really good!

stop waving that thing around, i'm not clicking on it

LOL

Hahahahaha!

New album Phone Power is quite good - a few songs sound like obvious duds but there's like 13-14 really solid tunes there. Kinda weird that there's another version of "Black Ops" on there but it's better than the original. As usual the Linnell songs are generally better, two in particular are really really great - "ECNALUMBA" and "Shape Shifter".

Didn't even know about this; will check it out

It's just another collection of last year's weekly Dial-A-Song songs

there was another one? i haven't heard any news since Glean came out

yeah, but if you haven't heard it yet you wouldn't know. it plays like any of their albums and the songs are consistently good. I'd say it's about as good as Glean, maybe better, so if you like that one...

ohh i didn't even realize till now that Glean was a DAS comp. and i thought that was their best album in over a decade!

seconding phone power. i bought it back when it was a non-streaming release (early march?) and it's great. not groundbreaking, but quite albumly sequenced and a lot of really good songs (the first seven tracks are faultless imo).

ohh i didn't even realize till now that Glean was a DAS comp.

The most recent kids album Why?, as well as being a sequel to No!, is also largely / sort of a compilation from last year's Dial-A-Song project - they did a song a week as a tiered subscription download or freebie youtube thing.

I haven't heard any of the kids albums since No! actually... but you've got me interested

Hate to say it, but found Glean to be their worst since Mink Car. Phone Power is a lot better yet still bitty. They were on a huge roll with Join Us and Nanobots though - best albums since the 90s

I lionize the early stuff as much as anyone, but I think this is just as good - it seems to follow the pattern of the best TMBG albums where it's just one great song after another until the final third where things get a bit weird. It's even got those songs that pass you by on the first couple listens until one day you just feel like listening to them on repeat.

new song today. I like it a lot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-1SqAJHhFc

They'll need a crane

― kurt kobaïan (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, June 23, 2015 3:10 AM (two years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yes

not sure I like the new song, but I like when they sing together. it's also a bit outside what they usually do, kind of going back to the sound on John Henry

i forgot which tab i had open and for a second thought this was track four on River of Dreams

the lyrics to "When Will You Die?" really reminding me of a certain person right now

seriously

I'm so tired
Of your lies
And the evil things
You're doing behind my back

Are there crimes
That you have never committed?
I doubt it, sometimes I wonder
When will you die?

You're insane
You are bad
You wreck everything you touch
And you're a sociopath

But there's one thing
That everyone's wondering
When will you die?

We've all known a few

one of my faves

has anyone ever written a review of TMBG (in recent-ish years, I mean) that basically says "Linnell still writes good songs, but Flansburgh does not"?

feel like it's been this way, more or less, for 20 years...just not sure if it's ever been acknowledged.

disagree! there have definitely been times where Linnell gets stagnant, as does Flansburgh, but they both eventually come back

hmm...if you can point me to some great late-era Flans songs, i'm all ears

IDK it's pretty much always been Good Linnell > Good Flansburgh > Bad Flansburgh > Bad Linnell for me. I can't think of a single album where John F. outshines John L., outside of Apollo 18? It's tough to compare the two since Linnell's songs usually outnumber Flans 2:1. Kind of a Patridge/Moulding situation. Though when you see them live, Flansburgh clearly comes off as the frontman.

As for great late period Flanses..."Judy Is Your Vietnam" (basically the perfect Flans song), "In Fact", "Darlings of Lumberland" (which I think succeeds in the area "Cloissone" fails in), "Let Me Tell You About My Operation" and "Impossibly New" are all pretty great to me. I like more than that but those are the big ones.

Good Linnell > Good Flansburgh > Bad Flansburgh > Bad Linnell

I've always thought of Linnell as having the better songs overall, but I also think he has the better voice, which certainly plays a hand in it

New album is pretty good - especially if you've gotten burned out on them recently, since this is much more an album proper. It's probably their darkest set of lyrics yet; compared to the "fight the power" message of The Else this is more of a "everything sucks and we're all gonna die soon" type of album. Only listened twice but I think "Last Wave" is gonna go down as one of their greatest songs - feel like this is their "Wheel and the Maypole"

also "The Greatest" has one of the best opening lines in TMBG history : "They call me the greatest/'cause I'm not very good and they're being sarcastic"

State Songs >>>>>>>>>>>>>> Mono Puff

When I listen to Underwater Woman and Let Me Tell You About My Operation I get to understand how life sounds through the ears of people who hate They Might Be Giants when they hear their best material

what does that mean
those songs are great btw

this new album is pretty great, top to bottom. i'm kinda stunned.

fun fact about Last Wave - the lyrics were written to sync up to the Run DMC/Aerosmith "Walk This Way" video, which is why they make no sense in a vacuum