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 #45-18 tmbg-list Digest, Volume 45, Number 18 Tuesday, 18 September 2001 Today's Topics: TMBG: Re: tmbg-list Digest #45-17 TMBG: Giants in the UK - more details... TMBG: Another Mink Car review, including a ridiculously long look at the pos TMBG: A simple question of those in T.O. TMBG: A simple question to those in T.O. TMBG: emusic makes me emad.. TMBG: emusic troubles TMBG: hey hey RE: TMBG: hey hey 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: Mon, 17 Sep 2001 02:22:27 EDT From: NitpickR@aol.com Subject: TMBG: Re: tmbg-list Digest #45-17 Message-ID: Hello 41- <> Heresy! ~Adam ------------------------------ Message-ID: Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2001 17:59:27 +0100 From: Alex Ingram Subject: TMBG: Giants in the UK - more details... Right, further from the mere dates and venues, I've found the times and the place to get tickets... doesn't look too pricey either :) Anyway, tickets work out at 12.50 UKP for either show. Book tickets at: http://www.ticketline.co.uk/ Anyone coming? ^_^ I've half a mind to just buy a ticket for Manchester right now, but I've got no-one to go with at the moment and no idea as to where I can/should stay in Manchester etc... Hmm, long term planning... Anyway, here's all the details from the web site: They Might Be Giants Manchester University 24 Nov 2001 24 Nov 2001 at 19:30 Type Ticket Price With Booking Fee Postage General Admission #11.00 #12.50 #0.00 Manchester University Oxford Road Manchester Manchester M13 9PR Tel: 0161 275 2930 Fax: N/A Email: Coming soon Website: http://www.umu.man.ac.uk Description: There are two venues within the University. The Hop & Grape is a small all standing live music venue, whilst the Main Debating Hall is also all standing, but twice the size of the Hop & Grape. There are occasional seated events at these venues. Directions: Approx. 1 mile from the city centre, heading towards Rusholme. Nearest train station Oxford Road. Notes: Parking: Limited parking at the rear of the venue. Public Transport: The University is situated on a main bus route into the city centre, with easy access to rail and tram facilities. Anyone under the age of 16 must be accompanied by an adult. Anyone between the ages of 16 and 18 must stay away from the bar area when attending concerts at either of these venues. They Might Be Giants Liverpool University 27 Nov 2001 27 Nov 2001 at 19:30 Type Ticket Price With Booking Fee Postage Standing #11.00 #12.50 #0.00 Liverpool University Mountford hall Mount Pleasant Liverpool L69 7BR Tel: 0151 709 9108 Fax: N/A Email: Coming soon. Website: Coming soon. Description: Small fully standing live music venue. Directions: Head for city centre, and follow the signposts. Notes: Parking: There is an N.C.P. car park in Mount Pleasant. Public Transport: There are buses that go to Mount Pleasant from the city centre. -- alex @ nuttyxander.co.uk --- "If you hear only one song this year, there's something terribly wrong with you!" Who am I ? => http://www.nuttyxander.co.uk/aboutme.html -- alex @ nuttyxander.co.uk --- "If you hear only one song this year, there's something terribly wrong with you!" Who am I ? => http://www.nuttyxander.co.uk/aboutme.html ------------------------------ From: "Nathan Mulac DeHoff" Subject: TMBG: Another Mink Car review, including a ridiculously long look at the post-FS years Date: Tue, 18 Sep 2001 00:40:17 +0000 Message-ID: Yes, this is the first regular studio album from They Might Be Giants since 1996's Factory Showroom, and, while still a great album, it seems like it might have suffered a bit from the fact that it took so long for it to come out. Some of the older songs (such as "Cyclops Rock," "Man, It's So Loud In Here," and "Finished With Lies") have been reworked. It isn't entirely clear whether the band intended them to sound the Mink Car way from the beginning but didn't have the proper resources, or they simply got tired of how they originally sounded, but I would tend to believe the latter. From 1986 to 1996, there was a new TMBG album every other year. Every once in a while, an older song ("They Might Be Giants," "Which Describes How You're Feeling," "James K. Polk") would make an appearance, but most of the songs on each album were recently written ones. For FS, for instance, most of the songs were written not too long before the album's release, and tested at Mercury Lounge shows. Not every song originally recorded for this