― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 19:09 (twelve years ago) Permalink
― Mr. Que (Mr.Que), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 19:14 (twelve years ago) Permalink
― gabbneb (gabbneb), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 19:15 (twelve years ago) Permalink
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 (twelve years ago) Permalink
― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 19:30 (twelve years ago) Permalink
x-post um have you seen the movie about them? 100% "serious critical evaluation".
― the doaple gonger (nickalicious), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 19:32 (twelve years ago) Permalink
― the doaple gonger (nickalicious), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 19:34 (twelve years ago) Permalink
― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 19:37 (twelve years ago) Permalink
― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 19:39 (twelve years ago) Permalink
― polyphonic (polyphonic), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 19:43 (twelve years ago) Permalink
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 (twelve years ago) Permalink
― Mr. Que (Mr.Que), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 19:47 (twelve years ago) Permalink
― zeus (zeus), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 19:58 (twelve years ago) Permalink
― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 21:31 (twelve years ago) Permalink
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 (twelve years ago) Permalink
― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 21:34 (twelve years ago) Permalink
Classic.
― everything (everything), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 21:40 (twelve years ago) Permalink
― Mallory L . O'Donnell (That Bitch Camille), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 21:44 (twelve years ago) Permalink
LincolnFloodApollo 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 (twelve years ago) Permalink
"I'm gonna die / if you touch me one more timeWell I guess that I'm / gonna die no matter what"
― Mallory L . O'Donnell (That Bitch Camille), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 21:49 (twelve years ago) Permalink
― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 21:51 (twelve years ago) Permalink
― everything (everything), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 21:55 (twelve years ago) Permalink
― everything (everything), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 21:56 (twelve years ago) Permalink
― gabbneb (gabbneb), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 22:05 (twelve years ago) Permalink
― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 22:06 (twelve years ago) Permalink
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 (twelve years ago) Permalink
Nowadays, their childrens albums are about fifty billion times better than their "real" ones.
― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 23:23 (twelve years ago) Permalink
oy
― Major Alfonso (Major Alfonso), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 23:26 (twelve years ago) Permalink
"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 (twelve years ago) Permalink
I wish no particular harm on TMBG. Flood is a nice album.
― Racist Friend (Roger Fidelity), Wednesday, 2 August 2006 01:00 (twelve years ago) Permalink
― Jonas Bronck (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 2 August 2006 01:21 (twelve years ago) Permalink
― Jonas Bronck (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 2 August 2006 01:24 (twelve years ago) Permalink
― zeus (zeus), Wednesday, 2 August 2006 06:12 (twelve years ago) Permalink
― sovietpanda (sovietpanda), Saturday, 5 August 2006 22:11 (twelve years ago) Permalink
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 (twelve years ago) Permalink
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 (seven 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 (seven 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 (seven 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 (seven 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 (seven 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 (seven 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 (seven 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 (seven 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 (seven 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 (seven 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 (seven 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 (seven 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 (seven 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 (seven 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 (seven years ago) Permalink
http://www.avclub.com/video/they-might-be-giants-covers-destinys-child-221191
This is really really good!
― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Tuesday, 23 June 2015 17:09 (three years ago) Permalink
stop waving that thing around, i'm not clicking on it
― some dude, Tuesday, 23 June 2015 17:10 (three years ago) Permalink
LOL
― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Tuesday, 23 June 2015 17:12 (three years ago) Permalink
Hahahahaha!
― You’re being too simplistic and you’re insulting my poor heart (Turrican), Tuesday, 23 June 2015 17:50 (three years ago) Permalink
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".
― frogbs, Wednesday, 6 July 2016 03:46 (two years ago) Permalink
Didn't even know about this; will check it out
― Nhex, Wednesday, 6 July 2016 03:49 (two years ago) Permalink
It's just another collection of last year's weekly Dial-A-Song songs
― glandular lansbury (sic), Wednesday, 6 July 2016 04:07 (two years ago) Permalink
there was another one? i haven't heard any news since Glean came out
― Nhex, Wednesday, 6 July 2016 04:14 (two years ago) Permalink
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...
― frogbs, Wednesday, 6 July 2016 04:22 (two years ago) Permalink
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!
― Nhex, Wednesday, 6 July 2016 04:32 (two years ago) Permalink
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).
― Autumn Almanac, Wednesday, 6 July 2016 05:16 (two years ago) Permalink
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.
― glandular lansbury (sic), Wednesday, 6 July 2016 06:49 (two years ago) Permalink
I haven't heard any of the kids albums since No! actually... but you've got me interested
― Nhex, Wednesday, 6 July 2016 10:00 (two years ago) Permalink
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
― PaulTMA, Wednesday, 6 July 2016 15:13 (two years ago) Permalink
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.
