Squid vs. Whale: The Eternal Struggle
Oct. 28th, 2008 12:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vovatI think it's about time to review Apollo 18, which has a special place in my heart as my first They Might Be Giants album. True, I bought it and Then on the same day, and I'd heard all of Flood before that, but that's still how I think of it. It also has one of my favorite album covers of all time:
I understand that the Johns got this image from a pulp science fiction magazine. I have to wonder if it relates to Arthur Clarke's Childhood's End, in which a man stowed away to another planet in a display made up of a squid fighting a sperm whale. Maybe not, but that book DOES have the aliens arrive in a silver spaceship.
Anyway, enough with the cover, and on with the songs!
Dig My Grave - I like the concept of the false beginning for an album, where it starts out with something brief that doesn't sound like the rest of the music on it, and this sort of qualifies. An interesting thing about this song is that it mentions St. Peter, as does the last song on Flood. Also, on a personal note, I can't hear this song without thinking of Troy McClure's do-it-yourself video, "Dig Your Own Grave, and Save!"
I Palindrome I - A song of attempted matricide with a catchy tune and lyrics that involve a lot of palindromes (including one long word-palindrome in the middle). Would any band other than TMBG be able to pull this off? Okay, I'm sure some of them could, but would they do it quite this well? There was actually a totally different song called "I Palindrome I" on Dial-A-song, which had Flans singing, and I have to wonder how that came about. Maybe one of the Johns came up with the title, and then they both wrote songs with that name, choosing the better one (Linnell's) to record in the studio.
She's Actual Size - A good song that started to get on my nerves after the marathon live versions. They'd often stick a long drum solo in the middle, then John Flansburgh would sing the last two verses very slowly. These things don't happen on the studio version, though, so it's not a bad listen, although it's never been one of my favorites.
My Evil Twin - A song about a guy who blames all the bad things he does on his evil twin. Alternate personalities are a common theme in TMBG songs, and this is one of the best examples of that subject matter. I find the line, "Who cut the arm off the voodoo doll that resembles a Republican president from long ago?" intriguing, and wonder which president that would be. Actually, it makes me think of "Cyclops Rock," which in its pre-album version contains references to both Nixon (a Republican president, albeit not from all that long ago, especially back when this song was written) and Chuckie (not a voodoo doll in the traditional sense of the word, but it was a voodoo spell that allowed the serial killer's spirit to enter the doll). There's even a mention of Chuckie's arm keeping the titular cyclops company, so maybe Flans had the "Twin" lyric in mind. Who knows?
Mammal - A slow but fun song with a scientific theme. Not one of my overall favorites on the album, but still pretty cool. And I have to say that, even after looking up the term, I'm not quite sure what "allotheria" means.
The Statue Got Me High - One of the singles from the album, and an early favorite of mine. I remember reading the lyrics to the "and as the screaming fire engine siren filled the air" part in someone's newsgroup signature before actually hearing the song, and thinking them quite interesting and poetic. Someone once interpreted this song in terms of the story of Don Juan/Giovanni, prompting Linnell to introduce one live performance of the song with, "This song was based on the life of Don Giovanni, which I didn't know when I wrote this song."
Spider - Another little experimental thing, which I've always thought to be about the ambiguous attitude people have toward spiders. They kill pests, but they're pretty gross, you know? Actually, the VERY first time I heard it, I thought of Spider-Man, and I can't say that he might not have been on the Johns' minds when coming up with this. After all, Linnell DOES parody the Spider-Man theme in "Particle Man."
The Guitar (The Lion Sleeps Tonight) - TMBG's first jam song (well, more or less), which includes bits of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" rewritten with the lion on a silver spaceship instead of in a jungle. (Makes just about as much sense, really; lions are creatures of the grasslands, and would be unlikely to sleep in jungles.) These parts are sung by Laura Cantrell, who went on to record several great albums of country music. The video for this song might be my favorite TMBG music video, and not just because Laura looks cute in it, although that helps. {g} Oh, and is the Jim who might or might not be playing the guitar the same as the one who's being welcomed to the jungle in one of the B-sides for the song's EP? I guess we'll never know. And while I'm asking questions about this song, does anybody know what the deal is with the fast-talking part? I believe someone on the newsgroup once stated it was a sample of the auctioneer from a Monopoly video game, but I don't know whether anyone else has ever confirmed or denied this.
Dinner Bell - I loved this one from the first time I heard it, and I'd still count it as one of my favorite TMBG songs. The jaunty music and tongue-twisting lyrics are great, and I like what they do with the vocals.
Narrow Your Eyes - Another entry into the category of songs with depressing lyrics and catchy music, and one of the better ones in that category, really. I particularly enjoy the accordion solo.
Hall of Heads - This is the first TMBG song (or their first album track, anyway) to have a long instrumental opening. Except it really isn't that long. The lyrics start one minute and twelve seconds into it. But when the entire song is less than three minutes long, I guess that can be considered a long opening. The Johns seem to have a thing for disembodied heads, and this is an appropriate song for the Halloween season.
