"samba time for Tambo and weep day for Urine Man" is such a great dumb inside-joke starting point for a lyric. and then it ends up with these weird little philosophy-101 reflections on the nonexistence of simultaneity. great.
― |Restore| |Restart| |Quit| (Doctor Casino), Monday, 22 October 2018 20:54 (five years ago) link
also, shout out to sic for picking a great thread title. there were a billion options, but this feels like the right one.
― voodoo chili, Monday, 22 October 2018 20:56 (five years ago) link
yeah I'd like to think TMBW.net for explaining that one
I cant imagine anyone getting that when they actually hear the song
now that I'm reading the lyrics...a lot of the lines from Lincoln sorta originated here right? "Every man is made of two opinions/Every woman has a second half"
― frogbs, Monday, 22 October 2018 20:58 (five years ago) link
I know WFMU was regularly playing stuff by these guys no later than 1985; I first saw them in '87 at the Loop Lounge, Passaic NJ.
Was a huge fan at least up through Apollo 18, but i didn't vote.
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Monday, 22 October 2018 20:59 (five years ago) link
I guess I've heard this song before, since I own "Then" but I have no memory or knowledge of it whatsoever.
― justfanoe (Greg Fanoe), Monday, 22 October 2018 21:01 (five years ago) link
first one I don't know, I'll bet there'll be more
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Monday, 22 October 2018 21:06 (five years ago) link
ooh i like that reading of lincoln. i think i got "tambo-urine man" from the then liner notes back in the day.
― |Restore| |Restart| |Quit| (Doctor Casino), Monday, 22 October 2018 21:10 (five years ago) link
one bummer of the ballot-playlist system for me: the then bonus stuff is not on spotify (though miscellaneous t is and covers most of the essentials). other big missing links: "sensurround," "mrs. train," and the unhelpfully-titled sequel song "she was a hotel detective."
― |Restore| |Restart| |Quit| (Doctor Casino), Monday, 22 October 2018 21:14 (five years ago) link
"And it wasn't me you punched a hole inAt the west German protest march"
yeah this is very purple toupee somehow
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Monday, 22 October 2018 21:15 (five years ago) link
thanks! the voting thread title was better, but the future tense needed to be used there. obvs there were loads of great options like Birdhouse In My Poll and I Polindrome I, but this had a definitive tone to it.
― Get The Many Big Hits (sic), Monday, 22 October 2018 21:22 (five years ago) link
Morbs: some WFMU-exclusive versions coming up as links (and back in the voting thread)
DC: do you know there is now a trilogy song called She Was A Hotel Detective In The Future?
― Get The Many Big Hits (sic), Monday, 22 October 2018 21:23 (five years ago) link
missed opportunity to call it (She Will Have Been A) Hotel Detective
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Monday, 22 October 2018 21:25 (five years ago) link
70: Turn Around 378 points, 6 votes
on Apollo 18 album, 1992
― Get The Many Big Hits (sic), Monday, 22 October 2018 21:33 (five years ago) link
I sort of see this as the Apollo 18 version of "Someone Keeps Moving My Chair" (which I like somewhat better.)
Think I didn't vote for this, probably should have.
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Monday, 22 October 2018 21:36 (five years ago) link
69: Piece Of Dirt 406 points, 9 votes
on Lincoln LP, 1988performed by The Avatars Of They, 2015
― Teasing The Big Myth (sic), Monday, 22 October 2018 21:57 (five years ago) link
I voted for “Turn Around” downballot. I’ve always enjoyed the song though the chorus does fall a bit flat.
― justfanoe (Greg Fanoe), Monday, 22 October 2018 22:09 (five years ago) link
I like Turn Around. Their songs about the shadow of death are usually good. Where You're Eyes Don't Go is another one similar one.
