Talk:Long Tall Weekend

Gaps

Why is there a long silence at the end of each song?

On CDs, pauses can be added in between tracks for space. Since this album was released for MP3, they added the spaces right into the MP3 files. -CapitalQ 15:24, 5 Jan 2006 (EST)

Note that this is just an assumption! -CapitalQ ♫ talk ♪ 00:30, 22 January 2008 (UTC)

Sounds likely. The album was entering totally uncharted territory, of course. The people putting it together probably assumed people would take the first MP3 album and burn it to a CD, so they put in the gaps. Again, as above, all speculation.--Pittsburghmuggle (talk) 02:46, 5 February 2015 (EST)

The funny thing is that at the time this came out, most of the Windows software I knew thought it was proper to automatically insert 2 seconds of silence (as negative time) in front of every track on a burned CD, which resulted in a whole lotta silence on this one. Not sure what software burned without adding time by default but I was relieved when that became the standard years later. It's like one of the biggest anticipated consumer concerns when CD-R's came out was not enough silence between songs. -- Sonderling (talk) 09:00, 5 February 2015 (EST)

Promo CD

Did the Long Tall Weekend Promo CD actually exist? If so, tell me where it is.

There are at least two different LTW promo CDs. Here's what they look like.

The cd was also available for a brief period via eMusic. Very early on, if you bought the mp3s through eMusic, a lmt. ed. of the cd was sent to you by mail. Might this fact be incorporated into the article?

Actually, the "limited edition" CD available when you bought the album deal came with another eMusic-released album--the Working Undercover For The Man EP--not Long Tall Weekend. I got both LTW and the WUftM EP right when they came out, and I'm almost certain that there were no LTW CDs sent out by eMusic. Can anyone back me up on this? (By the way, I used quotes around "limited edition" because the Undercover physical CD was still available for purchase at tmbg.com the last time I checked, which suggests that its print run wasn't as "limited" as eMusic thought it would be. Did they overestimate how many people would buy the EP? Or did they just decide later to make more physical CDs?) ~Drew

I'll back you up. I bought LTW as soon as it was released and I never got a physical CD. I do have the WUftM CD, however. --Semprini 21:16, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

Question About PDF Liner Notes

I know this isn't directly TMBG related, but seeing the link to get the Long Tall Weekend PDF liner notes reminded me that, during the same time period in which I bought Long Tall Weekend, I also purchased a Phish live show called "Halloween 1990" from eMusic, which also had PDF liner notes. However, with switching computers and reformatting my hard drive, etc., over the ensuing years, I lost track of the liner notes for both albums. I got the LTW notes from here, but does anyone else here happen to have purchased that Phish show from eMusic and still have the PDF liner notes they could give me? I'd appreciate it if anyone does . . . ~Drew

Promo CD

I don't think the Long Tall Weekend promotional CD was ever available on eBay, or at least I never saw it on eBay.

It was on eBay last week and went for about $51. -CapitalQ ♫ talk ♪ 21:30, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

I just won a copy on eBay. turned out to be a home made cdr so I'm not impressed -User:Ash 21 November 2011

Cover

Anybody know why there are two different covers? Which one is the correct (or I suppose "canon") one: the one in the PDF liner notes, or the one on the eMusic download page? — User:ACupOfCoffee@ 19:25, 13 September 2006 (UTC)

This image should be on this page somewhere, but I can't decide just exactly where:

Discuss. — User:ACupOfCoffee@ 17:40, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

eMusic

So you have to subscribe to a site in order to get this one CD? Damn...now that iTunes is out, they should at least release it on that! ~Anna Ng hears your words.

You can get the album with a free trial to eMusic, and never have to pay a dime. :) You do need a credit card, though. -CapitalQ ♫ talk ♪ 02:19, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

My McAfee SiteAdvisor is giving me a yellow "caution" warning when I go to eMusic. Just wondering, has anyone here ever had any problems with eMusic? The people on the McAfee site complain of e-mail spam and such. --HerRoyalFlyness 13:22, 18 May 2009 (UTC)

Question

This is probably a really, really dumb question...but how do you assemble the liner notes?

