Errors-To: owner-tmbg-digest@tmbg.org Reply-To: tmbg-digest@tmbg.org Sender: owner-tmbg-digest@tmbg.org Precedence: bulk From: owner-tmbg-digest@tmbg.org To: tmbg-digest@tmbg.org Subject: tmbg-list Digest #37-7 tmbg-list Digest, Volume 37, Number 7 Sunday, 7 January 2001 Today's Topics: Re: TMBG: Factory Showroom TMBG: Re: Factory Showroom TMBG: Fleece is in the mail TMBG: Re: Stormy Pinkness (love version) TMBG: Re: Fleece is in the mail Re: TMBG: Re: Factory Showroom TMBG: malcolm in the middle TMBG: Re: Fleece is in the mail Re: TMBG: Re: Fleece is in the mail Re: TMBG: Re: Fleece is in the mail Re: TMBG: Factory Showroom Re: TMBG: Re: Factory Showroom Re: TMBG: Re: Factory Showroom Re: TMBG: Factory Showroom Administrivia: If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing send mail to tmbg-digest-request@tmbg.org for instructions on how to be automatically removed. --------------------------------------------------------------------- The views expressed herein are those of the individual authors. --------------------------------------------------------------------- tmbg-list is digested with Digest 3.5b (John Relph ). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 06 Jan 2001 01:25:09 -0600 Message-ID: <3A56C855.6BF08ABE@uswest.net> From: "James & Kimberly Mohan" Subject: Re: TMBG: Factory Showroom General Purplefeet wrote: > John Ferrer: > >I didn't even know there was any sort of grudge against Factory Showroom > >until I joined the list. Ditto... And, although FS is not my favorite They album, I enjoy it with the rest of Them.... (although, I was not aware of 'token' until I joined this list......an THAT got me (just a little....but I'm over that now =)) > I think it could have benefited from more songs, and maybe a bit of editing on > some of the longer songs to make room for these extras. ("HCISLAG," for > instance, seems like it has one chorus and solo too many.) I'd only agree on more songs because we're all used to it.... I even felt a tad cheated because I already had '..Polk' on the I(NC) CD-single.... I also had to listen to JOHN HENRY for quite a while before I began to like it.... quite a different sound there... > >Oddly enough, though, I think this is the album that made me > >stop saying "Linnell=God, Flans=bad." There's a bad one? ...lol > Yes, "S-E-X-X-Y" is certainly more of a Flans song. I doubt Linnell was > even involved in writing it (although Mono Puff bassist Hal Cragin was). I > don't really know how people like that one compared to those who hate it. I > like it, but, well, it's different from most of what TMBG does, and I can > see how it would take some getting used to. A more audacious arrangement > than usual is how I'd describe it. That's one reason why I don't think it > was the best choice for a lead-in to the album. Compared to the rest of FS, I can understand why it started off the album. FS: not Their strongest, but not weak.. To me: Just different... > >This might be shocking, but the album I think is weak is Lincoln. I take issue because LINCOLN is when I got on Their bandwagon. In fact, ANA NG is my & the wife's song (we're nuts, the two of us). And I have many memories of belting out KISS ME with my college friends back when (of course KMSOG first appeared on the single for (the first) Hotel Detective).. Faves: Ana Ng, You'll Miss Me, Shoehorn, Snowball, and, of course.....KISS ME, SON OF GOD ...of course, everyone has their opinions......but then again, '..people should get beat up for stating their beliefs..' > *Shock* > > >There's such an abundance of silly songs that seem too alike to me. They > might > >stand well on their own, but the album as a whole just seems to rely to > heavily > >on things that sound like throwaways. "Cowtown," "Lie Still, Little Bottle," > >"Cage & Aquarium," "Piece of Dirt," "Mr. Me," "Pencil Rain," and "Santa's > >Beard" are all relatively short songs with music that seems to be designed > >more for laughs than real enjoyment, and the lyrics are mostly just > >over-the-top and stuffed with puns, which is fine, but sometimes a little > >essence is nice. This was only the 2nd album...... I, personally, enjoyed the quirkiness. I was just coming into the arena of college/alt/indie music at that time, so I really got a kick out of it. ......real enjoyment? Hey, at the time, it was Them. It's easier to compare LINCOLN with everything else now, and say They could have done more this and more that.... but that's who They were then...... and i love Them for it (actually, it's more of a fond appreciation...nothing more....ok, i'll stop..;) > Lincoln is my favorite TMBG album, but I can definitely see what you're > saying here. I guess I have a higher tolerance for silly songs than some > people here, because I like pretty much everything on Lincoln, and I think > it all fits well together. Hear hear! (here?) Jim, Mr. Me ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 6 Jan 2001 09:40:23 -0600 From: "Jay G." Message-ID: <937e8k$1q89$1@ussenterprise.ufp.org> Organization: They Might Be Giants, Unofficially http://www.tmbg.org Subject: TMBG: Re: Factory Showroom "John Ferrer" wrote in message news:F10d6Ro3GmtxvJCEey60000f33c@hotmail.com... > I didn't even know there was any sort of grudge against Factory Showroom > until I joined the list. I think it's fantastic, and itmight even be the one > I listen to the most, although I think John Henry is a better album. When I first started going online, it was before Factory Showroom had come out and it seemed everyone hated John Henry with it's full band sound. Then FS came out and everyone hated that one for not-as-good songs and not enough of them. Then Severe Tire Damage came out, and that was everyone's least favorite. It seems that every new TMBG release spawns a vocal dislike by some group of fans (Don't get me started on Long Tall Weekend). Maybe it's because of their constantly evolving sound, or maybe it's because of the high expectations us fans have. I like FS. As for it having too few songs, I think the John's wanted to keep the record around the 45 minute range, and as their songs have gotten progressivly longer, less songs fit (John Henry was unusually long). Plus, in a recent interview Linnell pointed out that record companies don't pay them any more for an album with 19 tracks than for an album with 13 tracks. It probably made more sense for them to select what they felt were their best, and save the other tracks for other projects (i.e. EPs, other albums).. -Jay of us fan's ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 6 Jan 2001 10:00:04 -0600 From: "Jay G." Message-ID: <937fdj$1qlm$1@ussenterprise.ufp.org> Organization: They Might Be Giants, Unofficially http://www.tmbg.org Subject: TMBG: Fleece is in the mail Emusic has sent me a notice saying that my fleece is on the way, so everyone who has signed up for TMBG Unlimted should be getting theirs soon (Unless you're still on your free month). -Jay ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 6 Jan 2001 09:57:35 -0600 From: "Jay G." Message-ID: <937f8u$1qir$1@ussenterprise.ufp.org> Organization: They Might Be Giants, Unofficially http://www.tmbg.org Subject: TMBG: Re: Stormy Pinkness (love version) "General Purplefeet" wrote in message news:F894Jf7zynrvDOv5y4F00002c3c@hotmail.com... > Bongo: > >STORMY PINKNESS (LOVE VERSION) > > How does this differ from the version of the song that's on the Istanbul EP? It's a live version of the song, with the audience stomping and shouting "love" to the beat. As for the performance of the song, it sounds closer to the Dial-A-Song version of the song, which I prefer. The sound quality isn't great, since it's taken from a bootleg tape a fan had made and sent to them. Still, the audience accompany to this 2-man band version make it a very nice track to have. on TMBGU for a minute, I'd like to see the Johns put up an entire live performance as a downloadable mp3 instead of a stream for one month's selection. They could put up a bootleg from twistid's site, or even the tracks on Live! NYC not on Severe Tire Damage.If they are going to stick to only 5 mp3s per month, I'd prefer mostly studio tracks, although hopefully not everything that's going to be on the next album. That'd be a nice joke, emusic sending you the next album for free because you already have all the mp3s from TMBGU and don't want to buy it again. -Jay ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 06 Jan 2001 12:36:25 -0500 From: scratch Message-ID: <3A575799.D753988B@the-pentagon.com> Organization: They Might Be Giants, Unofficially http://www.tmbg.org Subject: TMBG: Re: Fleece is in the mail Just to be sure, you mean you did not click "fleece me now", right? -scratch "Jay G." wrote: > > Emusic has sent me a notice saying that my fleece is on the way, > so everyone who has signed up for TMBG Unlimted should > be getting theirs soon (Unless you're still on your free month). > > -Jay ------------------------------ From: MikeTheGiant@aol.com Message-ID: Date: Sat, 6 Jan 2001 13:26:31 EST Subject: Re: TMBG: Re: Factory Showroom In a message dated 1/6/01 10:46:08 AM Eastern Standard Time, Jay@tmbg.org writes: << When I first started going online, it was before Factory Showroom had come out and it seemed everyone hated John Henry with it's full band sound. Then FS came out and everyone hated that one for not-as-good songs and not enough of them. Then Severe Tire Damage came out, and that was everyone's least favorite. >> I am probably among the few They fans that love STD. I love the fact that without a cd burner I can hear several of my favorites without having to change cds. I also love FS and John Henry. I don't know if I have a favorite album or not, but as far as songs go, it's definately "She's an Angel". Anyway, I just thought that I'd throw my $.02 in. Mike Stabile "The very existence of flame-throwers proves that some time, somewhere, someone said to themselves, 'You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I'm just not close