TMBG Unlimited - July

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TMBG Unlimited - July tmbg compilation cover
TMBG Unlimited - July
Collection by They Might Be Giants
First released July 3, 2001
Release details / collectors: Show | Hide
Tracks 23 Last tmbg compilation TMBG Unlimited - June
Label They Might Be Records Length 50:49 Next tmbg compilation TMBG Unlimited - August

Track listing[edit]

# Title Length  Lyrics Guitar Tab
1 Frankenstein (Live NYC 1994) 3:58

 

N/A
2 The Joker (Live NYC 1994) 4:26

 

N/A
3 Yellow Submarine (Live Chicago 1992) 3:11

 

N/A
4 Sally Boy Candy Bar 2:28

 

5 Concrete And Clay 2:22

 

6 Mr. Me (Demo) 2:00

 

N/A
7 Outboard Part Of Man 0:44

 

8 Somebody's Body 1:40

 

9 Hope That I Get Old Before I Die / Cage And Aquarium Medley (Live 1992) 2:42

 

N/A
10 Indiana Wants Me 2:08

 

N/A
11 Kings Of The Cave 2:10

 

12 The Biggest One (Live) 1:28

 

N/A
13 The Big Big Whoredom (Live) 1:37

 

N/A
14 Rhythm Section Want Ad (Live 1985) 2:57

 

N/A
15 1999 / Cowtown 4:15

 

N/A
16 Boat Of Car (Live 1992) 1:25

 

N/A
17 If I Wasn't Shy (Live 1992) 2:04

 

N/A
18 Become A Robot (Live 1985) 1:21

 

N/A
19 7-11 2:11

 

20 Alienation's For The Rich (Demo) 1:47

 

N/A
21 Ant (Demo) 2:14

 

N/A
22 Hi Honey I'm Home 0:38  N/A
23 Happy 1:27

 

N/A

Official description[edit]

TMBW note: We are unsure if TMBG Unlimited - July's description was ever longer than this. Here is the most complete version we have been able to locate:

In celebration of our fine country's birthday and in response to some requests from you the people we flew to our climate controlled walk-in archive just outside the arctic circle and collected some of the obscure titles from our past. Yes, grab your crash helmet and earplugs- we are going back in time! Please, audiophiles, note: some of these tracks are straight off live board tapes (cassettes) or the original Dial-A-Song tapes (also cassettes) so they are ROUGH but they do not exist anywhere else. Engineer extraordinaire Pat Dillett has fiddled with all these tracks to make them more presentable, but we suggest you get high on the low fi in a comfortable chair.

Indiana Wants Me
This song was recorded with the members of the Turtlenecks: Karl Hecksher on drums, Julie Kantner on bass, Fred Hickler singing harmony. This is a cover of a relatively obscure Motown song that occasionally gets played on oldies radio.

Alienation's for the Rich
The original version of the song that would ultimately be on TMBG's first album. Dig the penny whistle solo.

Seven Eleven
This story of "breaking and buying" features John Turner on drums, and a kinda sleazy Korg synthesizer that seemed cheap but is beloved by Ebay people now.

Alternate opening description[edit]

John Flansburgh here. In response to some requests (and our insane schedule taking us back to the UK to do some spontaneous press for our July 16th show there and the looming breakout of "Boss of Me" over there) we flew to our climate controlled walk-in archive just outside the arctic circle and collected some of the obscure titles from our past. Yes, grab your crash helmet and earplugs- we are going back in time! Please, audiophiles, note: some of these tracks are straight off live board tapes (cassettes) or the original Dial-A-Song tapes (also cassettes) so they are ROUGH but they do not exist anywhere else. Engineer extraordinaire Pat Dillett has fiddled with all these tracks to make them more presentable, but we suggest you get high on the low fi in a comfortable chair.

Trivia/Info[edit]

  • This collection includes seven live tracks that were recorded in the mid-1980s. These are the earliest live recordings of the band that have been publicly released. These are also the only released versions of the songs "Kings Of The Cave", "Happy" and "1999". There's little information about the tracks, but it seems likely that they all come from the same show. The exact date and location of the show is currently unknown, though John Flansburgh has stated that the songs were probably recorded at the Pyramid Club or CBGB. Flansburgh explained in a 2019 Tumblr post:
That was from my archive of cassette board tapes, although I can't recall which one... Not all of the performances were stellar, so those tracks were selected for their quality. It took a fair bit of EQ and mastering tricks to make those tracks presentable. There is certainly more processing/fixing stuff available now, but I don't think that would save the weird vocal notes!
  • The models of drum machines used in the '80s live tracks might give an indication to their date. "The Biggest One", "Rhythm Section Want Ad" and "Cowtown" use an Oberheim DMX, which the band first obtained in mid-1984. This drum machine appears on most of the bands recordings between mid-1984 and early-1985. At some point in 1985 the band acquired Yamaha RX-11 and RX-15 machines, which were used extensively on They Might Be Giants as well as the 1985 Demo Tape. None of these live tracks feature sounds from the Yamaha machines. It can be assumed that the recordings date to between mid-1984 and mid-1985.