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vovatAs I promised in my last post, here's my song-by-song review of Cast Your Pod to the Wind, the bonus CD that comes with the new They Might Be Giants album.
Put Your Hand On The Computer - Pretty good as an opening to the whole thing, although not necessarily as a song in its own right.
I'm Your Boyfriend Now - A slightly different version of this was released on TMBG Unlimited back in 2001, with a comment to the effect that it had barely missed the cut for Mink Car. To me, it seems to be too jokey (really almost in Weird Al territory) to be a serious contender for a TMBG album, when the Johns are usually pretty adamant about NOT wanting to be seen as a joke band. It's amusing, but kind of seems overrated by the band. It does have the honor of being the only TMBG song title that's also a Freddy Krueger line, and it might well remain that way unless they decide to do one called "Welcome To Prime Time, Bitch" on their next album. {g}
Why Did You Grow A Beard? - A podcast song that the Johns liked enough to perform live and name a tour after, this one gives the impression of John Linnell just saying whatever comes to mind. (I'm not saying that's necessarily how it was written, just that that's the impression it gives.) I see it as being in the same vein as "I've Got A Fang," only a lot better.
We Live In A Dump - Another one that they liked enough to perform live but not enough to include on a proper album, this is quite probably the catchiest John Flansburgh tune since "Damn Good Times." I only wish it could have been longer.
Brain Problem Situation - I think this might be the only track on this disc that was never actually in a podcast, at least as far as I can remember. While I'm sure this wasn't intentional, the chorus brings to mind a song from Winnie-the-Pooh and the Blustery Day, which I can only really remember because it was on a CD that they used to play constantly back when I worked at a toy store. The opening line seems to be an intentional Bacharach and David reference, though. (Was there ever another lyricist with as much of a fetish for women wearing makeup as Hal David?) In terms of subject matter, this probably could have fit on The Else, but maybe not so much in terms of the sound. Regardless, I like it quite a bit.
Sketchy Galore - This is all right, although I really have no idea what it's about. The general idea on the interpretations page seems to be that it's about a shady character who lives in the same building as the narrator, which I guess makes sense.
Microphone - While I don't remember thinking that much of this one back when it was on the podcast, but listening to it again, I find that I actually like it a lot.
Vestibule - The Johns really did cook up an amazing number of quality songs for the podcasts, didn't they? My favorite part of this one is probably the seemingly random mention of Arlen Specter, but it's a pretty cool song in general. The organ adds a lot to the atmosphere.
Greasy Kid Stuff - While I think this song is a lot of fun (I particularly like the shift from the kiddie-sounding music at the beginning to the garage-band rock that kicks in at the first chorus, with the second verse combining the two), I have to wonder why, when making the track list for the disc, they went for promotional songs like this over more self-contained songs like "Miniature Sidewalk Whirlwind" and "Diving Board." Oh, well.
Metal Detector - One of the fan favorites from Factory Showroom, performed with horns. While not as good as the original, it's a fun rearrangement of the song.
Employee Of The Month - Kind of a silly song, but still enjoyable. If there really were such a thing as a crumb factory, I'm sure I'd be an ideal employee. :P
Homunculus - Another one that I like pretty well, but on which I don't have any specific observations to make.
No Plan B - A horn-based song that they used to play live with the Other Thing brass band. It's kind of odd that they'd bring it back now, but I guess it's kind of a companion to the brass version of "Metal Detector."
Morgan In The Morning - Another radio promo, which is fine as far as it goes, but there are plenty of other TMBG songs that are more deserving of official release.
Kendra McCormick - You can pretty much cut and paste the review of the last song, except replace "another radio promo" with "an answering machine for a contest winner."
Yeah The Deranged Millionaire - The nonsensical lyrics to this song seem pretty reflective of the humorous style of its subject matter, John Hodgman (whom anyone non-TMBG fans who are reading this for whatever reason might know as the PC from the Mac commercials).
My Other Phone Is A Boom Car - Like the Patchwork Girl's poem for Ozma in The Magic of Oz, the title is almost as long as the song itself. I really like the over-the-top operatic sound, though, so it gets a thumbs up from me despite its shortness. This was one of a few songs that TMBG originally wrote specifically to be ringtones.
I Hear A New World - A cover song sung by Robin Goldwasser and used as the theme for Flansy's short-lived radio show. The music sounds very reminiscent of the Magnetic Fields, at least to me.