The way I did, you just print off each page and cut it out. The first page of the PDF, put face down on a table or something. Then put page two face down on top of it. And so on. When they're all there, just fold it in half and staple or tape or do whatever. ~ magbatz 00:17, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

Album count

ever notice that the pressrelease claims that this is TMBGs 11th album? They must be counting Misc T and the demos, right? Johnocide

I'm guessing they're counting Miscellaneous T and Severe Tire Damage. As for the other two, no clue. Maybe Then: The Earlier Years and possibly Why Does The Sun Shine? (EP) because it's a standalone EP and not album b-sides. Akagi 20:52, 25 June 2007 (UTC)

Maybe they're just jerks :) Johnocide

It's Misc. T, Then, Severe Tire Damage, and most likely either Unsupervised or It's Fun to Steal. See here. --$¥Šтəмд†↓к є┌╓☼╔ (talk) 00:55, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

Higher Quality MP3s?

Hey, has anybody bought this album from eMusic lately? And if so, what was the MP3 bitrate? The reason I ask is that I'm currently doing an eMusic trial, and I've noticed that the MP3s I've bought are higher quality (ranging from 158 kbps [VBR] to 215 kbps [VBR]) than they were when I first bought Long Tall Weekend (at that time they were only 128 kbps). So, if anybody knows if the LTW MP3s are higher quality now, please let me know! Thanks! ~Drew

I can confirm that the MP3s were higher quality than 128kbps about two years ago (I believe they were 192kbps VBR like the ones you downloaded). -CapitalQ ♫ talk ♪ 00:30, 22 January 2008 (UTC)

Lossless?

Does anyone know if the promo CDs of Long Tall Weekend are true lossless, or merely burned 128 kbps mp3s?--Ehsteve14 22:28, 9 December 2011 (EST)

if you mean the release party CDs, they are lossless-sourced. the radio promo cds, since the discs are the same, presumably contain the proper audio as well (though i have not opened my copy to confirm this). -- 22:41, 9 December 2011 (EST)

Hmmm, thanks. I'm in the process of gathering better sources for some of the stuff in my iTunes library, and the old eMusic 128 kbps mp3s are really starting to show their age. Guess I'll be on the hunt for a promo/release party CD now.--Ehsteve14 17:54, 11 December 2011 (EST)

I had heard that the LTW CDs weren't lossless. Are we sure they are? And for what it's worth, eMusic currently has better-quality LTW MP3s, though they're not lossless or anything. Drew 19:46, 11 December 2011 (EST)

Interesting. Could someone with an LTW disc check this out? I know they're selling the mp3s for this in the official TMBG store, maybe they'll expand their FLAC selection soon? So far, it's just Album Raises... and Join Us.--Ehsteve14 02:17, 12 December 2011 (EST)

the discs are most definitely both from an uncompressed source, or at least mine are, and i doubt that only some copies are. -- 02:33, 12 December 2011 (EST)

Alright, I'm convinced. Thanks, Ant!--Ehsteve14 02:57, 12 December 2011 (EST)

Okay, cool, good to know. I guess I was misinformed, but now I may start looking for a LTW CD for myself one of these days, knowing they're better quality than I thought . . . Drew 08:25, 12 December 2011 (EST)

Most definitely. --Yamfox 23:27, 7 March 2012 (EST)

I don't have all the info so I can't add it myself, but FYI this has recently been added to iTunes! --Oddjob 13:51, 30 January 2012 (EST)

This album is also available from https://tmbg.bandcamp.com/album/long-tall-weekend now. I just bought it because I had the original MP3s from eMusic, but couldn't track down a CD on eBay. I loaded the FLAC files in Spek and they look lossless to me. --Stoat

How often do copies pop up on sites like eBay etc.?

You may have seen me posting a lot about LTW lately and for that I apologize but not having a physical copy in my collection is keeping me up at night. Basically, how hard is it to find an actual copy of LTW? Is it worth looking for or is it a lost cause? I need closure! --Altermanncam 18:14, 17 May 2013 (EDT)

It shows up every few months on eBay; sometimes more frequently. Here's one that went for $26~ in March. For an item like this that you're always seeking, I'd recommend setting up an eBay alert for "Long Tall Weekend" (in quotes) and eBay will email you whenever another copy goes up. Good luck! -CapitalQ ♫ talk ♪ 18:39, 17 May 2013 (EDT)

Thanks for the tip, hopefully one comes up soon! --Altermanncam 18:56, 17 May 2013 (EDT)

Removed from EMusic?

I don't see this album on Their eMusic page anymore. Is it gone from the site that originally released it? — User:ACupOfCoffee@ 23:20, 4 February 2015 (EST)

eMusic no longer sells music affiliated with major labels.