― everything, Monday, 22 October 2018 22:13 (five years ago) link
The last verse about the train engineer with the paper-white mask of evil face is one of my favourite moments
― PaulTMA, Monday, 22 October 2018 22:20 (five years ago) link
68: A Self Called Nowhere 416 points, 6 votes, 1 #1
on John Henry album, 1994
― Teasing The Big Myth (sic), Monday, 22 October 2018 22:26 (five years ago) link
piece of dirt was a late cut for me, i just couldn't vote for that vocal
― voodoo chili, Monday, 22 October 2018 22:34 (five years ago) link
"Or to fly... I'd fly away" is great tho
― |Restore| |Restart| |Quit| (Doctor Casino), Monday, 22 October 2018 22:49 (five years ago) link
“A Self Called Nowhere” at #1? Wild. I have never once thought about this song, though I’ve heard nothing t dozens of times.
― justfanoe (Greg Fanoe), Monday, 22 October 2018 23:07 (five years ago) link
Wtf autocorrect “I’ve heard it dozens of times”
wow at that #1 vote. the joys of fandom, it takes all kinds!
i did once think the song sounded pretty dark and cool-sounding, and i think about it almost any time i encounter an electric organ. another one where i'd love to hear it in a pre-JH arrangement, perhaps a less ponderous one. "it's a thing named it, in a bottomless pit, you can't see it there" sounds cool to me.
― |Restore| |Restart| |Quit| (Doctor Casino), Tuesday, 23 October 2018 00:07 (five years ago) link
apparently they made simple MIDI versions of all the john henry tracks and put them out as a hypercard stack?? you can hear them here though they're obviously not finished TMBG songs. this site supposedly emulates the hypercard stack, but requires Flash.
a 2007 podcast also unveiled full-band demos (follow link to MP3) which i'm just now skimming. they're not radically different but they sound better to my ears. i'm not enough of a production head to be precise about this but maybe what i'm hearing is the absence of compression? "no one knows my plan," one of my favorites from the album, sounds a little looser, and a little less cluttered without guitar overdubs (and no solo!) muddying up the mix. "out of jail" isn't better than the album version (another one of my favorites from that record) but something about the guitar attack makes it clearer how it belongs in the flans staccato-guitar canon going back to "ana ng" etc. "a self called nowhere's" chorus still lands hard but there's no effect on linnell's voice and that too is fairly refreshing i gotta say.
― |Restore| |Restart| |Quit| (Doctor Casino), Tuesday, 23 October 2018 00:23 (five years ago) link
they're releasing a full remastered CD edition of the John Henry demos in December: https://tmbgifc.com/ -- sign up by midnight to also get two posters designed by the screenwriter of Antz, sign up any time to get downloads of three new albums from 2018, one not-available-to-the-public live album from 2018, a 7", a T-shirt, a keychain, two guitar picks and various other stuff.
― Teasing The Big Myth (sic), Tuesday, 23 October 2018 01:39 (five years ago) link
https://tmbgifc.com/static/ifc2018/images/product_images/Poster_SaturdayEveningPost_ToddAlcott.jpg
― Teasing The Big Myth (sic), Tuesday, 23 October 2018 01:40 (five years ago) link
67: I Should Be Allowed To Think 429 points, 7 votes
on John Henry album, 1994earlier Dial-A-Song version
― Teasing The Big Myth (sic), Tuesday, 23 October 2018 01:41 (five years ago) link
whoa thought that would be top 20
― frogbs, Tuesday, 23 October 2018 01:50 (five years ago) link
So far, not a lot of songs I voted for, but "For Science" is awesome
― Vinnie, Tuesday, 23 October 2018 01:54 (five years ago) link
When I prepped my ballot, I first made a playlist of my indisputable all time top fave TMBG tracks. That ended up amounting to 26 songs. This is the first of those 26 to appear. I have to admit, I’m a bit sad to see it so low.
― justfanoe (Greg Fanoe), Tuesday, 23 October 2018 02:01 (five years ago) link
You've started! Re: albums, did the 1986 S/T "Pink" LP get no votes beside mine then?