enough to get the job done.' " - George Carlin ------------------------------ From: Gegatron@aol.com Message-ID: Date: Sat, 6 Jan 2001 13:41:41 EST Subject: TMBG: malcolm in the middle Grrr. Anyone else get an email saying they were only going to play 90 seconds of the Boss of Me video on malcolm tomorrow? I guess a whole three minutes is too much to ask for. Sure they played the whole video for "Do the Bart Man" on fox so many years ago, but when a good song comes along they only play it for a minute and a half! (dont get me wrong i love the simpsons, but i think the bart man video was their all time low) ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 06 Jan 2001 23:13:30 GMT From: kevin@beestung.net (Kevin Sullivan) Message-ID: <3a57a3e4.82610059@news.bellatlantic.net> Subject: TMBG: Re: Fleece is in the mail On Sat, 6 Jan 2001 10:00:04 -0600, "Jay G." wrote: >Emusic has sent me a notice saying that my fleece is on the way, >so everyone who has signed up for TMBG Unlimted should >be getting theirs soon (Unless you're still on your free month). > >-Jay > > Hmm, I haven't gotten a confirmation. I guess they are only sending to "fleece me now" people? That's a little lame 2 months down the line, everyone should be getting their's now. Then again I didn't get my Working Undercover CD until 3-4 months after everyone else too:P ------------------------------ From: BirdhouseIYS@aol.com Message-ID: <8.e919161.27891477@aol.com> Date: Sat, 6 Jan 2001 19:38:15 EST Subject: Re: TMBG: Re: Fleece is in the mail I haven't got a conformation yet and I clicked "Fleece me Now" quite some time ago. Yet, my friend who had his account suspended due to credit card problems is getting his on the 11th. This is the only complaint I have with emusic . Getting screwed in the ass because my fleece will be here just in time for summer. The Working Undercover for the man cd came after about 5 months too. I wouldn't mind if it was even 6 to 9 weeks to wait but 5 months is regoddamndiculus. I am assuming this is going to take an eon though. they could have it here monday forgetting to send me an email. Who knows. "A mind is a terrible thing to shovel" ------------------------------ From: MikeTheGiant@aol.com Message-ID: <6a.a2bc967.27893044@aol.com> Date: Sat, 6 Jan 2001 21:36:52 EST Subject: Re: TMBG: Re: Fleece is in the mail In a message dated 1/6/01 7:44:16 PM Eastern Standard Time, BirdhouseIYS@aol.com writes: << Getting screwed in the ass because my fleece will be here just in time for summer. The Working Undercover for the man cd came after about 5 months too. I wouldn't mind if it was even 6 to 9 weeks to wait but 5 months is regoddamndiculus. I am assuming this is going to take an eon though. they could have it here monday forgetting to send me an email. Who knows. >> I get screwed by e-music too. I'm about 6 feet 7 inches tall, and about 310 lbs. So an XL fleece wouldn't fit me. But that's okay, I don't have a credit card. So, I'm a little upset about that, but I think that I'll live. Mike Stabile "The very existence of flame-throwers proves that some time, somewhere, someone said to themselves, 'You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I'm just not close enough to get the job done.' " - George Carlin ------------------------------ From: "General Purplefeet" Subject: Re: TMBG: Factory Showroom Date: Sun, 07 Jan 2001 03:05:51 -0000 Message-ID: Jim Mohan: > > I think it could have benefited from more songs, and maybe a bit of >editing on > > some of the longer songs to make room for these extras. ("HCISLAG," for > > instance, seems like it has one chorus and solo too many.) > >I'd only agree on more songs because we're all used to it.... Yeah, if TMBG had only put out thirteen songs on all of the other albums, then I don't think I would have been disappointed by there only being that many on FS. >I also had to >listen to JOHN HENRY for quite a while before I began to like it.... quite >a >different sound there... Yeah, but it has twenty songs. > > >Oddly enough, though, I think this is the album that made me > > >stop saying "Linnell=God, Flans=bad." > >There's a bad one? ...lol Flans once said that he was "the self-proclaimed bad John," but that wasn't in terms of musical talent. > > Yes, "S-E-X-X-Y" is certainly more of a Flans song. I doubt Linnell was > > even involved in writing it (although Mono Puff bassist Hal Cragin was). > I > > don't really know how people like that one compared to those who hate >it. I > > like it, but, well, it's different from most of what TMBG does, and I >can > > see how it would take some getting used to. A more audacious >arrangement > > than usual is how I'd describe it. That's one reason why I don't think >it > > was the best choice for a lead-in to the album. > >Compared to the rest of FS, I can understand why it started off the album. You might be right. I don't have FS handy right now, so I can't listen for something that might be a better starter. I think the main problem with "S-E-X-X-Y" being