Animals rule this land
This is actually a pretty big day for album releases, with new stuff from Interpol, Spoon, and, uh, "Smashing Pumpkins." But of all the overpriced CDs I could've picked up this morning at Virgin, the only one I bothered with was The Else by They Might Be Giants, because there is probably no other modern rock band I have been as obsessive about for as long as them (and I was still like the last of my high-school friends to really listen to them, not counting Tiny Toons videos). I've only listened to the new album a few times but so far I'd characterize it as very even-handed and solid in that there are no really bad songs -- but also not a lot of immediate stand-out candidates for the "best TMBG songs ever" list. Which, obviously, I re-compose myself every few years. I can no longer tell if I love TMBG because they have lots of songs, or if I love bands with lots of songs because of TMBG.
The Dust Brothers produced some songs on The Else but somehow that just means a couple of songs sound like Radiohead for like ten seconds. The album also comes with a second disc of songs that mostly previously appeared on their podcasts, which I only sometimes neglect to listen to -- actually usually because the majority of songs they play are rarities that I've nonetheless managed to hear more than enough times, a victim of my own nerdery.
Anyway, that nerdy list follows. This doesn't include anything from the new album, though it does include one song on the podcast CD, "We Live in a Dump." That and "Why Did You Grow a Beard?" really should've been put on the proper album and not the experimental bonus disc.
The Top 30 TMBG songs
A top 30 is OK because of the aforementioned vast quantity of songs. I hope that people who are equipped to form their opinions about the validity of this list will do so.
1. "Birdhouse in Your Soul" (off of Flood)
"Ana Ng" is sort of my standard favorite TMBG song and possibly my favorite song ever, but "Birdhouse" has squeaked ahead mainly because it's consistently awesome to see it live, whereas "Ana Ng" is played, and played awesomely, more seldomly.
2. "Ana Ng" (Lincoln)
May be their best video and certainly has their best dance.
3. "The End of the Tour" (John Henry)
This would also go on a list of my favorite album-closers ever. And it closes one of my very favorite albums. Take that, "Her Majesty"!
4. "The Guitar" (live) (Apollo 18/various live downloads)
It's a very good song on record but the live performance is something else entirely. TMBG is not known for long, jammy songs, but this semi-cover with minimal lyrics is somehow amazing, a tribute to their generally stellar backing band.
5. "She's an Angel" (They Might Be Giants)
Obviously.
6. "Sleeping in the Flowers" (John Henry)
If you don't count "The Guitar" since it poaches "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," this would be the best song Flansburgh has ever written.
7. "They'll Need a Crane" (Lincoln)
Linnell packs so much excellent detail into this song that it's kind of shocking to realize it's like two minutes long.
8. "New York City" (Factory Showroom)
Their most famous cover is "Istanbul," but this one is by far their best. Listening to Cub's original version, it almost sounds like they were just getting it out of the way so TMBG could get their hands on it.
9. "Museum of Idiots" (The Spine)
Marisa put this on a tape for me way before it was on The Spine but the studio version really hit me when I could finally hear the lyrics.
10. "Till My Head Falls Off" (Factory Showroom)
They should play this in concert more.
11. "Twisting" (Flood)
Come on!
12. "Man, It's So Loud in Here" (Mink Car)
This got tagged as TMBG doing techno but it is clearly at least fifty percent a New Order style parody.
13. "Don't Let's Start" (They Might Be Giants)
Plus, it plays from the other side of a wall during Kicking and Screaming!
14. "Cyclops Rock" (Mink Car)
I remember hearing successive, slightly tweaked versions of this song during the fiddling-around years between Factory Showroom and Mink Car, and liking each version just a little bit more. Luckily they stopped with this one, with a Cerys-from-Catatonia cameo, or else maybe my head would've exploded.
15. "Pet Name" (Factory Showroom)
A real grower, this one. It's definitely the lowest-key song in my top 20, but Flansburgh knows his way around strange relationship songs.
16. "Dr. Worm" (Severe Tire Damage)
This song was kinda bleh when they started introducing it into their sets circa mid-1997, but once they did a studio version with horns, it was all over.
17. "Sleepwalkers" (No!)
The studio version is on a children's album so it's a bit less rocking (and less creepy) than the live version, where they would sometimes come back for a second or third encore and play the whole thing with the lights out before anyone knew what it was. But either way, this song is as good as all of those TMBG nerds think all of No! is (even so: mop mop mop).
18. "Ondine" (Back to Skull EP)
I dreamed I killed you again.