(All the cool kids favour the demo, maybe? Or I'm amongst those those failing to grasp eligibility criteria? :) )
― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Tuesday, 23 October 2018 02:03 (five years ago) link
i also voted for the s/t album, in third place. wondering if maybe that got counted as a vote for the demo? not that many album ballots overall so it's no biggie imo.
hands up, who else's first introduction to "howl" was through the opening lines of "i should be allowed to think"?
― |Restore| |Restart| |Quit| (Doctor Casino), Tuesday, 23 October 2018 02:17 (five years ago) link
really love the way these guys do those soaring background vocals on their choruses. this song is probably one of the best examples of that
― frogbs, Tuesday, 23 October 2018 02:23 (five years ago) link
I had Hide Away Folk Family in my top 5 I think, surprised it's so low
― ufo, Tuesday, 23 October 2018 02:28 (five years ago) link
you and I were the only two to vote for The Pink Album - as I hinted, I assume the five votes for They Might Be Giants meant to vote Pink, but it was funnier to run with the votes as submitted since nobody really cared about the EPs / albums element
― Teasing The Big Myth (sic), Tuesday, 23 October 2018 02:37 (five years ago) link
66: South Carolina 431 points, 6 votes
on John Linnell's State Songs EP, 1994 & album, 1999
― Teasing The Big Myth (sic), Tuesday, 23 October 2018 02:38 (five years ago) link
I love this song. Happy it made the list, it was in my top 25
― justfanoe (Greg Fanoe), Tuesday, 23 October 2018 02:55 (five years ago) link
this stuff about the s/t / pink album is going right over my head - it's called they might be giants right?
― |Restore| |Restart| |Quit| (Doctor Casino), Tuesday, 23 October 2018 03:02 (five years ago) link
South Carolina SO GOOD, I was worried I was the only State Songs Stan here. "Lift that fork, eat that snail, garçon summon up a new cocktail" one of their very finest convoluted strings of syllables.
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Tuesday, 23 October 2018 03:27 (five years ago) link
Somehow missed "Hide Away Folk Family," yes, that's surprisingly low! To me it's one of the defining songs on the debut.
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Tuesday, 23 October 2018 03:28 (five years ago) link
AQUARIUS: ABANDON HOPE FOR FUTURE PLANNNNS
― |Restore| |Restart| |Quit| (Doctor Casino), Tuesday, 23 October 2018 03:34 (five years ago) link
I think I like every song where the bridge consists of one John doing a megaphone declarative over some kind of chaotic musical interlude.
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Tuesday, 23 October 2018 03:35 (five years ago) link
^ ha ha, otm
it's called they might be giants right?
yes, but so was the sold-for-money 1985 cassette (reissued in 1993), so I called the 1986 LP "The Pink Album" in all the eligibility lists
― Teasing The Big Myth (sic), Tuesday, 23 October 2018 03:36 (five years ago) link
65: Sleeping in the Flowers 443 points, 8 votes
― Teasing The Big Myth (sic), Tuesday, 23 October 2018 03:38 (five years ago) link
there's this whole aspect to the debut, in things like that "daily home astrology report," which puts them much much closer to idk laurie anderson and talking heads and was not was.... stuff that today has much more "cool" nyc 80s art-world type cred, versus the "beloved by high school dorks like doctor casino" image. not saying they should be ranked as more cool than they are just that they've maybe been misread a bit. or maybe a lot of those 80s art postures became standard high school dork moves via channels including TMBG, i dunno. i think i've made this exact post before, and recently maybe.
xxp oh ha, i didn't read the eligibility lists, just the line that said you could vote for x number of albums or EPs. that's on me then!
― |Restore| |Restart| |Quit| (Doctor Casino), Tuesday, 23 October 2018 03:44 (five years ago) link
I think I've made that exact post before DC! In that early TMBG is 100% definitely a downtown performance experiment about the concept of the "rock band" which sort of accidentally turns into an actual rock band.
