They Might Be Giants
Long Tall Weekend
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They Might Be Giants
Long Tall Weekend
EMusic, 1999
RiYL: MP3s, Too Much Joy, Soul Coughing, Squeeze |
The Brooklyn-based duo's well-documented prolificity (each of their first three albums had 19 songs) is a major contributing factor to their ability to take a chance on releasing an entire album in this untested method. Since before their record-making days, TMBG's John Flansburgh and John Linnell have operated a service called "Dial-A-Song" out of their apartment, which promises a demo or some kind of unreleased tune for the price of a regular phone call to New York ("It's Free If You Call From Work!" claimed an early advertisement).
Many of the tunes on Long Tall Weekend are culled from these Dial-A-Song tapes or other songs TMBG created on the fly and for one reason or another deemed unworthy for one of their regular-issue albums (the seventh of which is due out next Spring). The songs retain TMBG's lovable wit and sparse but comfortable living-room instrumentation, but don't quite match up to the full pop splendor of their regular-release tunes.
Many are quite short -- "Token Back To Brooklyn," which features Soul Coughing drummer Yuval Gubay, clocks in at 53 seconds -- the total length of the 15 tunes is only 34 minutes. But there are some great tracks among the spread. Standouts include "Dark And Metric," "Certain People I Could Name," and "They Got Lost," an autobiographical anecdote featuring the classic chorus line "I heard they might be somewhere near this town / They Might Be Giants got lost driving around."
Long Tall Weekend is best-suited for fans already familiar with most of TMBG's regular-issue work, but it must be admired for its revolutionary format: kudos to GoodNoise/Emusic for providing a forum for electronic file-based music releases. As a bonus that might make it more appealing to the average buyer, listeners can choose to download individual tracks from the album at 99 cents a piece (or "Older" for free), and hear what it's all about.
TROY CARPENTER | Troy Carpenter founded NATN from a Chicago apartment during the ambitious winter of 1998 with co-conspirators Ben French and Jonathan Cohen. After a five-year stint in New York, he and wife Lourdes have recently relocated to Indianapolis, where he spends days listening to music and nights in the kitchen at Elements restaurant. Musical heroes: Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, Super Furry Animals. What else makes life worth living: Sushi, Phucty, runs in the park, and the Atlanta Braves.