Which Describes How You're Feeling - An existential little song that dates back to the days before the first album. Back then, it was a more bombastic number, but I think the calmer mood of the album version better suits the song. I do miss the backwards part during the bridge, though.
See the Constellation - Another one that I liked right away, this song just rocks out. It's another one that seems to have sad lyrics, even though the music is really fun. The first line appears to be a paraphrase of the opening line of Warren Zevon's "Poor, Poor Pitiful Me," and I believe the Johns have said that the guitar riff is a take-off on the one from "Pleasant Valley Sunday."
If I Wasn't Shy - I sometimes overlook this song when thinking over this album, but it's really quite cute. And I don't think burning all the "ask me" buttons would be a bad idea at all.
Turn Around - Another song that I liked right away, and I also recognized that the verse structure was most likely the inspiration for that of Weird Al's TMBG style parody, "Everything You Know Is Wrong." The lyrics are delightfully absurd (come on, how can you NOT like a verse about someone doing an interpretive dance in the graveyard, and then being pushed into an open grave by the ghost of his dance instructor?), with a healthy (or possibly unhealthy; I don't think Congress has ever investigated the effects of this song on young children) dose of morbidity.
Hypnotist of Ladies - Eh, it's enjoyable, but I really don't have anything to say about it. The guitar parts are pretty cool.
Fingertips - Created in the style of those commercials where they just play snippets of various songs, there are twenty-one of these, each with their own sound. Even though each one is its own track, I'm not going to review them all individually, but I will mention that I particularly like "wreck my car," "please pass the milk," and "I don't understand you." I'm not so fond of "something grabbed a hold of my hand" (Amy Allison, you might be the daughter of a famous jazz pianist with a Pixies song written about him, but I just don't care for your vocals on this bit), or "I walk along darkened corridors" (although there's more zest to it when they perform it live).
Space Suit -![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bethje has told me that she doesn't care for this one, but I like it all right. The spacey sound to it is pretty cool. Still, it's not exactly the best choice for an ending song. I like when the closing song has more meat to it, with "The End of the Tour" being my favorite TMBG album closer. But I'm sure I'll have more to say about that next week, or whenever it is that I get around to reviewing John Henry.
I understand that the Johns got this image from a pulp science fiction magazine. I have to wonder if it relates to Arthur Clarke's Childhood's End, in which a man stowed away to another planet in a display made up of a squid fighting a sperm whale. Maybe not, but that book DOES have the aliens arrive in a silver spaceship.
Anyway, enough with the cover, and on with the songs!
Dig My Grave - I like the concept of the false beginning for an album, where it starts out with something brief that doesn't sound like the rest of the music on it, and this sort of qualifies. An interesting thing about this song is that it mentions St. Peter, as does the last song on Flood. Also, on a personal note, I can't hear this song without thinking of Troy McClure's do-it-yourself video, "Dig Your Own Grave, and Save!"
I Palindrome I - A song of attempted matricide with a catchy tune and lyrics that involve a lot of palindromes (including one long word-palindrome in the middle). Would any band other than TMBG be able to pull this off? Okay, I'm sure some of them could, but would they do it quite this well? There was actually a totally different song called "I Palindrome I" on Dial-A-song, which had Flans singing, and I have to wonder how that came about. Maybe one of the Johns came up with the title, and then they both wrote songs with that name, choosing the better one (Linnell's) to record in the studio.
She's Actual Size - A good song that started to get on my nerves after the marathon live versions. They'd often stick a long drum solo in the middle, then John Flansburgh would sing the last two verses very slowly. These things don't happen on the studio version, though, so it's not a bad listen, although it's never been one of my favorites.
My Evil Twin - A song about a guy who blames all the bad things he does on his evil twin. Alternate personalities are a common theme in TMBG songs, and this is one of the best examples of that subject matter. I find the line, "Who cut the arm off the voodoo doll that resembles a Republican president from long ago?" intriguing, and wonder which president that would be. Actually, it makes me think of "Cyclops Rock," which in its pre-album version contains references to both Nixon (a Republican president, albeit not from all that long ago, especially back when this song was written) and Chuckie (not a voodoo doll in the traditional sense of the word, but it was a voodoo spell that allowed the serial killer's spirit to enter the doll). There's even a mention of Chuckie's arm keeping the titular cyclops company, so maybe Flans had the "Twin" lyric in mind. Who knows?
Mammal - A slow but fun song with a scientific theme. Not one of my overall favorites on the album, but still pretty cool. And I have to say that, even after looking up the term, I'm not quite sure what "allotheria" means.
The Statue Got Me High - One of the singles from the album, and an early favorite of mine. I remember reading the lyrics to the "and as the screaming fire engine siren filled the air" part in someone's newsgroup signature before actually hearing the song, and thinking them quite interesting and poetic. Someone once interpreted this song in terms of the story of Don Juan/Giovanni, prompting Linnell to introduce one live performance of the song with, "This song was based on the life of Don Giovanni, which I didn't know when I wrote this song."
