1996-12 ICE Newsletter

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"They Might Be Giants' Early Years Encapsulated On New Double Disc Set"
Author Unknown, ICE Newsletter, December 1996
Archived from: alt.music.tmbg

Includes a track-by-track guide to the bonus tracks of Then: The Earlier Years.

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The origins of the Restless retrospective can be traced to an inspired (and, somehow, typically Giants-like) combination of fortuitous timing and post-adolescent experience. "The immediate events that preceded this thing were that we got the rights back to our early records," TMBG's John Flansburgh tells ICE. "I was trying to think of the best way to keep our back catalog in print, and—strange as it sounds—doing a collection like this is exactly the kind of thing that raises the profile of your early albums.

"When I was a teenager," Flansburgh continues, "I found out about the Who through a bunch of $3.99-priced double albums reissued on MCA, which were basically the first four albums bundled in two sets. I was as tantalized by this incredible value and repackaging scheme as I was at discovering the Who."

Clearly, The Early Years is far more than a cynical "repackaging scheme," as it received the deluxe treatment from Flansburgh and co-Giant John Linnell in everything from audio-fidelity to graphic design. "I basically spent three days in my home studio with some open-reel tape recorders no one had used in ten years," Flansburgh explains, "Some of the tapes were already decaying, which was terrible, really heartbreaking.

"We did a bit of EQ-ing on the tapes just because our tastes at the time ran to the harshest, most treble-y sounds possible, when we thought that a faster tempo and more treble would grab people's attention, because we were so scared that no one would listen." Although TMBG tweaked the knobs a hair in the remastering process, Flansburgh offers comfort for those dyed-in-the-wool types who liked the band's first few albums just the way they were. "The new CDs will sound a bit warmer, with more 'low end,' but it's not like a total Frank Zappa-like retread, screwing up what you know about them. We just shined them up a bit. The casual listener will hardly notice a change."

As has been standard practice since their debut, the Giants were intimately involved in crafting the look and feel of the CD artwork. "The design we chose was like Neil Young's DECADE, which, I think, is the best kind of CD reissue package you can do, because it fits in with your CD collection. I think it's a little pretentious when they do these odd shaped box sets that you stick on the shelf. Ours look like three CDs, but it's really two with a big, fat (32 page) booklet on the inside. We wrote some pretty extensive liner notes, which gave us an opportunity to tell the story of the band's early years."

For the most part, the tracks on THE EARLY YEARS are in chronological order. To that end, Miscelaneous T is "split in half," notes Flansburgh, "because half of it was actually recorded between our first two albums, and half was recorded after the second album." Only the bonus tracks, some of which appear at the end of each CD, are non-chronological, "because we couldn't fit them all onto the end of the second disc." In fact, all of the bonus tracks were recorded before 1986, making them at least as old as—if not older than—the band's Bar/None debut.

Following is a list of the 19 bonus tracks, with commentary from Flansburgh:

The Critic Intro

"It sounds like pull-quotes on the back of a book describing how great it is. At the time, it was something that warmed up crowds of complete strangers. It's basically a minute and a half of comedy."

Now That I Have Everything

"The first song on our demo (a 23 song, pre-Bar/None cassette from 1985 sold at early TMBG shows, now prized by collectors). That was the "official pop song" to make people think we weren't going to send 'em away in droves."

Mainstream U.S.A.

"A 'Dial-A-Song' tune for years and years. ('Dial-A-Song' is the Giants music-via-telephone service) It's been a pinata for the band ever since a producer told us it was an example of how obtuse and unlistenable our material can be. The chorus of the song is: 'Mainstream U.S.A./I flipped that guy the bird.'"

Fake Out In Buenos Aires

"A magnificent piece of obscura. In fact, John and I had completely forgotten about it. It's very lush and slow and strange. We recorded it for our first album, but we kept it off because thought it would have appeared indulgent."

Greek Number Three

"Linnell, who is part Hellenic, sang it in Greek. We played it for a couple of Greek people and they seemed interested and slightly confused."

I Hope That I Get Old Before I Die (Demo)

"Restless was doing a polka album, and they were interested in rock bands that did polka songs. Before we were signed, we tried to convince them to use this song; they had no interest in it, so we put it on our first album. This is the original acoustic version."

I'm Def

"This song was probably written the second I heard the term 'I'm Def.' In 1984, the rap lingo in my community was coming fast and furious and "I'm Def' seemed like one of the more fucked up new kinds of slang. The song, though, has no relationship to rap music. I mean, the only words to the song are:'I'm def/I got a job as a test pilot/I'm listening to the radio.' Even though the title is drawn from this popular culture reference, its relationship to it is completely tangential which is the core of what makes they Might Be Giants a hard band to explain."

Don't Let's Start (Demo)

"It's a very, very short almost like a sketch of the song. There's something about singing a song for the first time. The way John sang the melody was very pure, direct and fresh. It's difficult to fake freshness...you can't get your virginity back."

'85 Radio Special Thank You

"Another example of something we put together unsolicited. Basically, we made a tape and sent it out to radio stations as a promotional device for ourselves. We thought that instead of sending college radio a tape of ours songs, which we were sure they'd never play, we'd actually send them a piece of programming. We created this fifteen minute radio show with crazy interviews and spoken word things. The two minute version (on the box) is the most interesting part of the recording."

Kitten Intro

"Based on a car commercial."

Weep Day

"Just a good song we never put on a record."

The Big Big Whoredom

"It's a little sad we never recorded a final version of this song. When we did it live, we had a very impressive and strange rhythm accompaniment. this version has Linnell playing guitar; it's a lop-sided; both eyes-in-one-socket recording. Definitely less accessible than our average song."

I'm Gettin' Sentimental Over You

"We actually took lyrics from another song and grafted them on to another piece of music, so it's not strictly a cover."

Become A Robot

"This was another song we did for the Restless polka album. It also got rejected. It's an over the top song that uses a Fairlight, which was then a brand new invention, like a music sampler and computer. Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel-every Brit art-rocker guy had a Fairlight in the '80s."

Which Describes How You're Feeling (Demo)

"We did another version of this later in our shows. This is the original version."

Swing Is A Word

"One of the first Dial-A-Song recordings, back in '83. A very ugly song."

Doris Bewitched

"A little soundbite."

Counterfeit Fake

"This uses the very first drum machine I ever bought two months before it officially came out in America. This song was created with all the drum programs people had recorded while testing it in the store. I was trying to figure out how this piece of equipment worked, so it's very psychotic sounding. I though the title was kind of interesting... like a Bob Dylan title that kind of folds in on itself."

Schoolchildren Singing Particle Man

"Given to us in 1990 by a fan who taught music at an elementary school. He taught these children how to sing 'Particle Man'. It has that out-of-tune upright piano accompaniment. It's hard not to smile when listening to it."

"The songs on (the Early Years) say a lot about what technology was available at the time," the band's manager, Jamie Kitman, tells ICE. "And they stand as a testament to what a band of extremely limited means but heightened creativity can put together. It was an exciting time; they were toiling without any of the pressures of record contracts or radio singles."

Is there still more material from those days of toil? Or is Then: the Early Years the extent of They Might Be Giants' closet recordings? "There was some stuff that was just too embarrassing to put on the box," Flansburgh chuckles. "We were kids and we were drinking way too much caffeine. I mean, I found a tape of John and I performing a Yoko Ono song when we were 17 years old. It's pretty amazing in a weird way... but I don't think we're ready to go public with that."