Talk:I Can't Remember The Dream

Good rhythm, but lyrics are not especially clever

This song has a good quadruple meter with a syncopated melody. It's not particularly catchy, but it sounds good nevertheless. The lyrics are essentially commenting on the difficulty of remembering dreams, which makes for some interesting insights but unfortunately doesn't stretch out well for the full 3 minutes. --ColorOfInfinity (talk) 20:40, 10 August 2021 (EDT)

Pretty OK

It's catchy, and I do like how they managed to get the word "Ennui" in there. My one thought on the video is that the character kid of looks like a MoCap Freddy Kreuger outfit. Which fits the dream theme at least. --<{[(lansburgh)]}> (talk) 11:03, 12 August 2021 (EDT)

Great

My favorite from BOOK so far and my favorite of theirs in awhile. I love the punchy guitar and Linnell's vocals and writing skills are great as they've ever been. Extremely catchy and gets me really pumped for BOOK! --Lukehennisch (talk) 17:20, 12 August 2021 (EDT)-

Artwork

Anyone know what the shape of the words is supposed to be depicting? --ColorOfInfinity (talk) 20:10, 19 August 2021 (EDT)

I feel fairly certain that the top piece is supposed to recall the iconic contour of Donald Trump's hair. The middle piece looks to me like either a duck (bill pointing downward) or a bird's head (beak chirping upward). If the top is Trump, I'm guessing the middle is the bird - to represent his relentless "tweeting" on Twitter. The bottom piece stumps me but I'm wondering whether it's supposed to look like ladies underwear, in reference to Trump's infamous "grab them by the ..." remark. --Nehushtan (talk) 20:39, 21 February 2022 (EST)

Huh, interesting. It doesn't seem like the lyrics clearly relate to Trump though... --ColorOfInfinity (talk) 00:33, 22 February 2022 (EST)

Hard-Going

Another under-whelming effort from the band and the third poor single from Book. If these are the best three songs, what must the others be like? As Rolling Stone pointed out, the riff is reminiscent of Louie Louie by the Kingsmen, but there are also shades of the You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet by Bachman-Turner Overdrive, but this song lacks the fun or verve of those classics. One suspects the band were trying to replicate the killer riff of Ana Ng.

Lyrically it's overly crammed, with no space for the song to breathe, very much like the previous single, I broke my own rule, I just wanted him to stop singing, and it's only for the purpose of writing this little review that I got to the end of the song. On the plus side, Linnell's actual singing is very impressive, one just wishes he'd write a decent song.

(Mr Tuck)

ok --Lukehennisch (talk) 14:30, 22 August 2021 (EDT)

Par for the Mr Tuck course...nothing much to see here, move around folks... --MisterMe (talk) 19:10, 22 August 2021 (EDT)

Can confirm that my experience as a TMBW user has been an immensely less frustrating/angering one since I started completely ignoring all of his posts. Recommended! --Self Called Nowhere (talk) 03:52, 23 August 2021 (EDT)

Tuck more or less mirrored my feelings about the first three singles. Lyrically they're way too dense with phrases and lines that feel clumsy and overstuffed. Was surprised to hear a riff that gives away its influences so obviously. And I'm not sure why everyone thinks Mr Tuck is some kind of doom-and-gloom TMBG hater. He has given high praise to at least one song from every album, as far as I can remember. It's simply delusional to expect every fan to like everything that TMBG puts out. If someone disliking a song really causes you emotional distress, I suggest taking a break from the wiki because you clearly have an unhealthy relationship with the band. Ignoring criticism, even when it may seem harsh and unwarranted, is only doing yourself a disservice. (And even though I think it's ridiculous I even have to say this - TMBG has been my favorite band for more than ⅔ of my life and I still think they have the potential to create amazing songs.) --Yomoneyboat (talk) 07:23, 24 August 2021 (EDT)

Thanks for that Yomoneyboat. (Mr Tuck)

