for TMBG fans (an explanation of my personal opinion)
I'm listening to Mink Car for the first time in awhile... this is actually a *really* good album. I think it has some of John Linnell's best songwriting to date. I really do *love* all of the Linnell songs on this album. HOWEVER. For some reason, I've decided I don't like Flans songs anymore.
I'm sorry. I feel so terrible about saying this. Most of the Flans songs on Mink Car feel a bit mediocre to me... just like... kinda lame. Like "Mink Car" here... OK song, I guess. I guess it's good that it makes the album switch genres a bit (which has always been one of TMBG's fortes). But it's just... ehh... and the lyrics are kind of pretty much meaningless. I mean, there's just not much to it. Same with "Drink!" and "Cyclops Rock" bores me because it's just so... generic boring rock. Y'know?
Now, don't get me wrong. I really love Flans. There's a *lot* of Flans songs I really really like, but it just seems like something happened around the time of Factory Showroom. Linnell became an exponentially even better songwriter (Spiraling Shape, Metal Detector, The Bells Are Ringing - these are BRILLIANT songs, both lyrically and musically) and it seems to me like Flans just started sucking (Pet Name in particular kind of bores me, and I Can Hear You, while being pretty great, is kind of like a one-liner and it totally detracts from the flow of the album).
So yeah, Long Tall Weekend came out and the Flans songs on there kinda sucked (Reprehensible, Counterfeit Faker) and the Linnell songs were again really good (Certain People I Could Name, On Earth My Nina) - I donno, maybe it's also that Flans's voice is different now and not as cool and it's more pretentious-sounding.
And at the TMBG show I went to a couple summers ago they had a sampling of some of the songs from People Are Wrong!... I think that was Flans's nadir right there. While being kind of musically dull, the songs from his solo musical were, again, pretty much just one-liners. There's a song about a guy with a ponytail. And a couple of clever puns and then they just keep going on about how he's a guy with long hair. I was just kind of disappointed. And on the other hand, State Songs was fuckin *awesome*. What the hell? I like Mono Puff, but in my opinion, they were never as good as anything on State Songs.
Please don't hate me John!! But please... either write some songs like you used to or just let John take care of most of the songs on The Spine. Because I want a TMBG album that kicks as much ass as something from before 1996.
P.S. John, I know you like playing all those less well-remembered hits from the 60s, but do you really have to put them on albums? "Maybe I Know" - totally lame. "Yeh Yeh" almost as much so. And don't even get me started on "Caroline, No." Just give it a break and if there's even *one* cover song on The Spine I am never speaking to you again. Unless John sings it.
P.P.S. Actually John, come to think of it, you did a pretty excellent job on No!. Fibber Island, Robot Parade, John Lee Supertaster... are actually really good songs. Just remember to write more like those ones, only make them more for adults.
I'm sorry. I feel so terrible about saying this. Most of the Flans songs on Mink Car feel a bit mediocre to me... just like... kinda lame. Like "Mink Car" here... OK song, I guess. I guess it's good that it makes the album switch genres a bit (which has always been one of TMBG's fortes). But it's just... ehh... and the lyrics are kind of pretty much meaningless. I mean, there's just not much to it. Same with "Drink!" and "Cyclops Rock" bores me because it's just so... generic boring rock. Y'know?
Now, don't get me wrong. I really love Flans. There's a *lot* of Flans songs I really really like, but it just seems like something happened around the time of Factory Showroom. Linnell became an exponentially even better songwriter (Spiraling Shape, Metal Detector, The Bells Are Ringing - these are BRILLIANT songs, both lyrically and musically) and it seems to me like Flans just started sucking (Pet Name in particular kind of bores me, and I Can Hear You, while being pretty great, is kind of like a one-liner and it totally detracts from the flow of the album).
So yeah, Long Tall Weekend came out and the Flans songs on there kinda sucked (Reprehensible, Counterfeit Faker) and the Linnell songs were again really good (Certain People I Could Name, On Earth My Nina) - I donno, maybe it's also that Flans's voice is different now and not as cool and it's more pretentious-sounding.
And at the TMBG show I went to a couple summers ago they had a sampling of some of the songs from People Are Wrong!... I think that was Flans's nadir right there. While being kind of musically dull, the songs from his solo musical were, again, pretty much just one-liners. There's a song about a guy with a ponytail. And a couple of clever puns and then they just keep going on about how he's a guy with long hair. I was just kind of disappointed. And on the other hand, State Songs was fuckin *awesome*. What the hell? I like Mono Puff, but in my opinion, they were never as good as anything on State Songs.
Please don't hate me John!! But please... either write some songs like you used to or just let John take care of most of the songs on The Spine. Because I want a TMBG album that kicks as much ass as something from before 1996.
P.S. John, I know you like playing all those less well-remembered hits from the 60s, but do you really have to put them on albums? "Maybe I Know" - totally lame. "Yeh Yeh" almost as much so. And don't even get me started on "Caroline, No." Just give it a break and if there's even *one* cover song on The Spine I am never speaking to you again. Unless John sings it.
P.P.S. Actually John, come to think of it, you did a pretty excellent job on No!. Fibber Island, Robot Parade, John Lee Supertaster... are actually really good songs. Just remember to write more like those ones, only make them more for adults.