― frogbs, Thursday, 7 July 2016 16:16 (two years ago) Permalink
new song today. I like it a lot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-1SqAJHhFc
― frogbs, Wednesday, 6 December 2017 03:37 (one year ago) Permalink
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
― ur-oik (rip van wanko), Wednesday, 6 December 2017 04:07 (one year ago) Permalink
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
― Vinnie, Wednesday, 6 December 2017 07:05 (one year ago) Permalink
i forgot which tab i had open and for a second thought this was track four on River of Dreams
― the pleather of pleather paul (Doctor Casino), Wednesday, 6 December 2017 14:13 (one year ago) Permalink
the lyrics to "When Will You Die?" really reminding me of a certain person right now
― frogbs, Monday, 8 January 2018 15:17 (one year ago) Permalink
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?
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?
― frogbs, Monday, 8 January 2018 15:18 (one year ago) Permalink
We've all known a few
― PaulTMA, Monday, 8 January 2018 16:24 (one year ago) Permalink
one of my faves
― Nhex, Monday, 8 January 2018 19:09 (one year ago) Permalink
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.
― alpine static, Friday, 19 January 2018 21:46 (one year ago) Permalink
disagree! there have definitely been times where Linnell gets stagnant, as does Flansburgh, but they both eventually come back
― Nhex, Friday, 19 January 2018 23:06 (one year ago) Permalink
hmm...if you can point me to some great late-era Flans songs, i'm all ears
― alpine static, Saturday, 20 January 2018 01:49 (one year ago) Permalink
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.
― frogbs, Saturday, 20 January 2018 03:40 (one year ago) Permalink
Good Linnell > Good Flansburgh > Bad Flansburgh > Bad Linnell
― Nhex, Saturday, 20 January 2018 05:36 (one year ago) Permalink
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
― Vinnie, Saturday, 20 January 2018 06:17 (one year ago) Permalink
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"
― frogbs, Wednesday, 24 January 2018 15:14 (one year ago) Permalink
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
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Wednesday, 24 January 2018 15:20 (one year ago) Permalink
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
― PaulTMA, Wednesday, 24 January 2018 19:39 (one year ago) Permalink
what does that meanthose songs are great btw
― Nhex, Wednesday, 24 January 2018 19:46 (one year ago) Permalink
this new album is pretty great, top to bottom. i'm kinda stunned.
― alpine static, Thursday, 25 January 2018 03:38 (one year ago) Permalink
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
― frogbs, Thursday, 22 February 2018 21:50 (eleven months ago) Permalink
Had me in stitches.
https://vimeo.com/253025437
― Pyschocandles, Friday, 23 February 2018 02:33 (eleven months ago) Permalink
ok that's amazing
― na (NA), Friday, 23 February 2018 04:20 (eleven months ago) Permalink
hilarious
― Nhex, Friday, 23 February 2018 06:02 (eleven months ago) Permalink
oh damn I didn't know that was online
amazing how they can still manage to sound exactly like they did 33 years ago if they want to
― frogbs, Friday, 23 February 2018 14:26 (eleven months ago) Permalink
Now that was hilarious. Thanks for making my morning.
― VyrnaKnowlIsAHeadbanger, Friday, 23 February 2018 14:34 (eleven months ago) Permalink
omg
― anatol_merklich, Friday, 23 February 2018 23:41 (eleven months ago) Permalink
can't breathe
― Global Arming's Terrifying Old Math$ (Hunt3r), Saturday, 24 February 2018 00:53 (eleven months ago) Permalink
Beautiful
― President Keyes, Saturday, 24 February 2018 03:04 (eleven months ago) Permalink
in case anyone missed it, but has a bookmark here, there's a great big ballot poll going on: Hope That I Get Polled Before I Die: THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS 1982-2002 POLL - Voting, Campaigning, Discussing
― My Gig: The Thin Beast (sic), Tuesday, 9 October 2018 18:12 (four months ago) Permalink
too hard to decide for me. they have like hundreds of songs by now
― Nhex, Tuesday, 9 October 2018 19:31 (four months ago) Permalink
The poll only covers 1982-2002, per the title, and excludes not-formally-released songs, so there are a mere 431 eligible.
(It says 430 in the thread, but somehow I missed Stomp Box from John Henry.)
― My Gig: The Thin Beast (sic), Tuesday, 9 October 2018 20:01 (four months ago) Permalink
An all too easy one to forget about though now I'll surely be made a fool of when it hits top 10.
― justfanoe (Greg Fanoe), Tuesday, 9 October 2018 20:14 (four months ago) Permalink
like hundreds of songs by now
They have released at least 170 songs just in the last six years; only 22 of them are for children.
― My Gig: The Thin Beast (sic), Friday, 12 October 2018 07:52 (four months ago) Permalink
Results rolling out: YOUTH CULTURE POLLED MY DOG: They Might Be Giants (first 21 years) POLL RESULTS
― Get The Many Big Hits (sic), Monday, 22 October 2018 19:04 (three months ago) Permalink