Hotel Detective Of The Future - The third song in the band's Hotel Detective saga, this strikes me as a pretty blatant self-parody, and a very amusing one at that. I like both the lyrics and the goofy sci-fi noises.
Haunted Floating Eye - Coming from the Halloween podcast, this doesn't sound at all like you'd probably expect from the title. It's a light, fun little number where the narrator mentions having killed someone, making it a pretty typical example of the brief songs that the Johns crank out for projects like Dial-A-Song and the podcasts.
Scott Bower - From the same project as "Kendra McCormick," but I think it's a better song than Kendra's.
The Mexican Drill - This reminds me a lot of "Headless," from the Battle of the Bands project, only with even less of a tune.
Cast Your Pod To The Wind - The bonus CD ends as it begins, with a song specifically tailored to the podcasts. Very simple, but still a high-quality song. How do the Johns DO that?
As I mentioned in the review for "Greasy Kid Stuff," there are some podcast songs and otherwise unreleased numbers that I think are more deserving of inclusion than the minute-long things they wrote for radio stations, it's still a pretty good mix of stuff. And even those made-to-order songs are better than you might expect. Now that releasing a lot of EP's is apparently no longer feasible for the band, the bonus disc was a great idea for getting out some great songs that wouldn't have worked so well on the album. While I think The Else is fairly consistent in its sound, this disc is all over the map, and hence perhaps more like TMBG's early albums. The announcements I've seen make it sound like the bonus disc will only be available for a limited time, so if you were thinking of waiting on buying the CD, I'd rethink that decision. Really, I hope they keep offering this disc in some capacity, because it's good, and I've found that three of the saddest words in the English language are "out of print."
I can't think of anything else I have to report at this point, but once I've had enough of new TMBG for the time being, I'm sure I'll have some thoughts to offer on the other albums I've recently acquired.
Put Your Hand On The Computer - Pretty good as an opening to the whole thing, although not necessarily as a song in its own right.
I'm Your Boyfriend Now - A slightly different version of this was released on TMBG Unlimited back in 2001, with a comment to the effect that it had barely missed the cut for Mink Car. To me, it seems to be too jokey (really almost in Weird Al territory) to be a serious contender for a TMBG album, when the Johns are usually pretty adamant about NOT wanting to be seen as a joke band. It's amusing, but kind of seems overrated by the band. It does have the honor of being the only TMBG song title that's also a Freddy Krueger line, and it might well remain that way unless they decide to do one called "Welcome To Prime Time, Bitch" on their next album. {g}
Why Did You Grow A Beard? - A podcast song that the Johns liked enough to perform live and name a tour after, this one gives the impression of John Linnell just saying whatever comes to mind. (I'm not saying that's necessarily how it was written, just that that's the impression it gives.) I see it as being in the same vein as "I've Got A Fang," only a lot better.
We Live In A Dump - Another one that they liked enough to perform live but not enough to include on a proper album, this is quite probably the catchiest John Flansburgh tune since "Damn Good Times." I only wish it could have been longer.
Brain Problem Situation - I think this might be the only track on this disc that was never actually in a podcast, at least as far as I can remember. While I'm sure this wasn't intentional, the chorus brings to mind a song from Winnie-the-Pooh and the Blustery Day, which I can only really remember because it was on a CD that they used to play constantly back when I worked at a toy store. The opening line seems to be an intentional Bacharach and David reference, though. (Was there ever another lyricist with as much of a fetish for women wearing makeup as Hal David?) In terms of subject matter, this probably could have fit on The Else, but maybe not so much in terms of the sound. Regardless, I like it quite a bit.
Sketchy Galore - This is all right, although I really have no idea what it's about. The general idea on the interpretations page seems to be that it's about a shady character who lives in the same building as the narrator, which I guess makes sense.
Microphone - While I don't remember thinking that much of this one back when it was on the podcast, but listening to it again, I find that I actually like it a lot.
Vestibule - The Johns really did cook up an amazing number of quality songs for the podcasts, didn't they? My favorite part of this one is probably the seemingly random mention of Arlen Specter, but it's a pretty cool song in general. The organ adds a lot to the atmosphere.
Greasy Kid Stuff - While I think this song is a lot of fun (I particularly like the shift from the kiddie-sounding music at the beginning to the garage-band rock that kicks in at the first chorus, with the second verse combining the two), I have to wonder why, when making the track list for the disc, they went for promotional songs like this over more self-contained songs like "Miniature Sidewalk Whirlwind" and "Diving Board." Oh, well.