19. "Thunderbird" (The Spine)
A "when the hell is this going on an album?" favorite for many years, its eventual album inclusion was a little anticlimactic despite being awesome -- actually, I feel like if TMBG just bashed out another album a couple of years after Factory Showroom, it would've been fucking amazing. But instead that amazing album's tracks were spread over a live album, some odds-and-ends collections, a couple of EPs, and, eventually, two albums. TMBG nerds, think about an album with "Thunderbird," "Cyclops Rock," "Man It's So Loud in Here," "Dr. Worm," "On the Drag," "Rest Awhile," "Certain People I Could Name," and "Museum of Idiots." Such a thing totally could've come out in 1999. I don't lament any of their albums too much because they're all at least good, but just think about that.
20. "Narrow Your Eyes" (Apollo 18)
Another excellent Flansburgh breakup song.
21. "We Live in a Dump" (Cast Your Pod to the Wind)
Why is this so good?
22. "It's Kickin' In" (The Spine)
A better retro garage-y rock song than many actual garage bands are capable of producing.
23. "Destination Moon" (John Henry)
Apollo 18 has a lot of cool space imagery on it, but this might be their best space-related song and it's not even on that album.
24. "Purple Toupee" (Lincoln)
Some of Linnell's finest malapropisms.
25. "Why Does the Sun Shine?" (live) (Severe Tire Damage)
Although the live-album version lacks both (a.) hilarious variations on the sun's composition and (b.) hilarious flubs of the sun's composition.
26. "Out of Jail" (John Henry)
For some reason this is one of their most fun songs to play on guitar and I give a certain amount of points for that which also accounts for how much I like "Lovely Rita" by the Beatles.
27. "Sensurround" (S-E-X-X-Y EP)
Not only does this song rock, it is about movies, so obviously it's a favorite of mine.
28. "Snail Shell" (John Henry)
Chris, I'm still awaiting details of your flagpole dance.
29. "Kiss Me, Son of God" (Lincoln)
The accordion-y B-side version isn't as good.
30. "I've Got a Fang" (Mink Car)
Highly underrated. Highly underrated. Highly underrated.
I'll also take nominations for their worst songs (I didn't have time).
Something that has shocked me as I read various TMBG fan internet posts in anticipation of the new album's release is what seems almost like a consensus: that on the earlier albums, Flansburgh and Linnell were about equal in songwriting, whereas later stuff is more dominated by Linnell's songs. This is borderline insane. Flansburgh definitely contributed a lot of definitive experiments and digressions that gave these early their albums a specific flavor, but pretty much every great song from their first two or three albums is Linnell's. Flansburgh really blossomed later on. Look no further than their previous album, The Spine, where many of the very best new songs were Flansburgh's, and most of the lackluster songs were Linnell's. Plus, Linnell's two best songs on that album (which are, admittedly, the only ones that make my Top 25) had been kicking around for several years before finally turning up on The Spine. The Else is more evenhanded but Flansburgh's growth as a songwriter is undeniable.
All of this TMBG talk has put me in a good mood, so I'll save the LiveNation/concert ticket rant for another day.
The Dust Brothers produced some songs on The Else but somehow that just means a couple of songs sound like Radiohead for like ten seconds. The album also comes with a second disc of songs that mostly previously appeared on their podcasts, which I only sometimes neglect to listen to -- actually usually because the majority of songs they play are rarities that I've nonetheless managed to hear more than enough times, a victim of my own nerdery.
Anyway, that nerdy list follows. This doesn't include anything from the new album, though it does include one song on the podcast CD, "We Live in a Dump." That and "Why Did You Grow a Beard?" really should've been put on the proper album and not the experimental bonus disc.
The Top 30 TMBG songs
A top 30 is OK because of the aforementioned vast quantity of songs. I hope that people who are equipped to form their opinions about the validity of this list will do so.
1. "Birdhouse in Your Soul" (off of Flood)
"Ana Ng" is sort of my standard favorite TMBG song and possibly my favorite song ever, but "Birdhouse" has squeaked ahead mainly because it's consistently awesome to see it live, whereas "Ana Ng" is played, and played awesomely, more seldomly.
2. "Ana Ng" (Lincoln)
May be their best video and certainly has their best dance.
3. "The End of the Tour" (John Henry)
This would also go on a list of my favorite album-closers ever. And it closes one of my very favorite albums. Take that, "Her Majesty"!
4. "The Guitar" (live) (Apollo 18/various live downloads)
It's a very good song on record but the live performance is something else entirely. TMBG is not known for long, jammy songs, but this semi-cover with minimal lyrics is somehow amazing, a tribute to their generally stellar backing band.
5. "She's an Angel" (They Might Be Giants)
Obviously.
6. "Sleeping in the Flowers" (John Henry)
If you don't count "The Guitar" since it poaches "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," this would be the best song Flansburgh has ever written.
7. "They'll Need a Crane" (Lincoln)
Linnell packs so much excellent detail into this song that it's kind of shocking to realize it's like two minutes long.
