More They Might Be Giants wittering
Jul. 22nd, 2007 08:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mmcirvinInterestingly (according to This Might Be a Wiki), the mind-destroyingly funky "Brain Problem Situation" was actually a new release, not a collected rarity--something of an easter egg on the bonus disc.
"The Else" is growing on me. It occurs to me that one could categorize TMBG's albums by whether Linnell or Flansburgh is the dominant personality. The debut Pink Album (as TMBW says) is actually a Flansburgh-dominant album, but the big hits on "Lincoln" and "Flood" and "Apollo 18" were all Linnell songs. I think one of the things that turns off some hardcore TMBG fans about "John Henry" is that Linnell seems to be kind of casting about for something new on it, and his lyrics don't quite have his trademark snap, but Flans is still firing on all cylinders there; he seems to be adapting better to the new style. Then on "Factory Showroom" Linnell comes around and there's more of a balance.
After the period in the wilderness, Flansburgh seems to rule for a while--"Mink Car" and "The Spine" were very Flansburghian, which I actually liked a lot, though some fans complained that they were almost Mono Puff albums; but this one is a very Linnell-heavy album. Though I like Flansburgh's "The Shadow Government" a lot and "Careful What You Pack" is a lovely song that sneaks up on you, otherwise Linnell provides the high points.
That might be the reason that the album seems to be an outsize critical success; maybe because of the circa-1990 work, in the larger world Linnell tends to be the attention-grabber, the guy who sang "Particle Man" and "Birdhouse In Your Soul".
"The Else" is growing on me. It occurs to me that one could categorize TMBG's albums by whether Linnell or Flansburgh is the dominant personality. The debut Pink Album (as TMBW says) is actually a Flansburgh-dominant album, but the big hits on "Lincoln" and "Flood" and "Apollo 18" were all Linnell songs. I think one of the things that turns off some hardcore TMBG fans about "John Henry" is that Linnell seems to be kind of casting about for something new on it, and his lyrics don't quite have his trademark snap, but Flans is still firing on all cylinders there; he seems to be adapting better to the new style. Then on "Factory Showroom" Linnell comes around and there's more of a balance.
After the period in the wilderness, Flansburgh seems to rule for a while--"Mink Car" and "The Spine" were very Flansburghian, which I actually liked a lot, though some fans complained that they were almost Mono Puff albums; but this one is a very Linnell-heavy album. Though I like Flansburgh's "The Shadow Government" a lot and "Careful What You Pack" is a lovely song that sneaks up on you, otherwise Linnell provides the high points.
That might be the reason that the album seems to be an outsize critical success; maybe because of the circa-1990 work, in the larger world Linnell tends to be the attention-grabber, the guy who sang "Particle Man" and "Birdhouse In Your Soul".