Metal Detector - One of the fan favorites from Factory Showroom, performed with horns. While not as good as the original, it's a fun rearrangement of the song.
Employee Of The Month - Kind of a silly song, but still enjoyable. If there really were such a thing as a crumb factory, I'm sure I'd be an ideal employee. :P
Homunculus - Another one that I like pretty well, but on which I don't have any specific observations to make.
No Plan B - A horn-based song that they used to play live with the Other Thing brass band. It's kind of odd that they'd bring it back now, but I guess it's kind of a companion to the brass version of "Metal Detector."
Morgan In The Morning - Another radio promo, which is fine as far as it goes, but there are plenty of other TMBG songs that are more deserving of official release.
Kendra McCormick - You can pretty much cut and paste the review of the last song, except replace "another radio promo" with "an answering machine for a contest winner."
Yeah The Deranged Millionaire - The nonsensical lyrics to this song seem pretty reflective of the humorous style of its subject matter, John Hodgman (whom anyone non-TMBG fans who are reading this for whatever reason might know as the PC from the Mac commercials).
My Other Phone Is A Boom Car - Like the Patchwork Girl's poem for Ozma in The Magic of Oz, the title is almost as long as the song itself. I really like the over-the-top operatic sound, though, so it gets a thumbs up from me despite its shortness. This was one of a few songs that TMBG originally wrote specifically to be ringtones.
I Hear A New World - A cover song sung by Robin Goldwasser and used as the theme for Flansy's short-lived radio show. The music sounds very reminiscent of the Magnetic Fields, at least to me.
Hotel Detective Of The Future - The third song in the band's Hotel Detective saga, this strikes me as a pretty blatant self-parody, and a very amusing one at that. I like both the lyrics and the goofy sci-fi noises.
Haunted Floating Eye - Coming from the Halloween podcast, this doesn't sound at all like you'd probably expect from the title. It's a light, fun little number where the narrator mentions having killed someone, making it a pretty typical example of the brief songs that the Johns crank out for projects like Dial-A-Song and the podcasts.
Scott Bower - From the same project as "Kendra McCormick," but I think it's a better song than Kendra's.
The Mexican Drill - This reminds me a lot of "Headless," from the Battle of the Bands project, only with even less of a tune.
Cast Your Pod To The Wind - The bonus CD ends as it begins, with a song specifically tailored to the podcasts. Very simple, but still a high-quality song. How do the Johns DO that?
As I mentioned in the review for "Greasy Kid Stuff," there are some podcast songs and otherwise unreleased numbers that I think are more deserving of inclusion than the minute-long things they wrote for radio stations, it's still a pretty good mix of stuff. And even those made-to-order songs are better than you might expect. Now that releasing a lot of EP's is apparently no longer feasible for the band, the bonus disc was a great idea for getting out some great songs that wouldn't have worked so well on the album. While I think The Else is fairly consistent in its sound, this disc is all over the map, and hence perhaps more like TMBG's early albums. The announcements I've seen make it sound like the bonus disc will only be available for a limited time, so if you were thinking of waiting on buying the CD, I'd rethink that decision. Really, I hope they keep offering this disc in some capacity, because it's good, and I've found that three of the saddest words in the English language are "out of print."
I can't think of anything else I have to report at this point, but once I've had enough of new TMBG for the time being, I'm sure I'll have some thoughts to offer on the other albums I've recently acquired.
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no subject
Date: 2007-07-14 11:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-14 01:56 pm (UTC)I wonder if the covers were left off for financial reasons, since they'd presumably have to pay royalties to the original songwriters. I'm not sure how those rules work for podcasts, but maybe that's an issue of licensing fees rather than direct royalties. I'm not sure. As it is, I think "I Hear A New World" is the only cover, but I could be wrong. I think including "I'm A Little Airplane" would have been nice, but maybe they're saving that for a kids' project, if they plan to release it at all.
The first few times hearing the new version of "Boyfriend," it didn't even register that the restraining order line had been cut out.
no subject
Date: 2007-07-14 02:35 pm (UTC)...man, Joe Meek IS following me around. I just read a LJ post that featured a Scopitone of one of the Tornados' songs. Man!
no subject
Date: 2008-12-29 10:34 pm (UTC)Under the spotlight, they can see you twitch
Welcome to prime time, bitch