album was used, though. Some songs, such as "Older," "Reprehensible," "They Got Lost," and "Certain People I Could Name," were apparently cut out by Elektra. Others, including "Operators Are Standing By" and "Dark And Metric" were apparently recorded around this time, but never intended for release on FS. This left the band with a large backlog of songs, which could easily provide the backbone for a new album. By 1998, several other songs, including "Rest Awhile," "Finished With Lies," "First Kiss," "Doctor Worm," and "Working Undercover For The Man," were added to the Johns' repertoire. Add these to the FS Sessions backlog, throw on a few other tracks (come on, you KNOW they wrote stuff back then that never even made it to Dial-A-Song), and there's They Might Be Giants' Seventh Album, right? Not so, thanks to the band's split with Elektra. All that came out in 1998 (not counting Mono Puff) was a live album, made up primarily of live versions of old stuff, but with one new studio single, nine songs that would probably never be released otherwise, and two tracks that would later be revisited. Around this time, the Johns essentially promised to find a new label and release an album in 1999. The new year saw the introduction of several new songs to the concert line-up: "She Thinks She's Edith Head," "It's So Loud In Here" (no "Man" yet), "Thunderbird," and "Cyclops Rock." There was talk of a new album, tentatively titled "Unreliable Narrator," to be released later that year or early the next. To tide us over in the meantime, there was Long Tall Weekend. Aside from making a few bucks (but probably not five million dollars, as a few rumors circulating at the time suggested) and gaining some recognition for putting out the world's first MP3-only album, the band's main purpose in releasing this was apparently to get rid of some of the backlog. Most of the FS Sessions songs showed up here, usually in the same forms. There was one new songs from recent concerts, and another one was "cannibalized" (to use a popular TMBG term) to form the weird "On Earth My Nina," but most of the other songs were at least three years old by this time. I think some of the tracks deserved a better fate than being dumped on this computer-only stopgap measure, but at least we got to hear them. It turned out the Johns were wrong about having a new studio album in 1999, or even 2000. Apparently, the search for a label was taking longer than they had anticipated. Either that or they were too far lost in a world of children's songs and television themes. We did get one new project in 2000, though: the Working Undercover For The Man EP. The lead track here was one that some of us probably forgot the band had even written, since it hadn't been played live in some time. The EP also featured two other relatively old songs: "Rest Awhile" and "On The Drag." If we can believe the eMusic advertisements, including the latter was a last-minute switch; some as-yet-unreleased song called "It's Not A Game" was originally supposed to be there. Personally, I think it was a mistake to put two songs that could have been great album tracks on an product with such limited distribution. There were still plenty of songs left, however, and some people speculated that "It's Not A Game" would appear on Mink Car. It didn't, though, so this song is still a mystery. Finally, three years after the Johns probably intended to release it, the new album has hit store shelves. Most of the songs that were slated for release "on the next album" actually showed up here, but four were missing. Two of these were the aforementioned "Rest Awhile" and "On The Drag," which were released in another way, but the other two, "Thunderbird" and "Your Mom's Alright" remain unaccounted for. Here's what DID make the cut: Bangs: A good song, and an improvement over the version that appeared on McSweeney's. The Johns seem to be giving this song a bit more credit than it deserves, what with the comparisons to "Ana Ng" and talk of its being the next single, but I still like it. Cyclops Rock: I know other fans will disagree with me, but I didn't really think the What We Did Last Summer version did justice to this song. It was just rather flat and lifeless for a song called "Cyclops ROCK." A new version was in order, and, in some ways, this is a lot closer to the live versions than that old studio recording, but they might have gone a bit too far in other respects. I mean, what does Cerys Matthews have to do