Yeah, you're okay. You're just not as great as you think you are.

[vovat]

There was a post about the They Might Be Giants song "The Day" on the tmbg community a little over a week ago. I regard that as an underrated TMBG song. A lot of people say it's one of their least favorites, and while I wouldn't exactly put it in the favorite category, I think it's pretty cool. That got me thinking about underrated and overrated songs in general, and I made this post to that community. For those of you who don't want to read it, I'll sum up by saying that I listed "Hot Cha," "O, Do Not Forsake Me," "Stalk Of Wheat," and "Reprehensible" as underrated (the first three being ones that I can specifically recall seeing people on the Internet saying they particularly disliked, and the last one just not getting enough credit in general); and "Spiraling Shape" and "Thunderbird" as overrated (which isn't to say that those songs aren't really cool, just that I don't like them as much as everyone else seems to).

There was also recently a question on one of the quiet Yahoo Groups devoted to Frank Black about what Frank song is underrated. There wasn't much of a response, but the answer that comes to mind is "Are You Headed My Way?" from Devil's Workshop. Most fans seem not to care for that one, but I think it's a cool, catchy song.

Speaking of Frank, or more specifically of the Pixies, it's pretty well known that the band's last two albums, Bossanova and Trompe Le Monde, are often neglected. Someone in the Gouge documentary (possibly someone famous, but I can't remember, and don't feel like watching it again to find out) said something about how the earlier albums are usually people's favorites because they're "more raw." Personally, Bossanova is my favorite Pixies album. The all-out aural onslaught of the early stuff is fun, but I think most of it can't hold a candle to songs like "Velouria" and "All Over The World." I'm somewhat inclined to say that the loud-quiet-loud sense of dynamics in Pixies songs is overrated in general. I don't really like saying that, because it IS a cool effect. It's just that some people will rave about how great songs like "Tame" and "Gouge Away" are, and while I like them, I think they're among the most overrated songs in the Pixies' catalog. On the other hand, I love "Here Comes Your Man," and while I get the feeling that the general public (or at least that parts of the general public that is interested in sharing its opinion on Pixies songs) also likes it, I think Frank himself has said he didn't much care for it. He's also said that you can't really trust interviews, though, so who knows what's really the case?

It's a little difficult for me to judge what I think is overrated or underrated for most other bands, if only because I don't really see people talk about them that much, so I'm not sure how the songs or albums are typically rated. I will say, however, that I get the impression that Frosting on the Beater is the best-loved Posies album, and Twice Removed the best-loved Sloan album. In neither case do I agree. I think those bands' best records are Failure and Navy Blues, respectively; and they've both put out other albums that are better than the ones I perceive as being the general favorites.

While I'm on the subject of music, Weird Al's new album was supposed to come out in June, but it isn't, due to "silly record company politics." It should be out this year, though. I have no idea what will be on it. The contents of Al's upcoming albums seem to be kept pretty tightly under wraps until really close to the actual release dates. There's also talk of a new Cracker album coming out in June.

And finally, happy birthday to arfies!

Comments

[zimbra1006.livejournal.com]

Trompe Le Monde, even though it's probably widely considered their weakest album, is the one that actually got me into the Pixies. It was just the most accessible to me, along with Doolittle. I still have an appreciation for TLM, but it's probably my least favorite now. My favorites are Doolittle and Bossanova. (Surfer Rosa has a lot of cool songs, there's just a greater proportion I don't care for). Bossanova is definitely the "prettiest," for lack of a better word. And it has what's quite possibly my favorite Pixies song (Dig For Fire).

And Failure is definitely my favorite Posies album, though the *only* other one I have is Frosting on the Beater. :P FOTB is good, but I'm shocked that's the most popular; I think it's so much weaker than the other (where I pretty much love every song). I guess it had two pretty big hits, though.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I got Doolittle first, and then Trompe Le Monde. I think I liked the former pretty much right away, but I didn't much care for the latter at first. I think it was largely the fault of "Planet Of Sound"; I didn't (and still don't, really) listen to a lot of "heavy" music, so it was kind of off-putting. I like that song better now, but I still think it's somewhat overrated. I think it was one of two Trompe songs that the Pixies played the first time I saw them live.