I don't begrudge anyone the right to kvetch about TMBG. In fact, I have been known on occasion to make some remarks about less-than-stellar tracks. Sometimes I even agree with Tuck. What I don't understand is why he feels it necessary to come out with these multi-paragraph critiques after every single new release. If you're not digging the stuff, there's no harm in keeping it to yourself. Maybe later you can judge the album as a whole. He's done this on every album going back to The Spine and quite often he's saying many of the same things (it was especially egregious during the two recent DAS iterations, almost every week a new diatribe would get posted with rarely a kind word). I get it, he wants TMBG to eschew their current style and go back to a duo format with Bill Krauss. Guess what...it would be intriguing, but it's not gonna happen. Time to move on. TMBG certainly has. Of course, as he himself has stated, some people like his "reviews", and he'll likely continue to do them, so we are really just shouting into the void here. :-)

As for densely packed wording in a Linnell TMBG song, need I remind everyone of "Don't Let's Start" or "Rhythm Section Want Ad"? The fandom seems to hold both those songs in high regard. Based on the standard established long ago with those two songs, stuff like "Dinner Bell", "I Love You for Psychological Reasons", or "I'll Be Haunting You" is right in character. Not sure I see how this is any more wordy or hard to digest than any of the other ones I mentioned.

Bottom line, it's all opinion, and matters very little in the scheme of things. And besides, I don't see John Linnell bookmarking these kinds of pages in his web browser to berate himself for coming up with another word-filled TMBG song. Ha! --MisterMe (talk) 10:14, 24 August 2021 (EDT)

Just re-read my review for the song. Can't see any reference to going back to the duo format or Bill Krauss. (Mr Tuck)

It's not about no one being allowed to dislike a song/vocalize their dislike on the wiki or wherever else. Everyone dislikes certain songs, including me. As MisterMe said, it's just that the persistent dislike is so detailed, so repetitive, and so based on a desire for a return to a style of music that at this point roughly 75% of their career has been past that it's frankly just tiresome. He's free to post what he wants, not trying to censor anyone--I've just personally found that I prefer to ignore it. --Self Called Nowhere (talk) 17:34, 24 August 2021 (EDT)

If you're going to ignore my reviews, you need to stop commenting on my posts. As for both of your criticisms, you are guilty of slightly misrepresenting me - I don't see any references to Bill Krauss or their early work in the above review, Mister Me? However, to clarify, I do love lots of their recent songs. The Communists Have the Music is as good as anything they've ever done. It seems my critics ignore all the positive reviews I leave! (Mr Tuck)

Oh, this is the one where everyone thinks you were talking about Bill Krauss, _{weird, it was on my birthday} --⇂⇂↋ suᴉɥsuǝZ ʎɯɯᴉᒋ (talk) 07:47, 28 October 2021 (EDT)

Addendum: Despite my earlier comments, this song has grown on me a lot and I now consider it in the top half of BOOK tunes. TMBG takes a while to sink in sometimes. :-) --Yomoneyboat (talk) 08:26, 23 February 2022 (EST)

Jog my memory

This song reminds me of another song, but I can't quite put my finger on it. One of you has to know what I'm talking about. Apostrophe T (talk) 21:05, 26 June 2022 (EDT)

parts of the melody are very reminiscent of montana, imo. -- 21:32, 26 June 2022 (EDT)

"It also employs a somewhat familiar-sounding rhythm track that's kind of in the tradition of 'Louie Louie' and 'Sweet Jane' and things like that, where there's a rhythmic guitar part." --Self Called Nowhere (talk) 21:44, 26 June 2022 (EDT)

LOUIE LOUIE! That's the one I was thinking of. Cripes. Thank you. (This was written in the main article or somewhere equally as obvious, wasn't it? lol) --Apostrophe T (talk) 22:10, 30 June 2022 (EDT)

This post is oddly fitting with the subject of the song. --ColorOfInfinity (talk) 01:01, 27 June 2022 (EDT)

Ha! You're right. --Apostrophe T (talk) 22:10, 30 June 2022 (EDT)