with the song? As far as I can tell, her whole purpose is to surprise people who have heard previous versions, and is that any reason to add to an already great song? Oh, well. An excellent song overall. Man, It's So Loud In Here: When the band first started playing this in concert, there were some comments to the effect of its being a paranoia song. This remix seems to have completely destroyed that mood, concentrating on mocking dance clubs instead. The disco beats are appropriate, but do they have to use them throughout the entire song? A great recording nonetheless, but it could have been even better. Mr. Xcitement: A definite departure for TMBG. Not only do the Johns not sing it, but they did very little in writing it. It's pretty much a Velcro Horns/Mike Doughty song. I didn't like it much at first, but it's growing on me. Different, but fun. Another First Kiss: After not even playing this in concert for two years, they bring it back with a completely different sound. I like it, but the live version on Severe Tire Damage is better. Fortunately, unlike some of the other drastically altered songs on here, more than one version has been released. I've Got A Fang: This is a song that I first heard on DAS, and I thought it was an amusing novelty song, but not something I could expect to hear on an album. They did a very good job converting it to an album track, though. The all-out arrangement provides a nice counterbalance for the silly lyrics. Hovering Sombrero: An excellent song, and not changed as much from its original conception as many of the Mink Car songs. I miss the Spanish lyrics, but the "time is flying like an arrow" verse includes some of the best lyrics John Linnell has written recently, so I guess it balances out. Yeh Yeh: No complaints about this one at all, strangely enough. I haven't heard the original, so I don't know how much of it is TMBG and how much is Georgie Fame, but it's excellent regardless. Hopeless Bleak Despair: I didn't like this so much at first, but it's starting to grow on me. The emphasis is clearly on the lyrics, which include some interesting ideas. Drink!: One of the newer songs on here, which means the Johns didn't have enough time to change it around completely. It sounds pretty much like it did live and on DAS, which is a good thing, as I loved this one live and on DAS. It has accordion, too! My Man: An artful take on an odd subject. Basically a return to form for Linnell, both lyrically and musically. Older: Again? Actually, I like this version better than the LTW one (although not as much as the FS Sessions version), but it still doesn't need to be here. Mink Car: When I first heard this song on DAS, I liked it, but I wasn't expecting it to be turned into an easy listening number. They did a good job with the conversion, though. New territory for TMBG, certainly, but not as far from the norm (if TMBG has a norm) as something like "Mr. Xcitement." Wicked Little Critta: I'm curious as to why some people include this in the list of songs that were ruined by remixing. It probably sounds more like the original conception than anything else on the album, except possibly "Drink!". What I said about not expecting to hear "I've Got A Fang" on an album goes double for this. It just SOUNDS like a Dial-A-Song. I like the song, though, so I'm glad it was released. Is this going to start a trend of odd Dial-A-Songs being released on albums? Finished With Lies: I liked this when I first heard it, but I got bored of it before it was even released. The Johns must have, too, considering that they never seemed to know how they wanted to play it. The earliest version I heard was just vocals, accordion, and drums, which produced a neat, minimalistic sound. I think adding keyboards and guitars was a mistake, though, and the demos on dialasong.com and such really showed how much this song could drag. This new arrangement seems to be a last-ditch effort to revive the song, and I like it better than the demos, but it's still one of the weaker tracks on here. And what happened to the accordion, anyway? Can they only use it on one track per album now? She Thinks She's Edith Head: I might have liked this better if I hadn't already heard the superior LTW version, but, as it stands now, the combination of the old music with new, laid-back vocals just sounds silly. If they wanted to revisit it, I think they should have re-recorded the whole thing. Why they used it at all is a bit of a mystery, though. Yes, they