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Tuesday, 23 October 2018 03:49 (five years ago) link
there is a strong, sad possibility i read it from you, repeated it out loud at some point, and convinced myself it was my brilliant original thought
― |Restore| |Restart| |Quit| (Doctor Casino), Tuesday, 23 October 2018 03:54 (five years ago) link
Well, whoever's thought it was, it's definitely the case.
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Tuesday, 23 October 2018 04:33 (five years ago) link
downtown performance experiment about the concept of the "rock band"
Oh god! I realised while compiling a ballot that I'm hopelessly biased toward the early output and could only come up with "there's a tiny of bit more of The Residents to them" or something. Y'all capture it better.
― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Tuesday, 23 October 2018 04:35 (five years ago) link
Reading this reminded me of something neat. A couple years ago I went to see a band that had a friend of a friend in it. They played on a pirate ship here in London and as soon as they started I was like ok someone really likes tmbg. After the set I asked who the big fan was. Turned out to be the lead singer who was from Norwalk CT anyway yadda yadda yadda she and I had been at the same TMBG show in said CT town something nuts like 27 years ago.
― Benson and the Jets (ENBB), Wednesday, 24 January 2024 18:31 (four months ago) link
xp It went up through "No" (2002)
― Hideous Lump, Wednesday, 24 January 2024 19:32 (four months ago) link
My first real Rock n' roll gig was seeing TMBG in 1990 at Toad's Place. It was a 21 and over show, but the doorman let me in anyway. Probably helped that my dad was with me. Flood had been out for a couple months, but there was not a big turnout.
― B. Amato (Boring, Maryland), Wednesday, 24 January 2024 19:46 (four months ago) link
a poll from The Spine on would be pretty interesting if enough people vote. according to TMBW the 10 best post-2002 songs are:
Lets Get This Over WithEraseBrontosaurusUnpronounceableMrs. BluebeardWhen Will You Die?Can't Keep Johnny DownMuseum of IdiotsECNALUBMAI Love You For Psychological Reasons
― frogbs, Wednesday, 24 January 2024 19:53 (four months ago) link
Could go for a comp covering "Join Us" onwards. Looking at their discography, it looks like "Up To Date" and "Modern" are collections covering that stuff?
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Wednesday, 24 January 2024 20:23 (four months ago) link
Up to Date seems okay, dunno wtf is going on with Modern
― frogbs, Wednesday, 24 January 2024 20:33 (four months ago) link
can and will come up with ten songs that absolutely smoke those ones xxp
― imago, Wednesday, 24 January 2024 20:36 (four months ago) link
here I put together an hours worth of TMBG from 2010 on, imo this is a lot of the best stuff
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7abcwqaZlDgULGKj6PsRBu
― frogbs, Wednesday, 24 January 2024 20:38 (four months ago) link
okay good, stone cold coup d'etat and i'll be haunting you are on there...
― imago, Wednesday, 24 January 2024 20:42 (four months ago) link
and some other good choices fine
tractor and like 5 other insane bangers off mmr safe from the spotify claw alas
― imago, Wednesday, 24 January 2024 20:43 (four months ago) link
I had to make a lot of cuts to get it to an hour, mostly taking out some similar-sounding stuff
― frogbs, Wednesday, 24 January 2024 20:52 (four months ago) link
I can't tell you how often "No one in the world ever gets what they want, and that is beautiful. Everybody dies frustrated and sad, and that is beautiful" pops into my head. One of the all-time great lyrics.
― piscesx, Wednesday, 24 January 2024 21:53 (four months ago) link
Xposts - Toad's place! I am not from CT but my best friend growing up was so I've been to a bunch of shows there. This was at The Globe in Norwalk.
― Benson and the Jets (ENBB), Thursday, 25 January 2024 05:14 (four months ago) link