I agree that Surfer Rosa is probably the weakest, which isn't to say that it isn't really cool in its own way. I think that's the Pixies album where it's hardest to tell the songs apart. It took me a little while to learn the difference between, say, "Oh My Golly" and "I'm Amazed."

FOTB strikes me as a textbook example of a top-heavy album, in that the cool songs people know about are all at the beginning.

[zimbra1006.livejournal.com]

hmm... I liked Trompe Le Monde mainly because there were 2 songs I already knew (Alec Eiffel and the Head On cover) and I quickly latched on to Letter To Memphis and Bird Dream.. Overall the album's pretty noisy but those few songs are all pretty straightforward and poppy (at that point I listened to very little harder music myself) so it made the rest of the album easier for me to listen to, I guess? I don't know. :P

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I remember "Head On" (which I didn't know was a cover at the time) as being an early favorite of mine, too. I also soon started to love "Motorway To Roswell," which remains my second favorite Pixies song (after "Velouria"). I think TLM is the Pixies album that covers the most styles, which is definitely cool. Even if you don't like one song, you might well like the next one. An album like Surfer Rosa seems to be one that you'll either like most of it or not like any of it. Actually, my favorite SR track (which is probably also the favorite of a lot of other people) is "Where Is My Mind?", which doesn't sound like much else on the album, but could easily have worked on one of the later ones.

[bec-87rb.livejournal.com]

Reprehensible is brilliant - it's like the ultimate TMBG song. It mimics another time and genre, it has Linnell songwriting florishes, it is sung beautifully and smoothly by Flansburgh. To my ear, it's gorgeous. I have no idea why it is consigned to They Got Lost and no one but me and thee likes it. It's marvelous.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

It was originally recorded for Factory Showroom, but they had to cut several of the tracks at Elektra's insistence, and most of them ended up on Long Tall Weekend. I guess they didn't want their next actual CD release to have a lot of leftovers on it. It did include "Older," though, which I think was the worst of the lot. I can't say I always agree with the Johns' decisions.

[arfies.livejournal.com]

Thanks!! :)

[vovat.livejournal.com]

You're welcome.

[revme.livejournal.com]

The new Cracker is indeed coming out -- I got a promo of it at work the other day! It surprised me, because I didn't even know a new one was coming. I don't get to keep it, sadly, since, you know, what with Cracker all being good, we'll actually need it for work... jerks! Why can't they suck more, so I could get the record?!

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Have you had the chance to listen to it yet?

[revme.livejournal.com]

I did today -- "Something That You Ain't Got" is the same one from Greatest Hits Redux, and is also awesome. The other stuff is all new -- also, the new lineup is basically an amalgam of CVB and the most recent Cracker. Brandi Wood's out, and Krummacher's in. Overall, it's not my favorite record of theirs, but it's still damn good. I was getting a little bit of a Golden-Age-Via-Forever vibe from it, with the added country-ness of Forever, but still sort of a... Golden Age sound. At least to me, but I've only heard it once. Definitely worth picking up, though, and I'll buy it when it comes out.

Um, unless we get an extra copy, heh.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I'd heard that Victor had replaced Brandy on bass. It seems like CVB and Cracker are becoming increasingly more interchangeable as of late. The Golden Age might be my least favorite Cracker album (although it has some excellent songs), but it's good enough that I'd welcome another album that sounded like it.

[onib.livejournal.com]

I loved Reprehensible when I first heard it. I think I got a Dial-A-Song version of it about the same time I heard Certain People I Could Name. I listened to those old scratchy versions over & over and wondered why they weren't on an album yet.

Where do you get your Weird Al info? I had signed up for Jim Swartz's e-mail list way back, but I don't remember getting anything from that.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I'm subscribed to a Yahoo group where someone mentioned that he'd completed eleven tracks for his next album. I assume this person got the information from Al's own website. I believe I'm also on the mailing list, and I haven't gotten any notifications either, but maybe they're waiting until there's an official release date before sending out a notice.