at the beginning is that it's long, and I tend to like it when an album starts with something fairly short (which is the case with most TMBG albums). > > >This might be shocking, but the album I think is weak is Lincoln. > >I take issue because LINCOLN is when I got on Their bandwagon. You take issue with his opinion? He's just as entitled to it as you are, isn't he? -- Eat your broccoli, Nathan DinnerBell@tmbg.org http://www.geocities.com/fablesto/ _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ------------------------------ From: "General Purplefeet" Subject: Re: TMBG: Re: Factory Showroom Date: Sun, 07 Jan 2001 03:14:53 -0000 Message-ID: Jay: >When I first started going online, it was before Factory Showroom had come >out and it seemed everyone hated John Henry with it's full band sound. Then >FS >came out and everyone hated that one for not-as-good songs and not enough >of >them. Then Severe Tire Damage came out, and that was everyone's least >favorite. >It seems that every new TMBG release spawns a vocal dislike by some group >of >fans (Don't get me started on Long Tall Weekend). The complaints about LTW often seemed to be more along of the lines of "Why's this only on MP3?" than "These songs suck!" In fact, I kind of think that relegating those songs to the MP3-only album is sort of a comment by the Johns that they're not good enough for a regular album, and I disagree. >Maybe it's because of their >constantly evolving sound, or maybe it's because of the high expectations >us >fans >have. Probably a combination of both, combined with the fact that it often takes a while to get used to a new album (which sort of ties in with the "constantly evolving sound" thing). The thing is, there are probably just as many people who LOVE JH, FS, or LTW as there are people who hate them. >I like FS. As for it having too few songs, I think the John's wanted to >keep >the >record around the 45 minute range, and as their songs have gotten >progressivly >longer, less songs fit (John Henry was unusually long). Perhaps some of the songs on FS could have been shortened. Failing that, they could have replaced some of the longer songs with shorter ones. Whether this would have worked, or whether it would have resulted in this list complaining that all the songs were too short, is something I suppose we'll never know. >Plus, in a recent interview >Linnell pointed out that record companies don't pay them any more for an >album >with 19 tracks than for an album with 13 tracks. So we can call FS "the financially sound album"? (Actually, that title would probably fit LTW even better.) >It probably made more sense for >them to select what they felt were their best, and save the other tracks >for >other >projects (i.e. EPs, other albums).. That's what they did, according to the interviews I've read. In fact, I think I recall Flans saying that he liked FS BECAUSE they didn't use everything on it. Nonetheless, I don't know that they necessarily picked the best songs. I like "Reprehensible" better than most of what made it to FS, for instance, and that was thrown on the MP3 album. It's all a matter of taste, I suppose. -- Eat your broccoli, Nathan DinnerBell@tmbg.org http://www.geocities.com/fablesto/ _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ------------------------------ From: "General Purplefeet" Subject: Re: TMBG: Re: Factory Showroom Date: Sun, 07 Jan 2001 03:17:19 -0000 Message-ID: Mike Stabile: >In a message dated 1/6/01 10:46:08 AM Eastern Standard Time, Jay@tmbg.org >writes: > ><< When I first started going online, it was before Factory Showroom had >come > out and it seemed everyone hated John Henry with it's full band sound. >Then > FS > came out and everyone hated that one for not-as-good songs and not enough >of > them. Then Severe Tire Damage came out, and that was everyone's least > favorite. >> > >I am probably among the few They fans that love STD. I don't know about THAT. I mean, I love Severe Tire Damage, just not as much as I love TMBG's other albums. I know that there have been a lot of complaints about ol' Tire Damage since it was released, but I don't know that it's as much "I hate that album" as it is "they probably could have done a better live album." -- Eat your broccoli, Nathan DinnerBell@tmbg.org http://www.geocities.com/fablesto/ _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 06 Jan 2001 23:25:15 -0600 Message-ID: <3A57FDBB.385179D2@uswest.net> From: "James & Kimberly Mohan" Subject: Re: TMBG: Factory Showroom > >This might be shocking, but the album I think is weak is Lincoln. > > > >I take issue because LINCOLN is when I got on Their bandwagon. > > You take issue with his opinion? He's just as entitled to it as you are, > isn't he ..LINCOLN has many good memories for me, so I get a little defensive.....i apologize.. we jumped on at different times...so we have different views....that's all jim mrs. train ------------------------------ End of tmbg-list Digest #37-7 *****************************