Spider - Another little experimental thing, which I've always thought to be about the ambiguous attitude people have toward spiders. They kill pests, but they're pretty gross, you know? Actually, the VERY first time I heard it, I thought of Spider-Man, and I can't say that he might not have been on the Johns' minds when coming up with this. After all, Linnell DOES parody the Spider-Man theme in "Particle Man."
The Guitar (The Lion Sleeps Tonight) - TMBG's first jam song (well, more or less), which includes bits of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" rewritten with the lion on a silver spaceship instead of in a jungle. (Makes just about as much sense, really; lions are creatures of the grasslands, and would be unlikely to sleep in jungles.) These parts are sung by Laura Cantrell, who went on to record several great albums of country music. The video for this song might be my favorite TMBG music video, and not just because Laura looks cute in it, although that helps. {g} Oh, and is the Jim who might or might not be playing the guitar the same as the one who's being welcomed to the jungle in one of the B-sides for the song's EP? I guess we'll never know. And while I'm asking questions about this song, does anybody know what the deal is with the fast-talking part? I believe someone on the newsgroup once stated it was a sample of the auctioneer from a Monopoly video game, but I don't know whether anyone else has ever confirmed or denied this.
Dinner Bell - I loved this one from the first time I heard it, and I'd still count it as one of my favorite TMBG songs. The jaunty music and tongue-twisting lyrics are great, and I like what they do with the vocals.
Narrow Your Eyes - Another entry into the category of songs with depressing lyrics and catchy music, and one of the better ones in that category, really. I particularly enjoy the accordion solo.
Hall of Heads - This is the first TMBG song (or their first album track, anyway) to have a long instrumental opening. Except it really isn't that long. The lyrics start one minute and twelve seconds into it. But when the entire song is less than three minutes long, I guess that can be considered a long opening. The Johns seem to have a thing for disembodied heads, and this is an appropriate song for the Halloween season.
Which Describes How You're Feeling - An existential little song that dates back to the days before the first album. Back then, it was a more bombastic number, but I think the calmer mood of the album version better suits the song. I do miss the backwards part during the bridge, though.
See the Constellation - Another one that I liked right away, this song just rocks out. It's another one that seems to have sad lyrics, even though the music is really fun. The first line appears to be a paraphrase of the opening line of Warren Zevon's "Poor, Poor Pitiful Me," and I believe the Johns have said that the guitar riff is a take-off on the one from "Pleasant Valley Sunday."
If I Wasn't Shy - I sometimes overlook this song when thinking over this album, but it's really quite cute. And I don't think burning all the "ask me" buttons would be a bad idea at all.
Turn Around - Another song that I liked right away, and I also recognized that the verse structure was most likely the inspiration for that of Weird Al's TMBG style parody, "Everything You Know Is Wrong." The lyrics are delightfully absurd (come on, how can you NOT like a verse about someone doing an interpretive dance in the graveyard, and then being pushed into an open grave by the ghost of his dance instructor?), with a healthy (or possibly unhealthy; I don't think Congress has ever investigated the effects of this song on young children) dose of morbidity.
Hypnotist of Ladies - Eh, it's enjoyable, but I really don't have anything to say about it. The guitar parts are pretty cool.
Fingertips - Created in the style of those commercials where they just play snippets of various songs, there are twenty-one of these, each with their own sound. Even though each one is its own track, I'm not going to review them all individually, but I will mention that I particularly like "wreck my car," "please pass the milk," and "I don't understand you." I'm not so fond of "something grabbed a hold of my hand" (Amy Allison, you might be the daughter of a famous jazz pianist with a Pixies song written about him, but I just don't care for your vocals on this bit), or "I walk along darkened corridors" (although there's more zest to it when they perform it live).
Space Suit -
bethje has told me that she doesn't care for this one, but I like it all right. The spacey sound to it is pretty cool. Still, it's not exactly the best choice for an ending song. I like when the closing song has more meat to it, with "The End of the Tour" being my favorite TMBG album closer. But I'm sure I'll have more to say about that next week, or whenever it is that I get around to reviewing John Henry.
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You haven't seen Squid vs. Whale until you've seen...
Date: 2008-10-28 05:45 pm (UTC)Re: You haven't seen Squid vs. Whale until you've seen...
Date: 2008-10-28 10:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-28 05:51 pm (UTC)Allotheria's just an extinct class of mammal, thassall.
I never figured out what the sample of the auctioneer was from, though. I'd be curious to find that out.
I like "Space Suit" a LOT. but yeah, "Darkened Corridors" is only good live, really.
no subject
Date: 2008-10-28 10:49 pm (UTC)That makes sense. I guess it's only fair, since Linnell came up with the title for "Put Your Hand Inside the Puppet Head."
I agree that Flans's IPI is pretty good, but yeah, I couldn't see it being an album track.
no subject
Date: 2008-10-29 06:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-30 04:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-30 11:08 pm (UTC)