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

haha was gonna post "rip frogbs" when i saw this thread was revived

my immediate favorite on first listen is "When Will You Die," which i have weird feelings about because it was obviously written before Osama Bin Laden's death but listening to it so soon after it's hard not to think of how it could easily be interpreted or appropriated as not at all ironic or comedic in that context

"2082" is working for me in it's subtle way.

i don't think "when will you die?" is about anyone in particular, but it fits so well with OBL, as people actually were celebrating on the streets when he was killed

also, i think it may be the best song here. can't get enough of it

Persevering with this. It might be too early to speak (The Else has only just grown on me ffs) but it really does seem like Linnell's songwriting is severely outpacing Flansburgh's, e.g. Let Your Hair Hang Down is one of my favourite TMBG songs of all time and Cloisonné is so self-conscious (even by their standards) that I can't stand hearing it.

Linnell's songwriting is severely outpacing Flansburgh's

isn't this basically true of their entire catalog to different extents though?

It is, but on this album it feels like Linnell's at his peak and Flansburgh is just phoning it in, I mean a really really stark difference.

i actually thought Flansburgh was less annoyingly broad on this album than he'd been on the last few

Join Us is really holding up for me, definitely their best since John Henry or Factory Showroom.

yeah i;ve been enjoying it, haven't listened to it too much, but it seems pretty strong.

Have we done a TMBG albums poll?

nah...i always felt like the consensus on their best albums is so obvious that it'd almost not be worth it. maybe non-Flood or post-Flood only would make it slightly more interesting?

I was always about the gimmicky TMBG but John Henry completely flipped my perception. Such a surprise coming as it did after "Why Does the Sun Shine?" Now I'd rate The Spine above Flood. Yes I know.

(ironically I once flipped a car while listening to John Henry)

John Henry was the last of the early albums i heard and i've just never warmed to it

It's great! It's the first time they really allowed themselves to be properly melodic at the expense of silly noises. It even declines properly at the end like a real album </geir>

I remember buying it at launch (off the back of "Why Does etc etc" as mentioned above, so thinking "ugh this can't end well") and being completely blown away.

This week I read that Factory Showroom is Flansburgh's favourite album, which makes me warm inside because I absolutely adored it from start to finish.

yeah FS is much more my speed, the only album where i forgive them for not stuffing 18+ songs onto the record

The Spine is nowhere near as terrible as 'the worst evah TMBG album' should be

That's 'Mink Car's job

Now I'd rate The Spine above Flood. Yes I know.

Ugh, that's just crazy talk!! I mean, really... If you said "Mink Car" above "Flood", I'd be down with that, though. ;-)

John Henry was the last of the early albums i heard and i've just never warmed to it

It doesn't sit well in my mind, either - "Factory Showroom" has higher highs (but is a bit inconsistent).

The Spine is nowhere near as terrible as 'the worst evah TMBG album' should be

That's 'Mink Car's job

― Colin Allstations (PaulTMA), Saturday, 3 September 2011 11:20 (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Mink Car always grated on me a bit because I read some early press touting it as a return to Flood. That's always dangerous, especially in this case because it pronounces just how hard the album is trying to be Flood. It's got some great songs, but as a piece it just doesn't hold up that well, and it really tails off at the end. Ending with "Working Undercover for the Man"? Seriously?

Absolutely. The Spine seemed to be a huge return to something resembling TMBG sanity after Mink Car, when even Linnell was writing drivel like Wicked Little Critta. Any album with 'Mr Xcitement' on it can only be the lowest of the low.

imo any of the first 6 albums is better than any of the albums since, they're kind of stuck in a perpetual chamber of diminishing returns

I suppose if you go there for the novelty you're going to be let down by the new stuff. Linnell's songwriting is sharper than ever imo.

Any album with 'Mr Xcitement' on it can only be the lowest of the low.

This probably contradicts what I just said but fuck it: That song I don't mind so much, probably because it's a new idea, and it's always a joy to see what these guys do with new ideas. The Spine is relatively bereft of ideas but my god is it a well-crafted album.

But yeah, Wicked Little Critta should have been a B side.

The Spine is not even remotely shit. It's good!

I suppose if you go there for the novelty you're going to be let down by the new stuff. Linnell's songwriting is sharper than ever imo.

i like a lot of the new stuff (and as said upthread am pretty into Join Us) fwiw, also way to go on being presumptuous AND condescending about me on liking the band for "novelty" songs just because i prefer the early stuff

The last song on the new album "You Don't Like Me" is stunningly good.

yeah that's great

"you like... cutting with a fork" is great. btw is there an albums poll? I can't find one.

some dude: I did make a wrong assumption and I'm sorry for that, I had no intention of hanging you out to dry. Some people do just want novelty from TMBG but that's cool too.

i think hardcore fans just tend to overreact to the band being widely seen as a 'comedy' act or 'weird' or w/e. i respect the songcraft and the subtleties and emotions of what they're doing but i think the humor and left field absurdity and kitchen sink instrumentation and sound effects are also an important and inseparable part of the whole package.

Yeah, and as TMBG fans I think we all get a bit tired of being seen as novelty chasers. I gave up talking up the depth of their music a long time ago.

You Don't Like Me initially struck me as a really weird closer, though I know appreciate the way the album winds down. It's very unlike other TMBG albums.

*now

yeah at this point it wouldn't be hard to make like a mix CD of their best 'serious' or 'straightforward' songs but it feels like wasted effort to overstate that side of their music (xpost)

That would be awesome! It'd also be inevitably loaded with Linnell songs but meh

hey Flans has "Narrow Your Eyes" and arguably "Pet Name"

Yeah, the Linnell/Flans ratio would be similar to the Partridge/Moulding ratio imo

"Careful What You Pack" is a Flans, yeah?

yeah...was just listening to that the other day, good one

http://tmbw.net users rank every song (you can see what ranking each song has) but I can't find a full chart anywhere.

Birdhouse is #1, Ana Ng is #2

here it is: http://tmbw.net/wiki/Special:Ratings

pretty cool, especially since they're not really popular enough on ILM to justify a ballot poll (although maybe i'll take the top 50 tracks from that list to do an automated poll or something)

I kind of wish TMBG would do a full CD of the old Dial-A-Song shit. That's p much the best stuff they ever did.

a lot of it is on the Then collection, isn't it? but yeah that would be cool, it was kind of annoying that they did a CD called Dial-A-Song that was just a straight-up best-of.

Those bonus tracks on Then are pretty weird and Residentsy, is there supposed to be much more that kind of thing in the vaults?

Aw, I like mr xcitement! :(

here it is: http://tmbw.net/wiki/Special:Ratings

pretty cool, especially since they're not really popular enough on ILM to justify a ballot poll (although maybe i'll take the top 50 tracks from that list to do an automated poll or something)

― big spiritual hat club (some dude), Saturday, 3 September 2011 21:09 (2 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Brilliant. You/we/I should totally kick off a poll for that top 50.

Super-annoying to see Dr Worm at #4, I hate that song. #5, #6, #8 (!!!!!!) and #13 are nice surprises though. As expected Linnell smashes it.

(not doing the poll now because I'm going to bed and we have fathers day tomorrow for some reason)