8. "New York City" (Factory Showroom)
Their most famous cover is "Istanbul," but this one is by far their best. Listening to Cub's original version, it almost sounds like they were just getting it out of the way so TMBG could get their hands on it.
9. "Museum of Idiots" (The Spine)
Marisa put this on a tape for me way before it was on The Spine but the studio version really hit me when I could finally hear the lyrics.
10. "Till My Head Falls Off" (Factory Showroom)
They should play this in concert more.
11. "Twisting" (Flood)
Come on!
12. "Man, It's So Loud in Here" (Mink Car)
This got tagged as TMBG doing techno but it is clearly at least fifty percent a New Order style parody.
13. "Don't Let's Start" (They Might Be Giants)
Plus, it plays from the other side of a wall during Kicking and Screaming!
14. "Cyclops Rock" (Mink Car)
I remember hearing successive, slightly tweaked versions of this song during the fiddling-around years between Factory Showroom and Mink Car, and liking each version just a little bit more. Luckily they stopped with this one, with a Cerys-from-Catatonia cameo, or else maybe my head would've exploded.
15. "Pet Name" (Factory Showroom)
A real grower, this one. It's definitely the lowest-key song in my top 20, but Flansburgh knows his way around strange relationship songs.
16. "Dr. Worm" (Severe Tire Damage)
This song was kinda bleh when they started introducing it into their sets circa mid-1997, but once they did a studio version with horns, it was all over.
17. "Sleepwalkers" (No!)
The studio version is on a children's album so it's a bit less rocking (and less creepy) than the live version, where they would sometimes come back for a second or third encore and play the whole thing with the lights out before anyone knew what it was. But either way, this song is as good as all of those TMBG nerds think all of No! is (even so: mop mop mop).
18. "Ondine" (Back to Skull EP)
I dreamed I killed you again.
19. "Thunderbird" (The Spine)
A "when the hell is this going on an album?" favorite for many years, its eventual album inclusion was a little anticlimactic despite being awesome -- actually, I feel like if TMBG just bashed out another album a couple of years after Factory Showroom, it would've been fucking amazing. But instead that amazing album's tracks were spread over a live album, some odds-and-ends collections, a couple of EPs, and, eventually, two albums. TMBG nerds, think about an album with "Thunderbird," "Cyclops Rock," "Man It's So Loud in Here," "Dr. Worm," "On the Drag," "Rest Awhile," "Certain People I Could Name," and "Museum of Idiots." Such a thing totally could've come out in 1999. I don't lament any of their albums too much because they're all at least good, but just think about that.
20. "Narrow Your Eyes" (Apollo 18)
Another excellent Flansburgh breakup song.
21. "We Live in a Dump" (Cast Your Pod to the Wind)
Why is this so good?
22. "It's Kickin' In" (The Spine)
A better retro garage-y rock song than many actual garage bands are capable of producing.
23. "Destination Moon" (John Henry)
Apollo 18 has a lot of cool space imagery on it, but this might be their best space-related song and it's not even on that album.
24. "Purple Toupee" (Lincoln)
Some of Linnell's finest malapropisms.
25. "Why Does the Sun Shine?" (live) (Severe Tire Damage)
Although the live-album version lacks both (a.) hilarious variations on the sun's composition and (b.) hilarious flubs of the sun's composition.
26. "Out of Jail" (John Henry)
For some reason this is one of their most fun songs to play on guitar and I give a certain amount of points for that which also accounts for how much I like "Lovely Rita" by the Beatles.
27. "Sensurround" (S-E-X-X-Y EP)
Not only does this song rock, it is about movies, so obviously it's a favorite of mine.
28. "Snail Shell" (John Henry)
Chris, I'm still awaiting details of your flagpole dance.
29. "Kiss Me, Son of God" (Lincoln)
The accordion-y B-side version isn't as good.
30. "I've Got a Fang" (Mink Car)
Highly underrated. Highly underrated. Highly underrated.
I'll also take nominations for their worst songs (I didn't have time).
Something that has shocked me as I read various TMBG fan internet posts in anticipation of the new album's release is what seems almost like a consensus: that on the earlier albums, Flansburgh and Linnell were about equal in songwriting, whereas later stuff is more dominated by Linnell's songs. This is borderline insane. Flansburgh definitely contributed a lot of definitive experiments and digressions that gave these early their albums a specific flavor, but pretty much every great song from their first two or three albums is Linnell's. Flansburgh really blossomed later on. Look no further than their previous album, The Spine, where many of the very best new songs were Flansburgh's, and most of the lackluster songs were Linnell's. Plus, Linnell's two best songs on that album (which are, admittedly, the only ones that make my Top 25) had been kicking around for several years before finally turning up on The Spine. The Else is more evenhanded but Flansburgh's growth as a songwriter is undeniable.
All of this TMBG talk has put me in a good mood, so I'll save the LiveNation/concert ticket rant for another day.