Why is this a studio album and not a compilation?

Long Tall Weekend was the first TMBG album I purchased, and I love it, but is it really their 7th Studio Album? By what criterion is one album a "studio album" and another is just a "compilation album" of songs that were produced in a studio? Does the band identify it somewhere as a studio album (and not just a "full length album") because I seem to only be able to find evidence to the contrary:

1) Copy on their website[1] in May of 2001 describes Mink Car as their "first studio album in five years", indicating that Mink Car follows Factory Showroom in the studio album progression.

2) Most of the songs on LTW appear elsewhere, five on the "They Got Lost" compilation, which is billed as a rarities compilation. Are there any other tracks that appear on studio albums that then appear on a rarities album?

3) Idlewild includes "Certain People I Could Name" but lists it as coming from "They Got Lost". It's weird that a compilation album would cite another compilation album and not the studio album.

4) In a Geek.com interview[2] from 2007, Flansburgh said: "We controlled the digital rights to our songs, because of Restless. [Long Tall Weekend] was something that we were free to do. We had a bunch of songs that we wanted to get out into the world. It would have been some strange compilation album of stuff, otherwise. And to be perfectly honest, it just seemed like a humble way to put the songs into the world. When you’re a songwriter, it’s important to find an outlet for your lesser work. It seemed like the right scale. What’s funny is that it got all this attention, just because it was so early in the game."

It seems like the only reason I can find for LTW to be considered a studio album is because of the "most legally downloaded full-length album on the internet" factoid, but that seems neither here nor there.

Is there some promotional material put out by the band (and not eMusic) that corroborates this album's status, either at the time or since, that corroborates the "studio album" status? Where does this come from?

If it is a studio album, I want Long Tall Weekend to get a vinyl pressing. Also Mink Car and The Spine should get it too... Miscellaneous T could use more love too.

The short answer is that TMBG themselves marketed it as an album. I do agree those albums should get vinyl pressings. And, Mink Car is supposedly going to get one soon! TitanicFog (talk) 22:14, 23 September 2021 (EDT)

One more thing I forgot to mention, Idlewild cites They Got Lost because Idlewild is a retrospective on music released on the Idlewild label. They Got Lost was put out on Idlewild, and Long Tall Weekend was not. TitanicFog (talk) 22:16, 23 September 2021 (EDT)

I think it was considered a rarity for They Got Lost because the physical version is so rare. --ColorOfInfinity (talk) 23:11, 23 September 2021 (EDT)

I have finished my long and arduous LTW review where I explain why it is my all-time least favorite TMBG album and I'm pasting it here.

First of all, let me be perfectly clear; even the worst They Might Be Giants album is still pretty good. Despite its faults (we'll get to them soon), there's a lot to enjoy here. The album opens with Drinkin', a guitar and saxophone lead instrumental that perfectly encapsulates the sonic vibe of the entire album and is also genuinely and surprisingly fun. Reprehensible and Lullabye To Nightmares rank among some of Flansburgh’s best work in all of the 90s. Both songs show his great eclecticism in jazz styles and composition. Linnell has some great songs here as well; Certain People I Could Name is a slow piano ballad with some great backing lyrics, Dark And Metric is a fun 60s sounding piece that plays with non-rhyming lyric patterns, and Older, one of the band’s defining songs about how every passing second is a second closer to death, where the simple lyrics work on the strength that the song is essentially making fun of its own normality.

Now, Long Tall Weekend is the lowest ranked on the list for many different reasons, not just because it “has some stinkers”, because let’s be honest, a good chunk of They Might Be Giants albums have those couple or so songs that you never want to listen to. One of those reasons is the mixing. This was their first album since their departure with Elektra in 1996, and they didn’t really have any stellar recording equipment to use, so basically the mix sounds like it was recorded in 1999 with technology from 1987, and it completely ruins some otherwise satisfactory songs; while this version of (She Thinks She's) Edith Head is better due to its energy and spark over the later Mink Car release, it has the worst mixing on an album with a whole slew of mixing problems. At the very beginning of the song, the pounding piano will enter your right ear, while Flansburgh distortedly screams in your left. I’m very glad they’re polishing the mix on their upcoming 2023 vinyl re-release, which will at the very least make the song listenable (there’s also a better-mixed version of YouTube, but it’s fan-made, so it doesn’t really count here). Counterfeit Faker is another example of a subpar mix, but not a panning problem, moreso the song’s tracks don’t line up with each other very well, and the result sounds a bit slapdash. It also probably doesn’t help that almost every instrument playing on that song is out of tune, and not in the good, microtonal way.