warned us in advance, but, while this is a decent song, I don't think it's quite good enough to be featured on three different projects. Working Undercover For The Man: Hey, don't I already HAVE this song? I don't mind, though; it's a good song, and you can generally expect at least one album track to appear on an EP or (as in this case) vice versa. The fact that they chose to include so many OTHER already-released songs is a different matter. I suppose that's about it, really. -- May the light shine upon thee, Nathan DinnerBell@tmbg.org http://www.geocities.com/fablesto/ _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp ------------------------------ From: Yellovinki@aol.com Message-ID: <9d.1b5f7d74.28d7fc0d@aol.com> Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2001 21:23:25 EDT Subject: TMBG: A simple question of those in T.O. ------------------------------ From: Yellovinki@aol.com Message-ID: <21.114158ed.28d7fc65@aol.com> Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2001 21:24:53 EDT Subject: TMBG: A simple question to those in T.O. Any body know where in this town I can find a copy of the new album (preferably in the down town area)? My search has been fruitless thus far. Thanks [Attachment omitted, unknown MIME type or encoding (text/html)] [Attachment omitted, unknown MIME type or encoding (multipart/alternative)] ------------------------------ Message-Id: <200109180213.f8I2DnN87951@ussenterprise.ufp.org> Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2001 21:13:49 -0500 From: John David Crafton Subject: TMBG: emusic troubles i'm having a bit of trouble... seems i can't download anything. any suggestions? _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Message-ID: <3BA6D5C5.C6498501@alltel.net> Date: Tue, 18 Sep 2001 00:04:06 -0500 From: Tara Weber Subject: TMBG: hey hey Hey everybody-- I'm back after a very extended absence from the list--things were busy, busy, busy for a while and I kinda let mailing lists in general fall by the wayside (a move and a new job'll do that, I guess). But I got back on a couple weeks ago in anticipation of Mink Car, new tour dates, etc... That said, is anyone here going to the Lincoln, NE show at the Royal Grove on October 9th? (Probably not terribly likely, I guess. Or how about this--has anyone here BEEN to Lincoln at all? Ever? On purpose?) tmbg.com lists that date as Omaha, but it's not. It's definitely Lincoln. Or at least a club called the Royal Grove here sold me two tickets to the show, so I'm pretty sure. :) I just hope the Johns know where they're in fact supposed to be. :) anyway...I'm glad the arrival of Mink Car could be at least one happy thing last week. (I think this is the first album since Apollo 18 that I've honestly loved on the very first listen.) Best wishes to everybody this week. I hope everyone here--and everyone you care about--is well. --Tara in the cd player now: Nick Drake, Built To Spill, Rev. Horton Heat ------------------------------ From: "Amy :\)" Subject: RE: TMBG: hey hey Date: Tue, 18 Sep 2001 01:20:25 -0400 Message-ID: <000301c14001$a01d3c20$6401a8c0@AmyG> > -----Original Message----- > From: Tara Weber > That said, is anyone here going to the Lincoln, NE show at the Royal > Grove on October 9th? (Probably not terribly likely, I guess. Or how > about this--has anyone here BEEN to Lincoln at all? Ever? On purpose?) Ooh ooh! Me me me! I've been to Lincoln - I have cousins in Beatrice. Of course, last time I was there it was 1983, I was 8 and had no idea that a band called They Might Be Giants would ever exist, and if I remember correctly, it was about 108 degrees every day, which would have made the inside of any venue they played about 188 degrees. > tmbg.com lists that date as Omaha, but it's not. It's definitely > Lincoln. Or at least a club called the Royal Grove here sold me two > tickets to the show, so I'm pretty sure. :) I just hope the Johns know > where they're in fact supposed to be. :) Well, Ticketmaster.com and Pollstar.com both agree that the show is indeed at the Royal Grove in Lincoln, so hopefully the various Johns and Dans will figure this out sometime in the next 3 weeks. And speaking of figuring out their tour schedule, who's going to see them in San Jose tomorrow? I hope the cross-country drive went well. My fiance is, as I type, flying from Seattle to Chicago which is why I'm not sleeping. Amy :) ------------------------------ End of tmbg-list Digest #45-18 ******************************