The album also contains two remakes of They Might Be Giants songs that are nowhere near as good as their counterparts; They Got Lost on Severe Tire Damage was fast and punchy, whereas this one goes for a similar tone to Certain People I Could Name, a slow mellowness, but at a runtime of 4 minutes and 38 seconds, it’s the longest song on a They Might Be Giants studio album (INCLUDING Fingertips!!) and it’s a slog to get through. Some argue that this version is better because it fits more with the subject of the song’s theme of being lost and driving in circles, but part of the genius of They Might Be Giants is how it subverts your expectations via interplay between music and lyrics, like a happy trumpet and guitar line over increasingly vile insults where the narrator is wishing your death (When Will You Die), or an upbeat, whistling jaunt about a sea captain with depression (Mr. Me). However, the Long Tall Weekend version of They Got Lost plays it straight instead of joking around, and the result is one of, if not the most, boring song on a They Might Be Giants album to date. An album of many firsts (and not in a good way), the second to last track On Earth My Nina is quite possibly the most bizarre idea on a mainline album; John Linnell took a song that he had recorded, named Thunderbird, reversed the song, and then sang the words close to what he was hearing from the song backwards, and...that’s it. No instruments, just fake backward a cappella. Yes, you heard it right. The reason On Earth My Nina has no instruments, makes no sense, and sounds like Linnell is fading into words instead of out of them, is because it is segments of Thunderbird backwards. Truly breathtaking. It’s one of those songs that you listen to out of sheer obscenity that it even exists.

Aside from those songs, my biggest problem with the album is its song selection. Now, I know what you’re thinking. “What do you mean by song selection? The album’s song were specifically recorded for this album! You’re crazy!” I would like to point to the final track on the album, The Edison Museum, which sounds noticeably more dated than the rest of an album which already sounds incredibly so. That is because The Edison Museum was originally released in 1991 for WFMU, a song made for a tribute compilation to Thomas Edison. The only change between the Long Tall Weekend version and the original is a cut at the end that eliminates an additional coda, as well as a marimba backing at the end. They didn’t bother to re-record it, or even re-mix it to stick with the times. They did virtually NOTHING to the song, and stuck it on the album. Another track, Token Back To Brooklyn, was actually released as a hidden track for their last Elektra album, Factory Showroom, and, again, they didn’t spruce it up at all. Which begs the question: if your album is going to contain half-baked relics from over 3 years ago, why did you not include more recently recorded songs that weren’t yet on a studio album? You chose The Edison Museum and Token Back To Brooklyn over great, fresh, newly recorded songs like Severe Tire Damage’s Doctor Worm, the aforementioned 1999 version of Thunderbird, even rarer, less polished studio demos like Stranger's Eye or Snapping Turtle would’ve been better additions! Top that with two new studio recorded Dial-A-Song exclusives in the forms of Maybe I Know and Operators Are Standing By (albeit, they’re both fine songs, but again, there’s a vast catalog of Dial-A-Songs that would benefit from a studio treatment, so why THESE SPECIFIC SONGS?) and you basically have yourself a compilation. This is the most compilation-like They Might Be Giants album out there, which is crazy considering there are two albums of leftovers from Dial-A-Song 2015 and 2018 that are somehow more coherent than this. It’s a fine album, but for starters, it shouldn’t be called an album when roughly half of its material was spawned over 2 years before the album came out, and secondly, due to its rough mix, off-putting presentation, and mind-boggling tracklisting decisions, it sticks out like a sore thumb in the TMBG studio canon. It will probably forever remain my least favorite TMBG album of all-time.

Leave your comments down below. --You&Me!! (talk) 16:02, 25 February 2023 (EST)

Cover art inspiration?

Kupperman probably was riffing on an illustration in the "How and Why Wonder Books" series. --Nehushtan (talk) 18:29, 1 August 2024 (EDT) - Credit Reddit user u/CafGardenWitch on r/tmbg --Nehushtan (talk) 14:07, 18 August 2024 (EDT)

Woah, neat! TitanicFog (talk) 20:54, 1 August 2024 (EDT)