TMBG Unlimited - June
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Collection by They Might Be Giants | |||||
| First released | June 7, 2001 Release details / collectors: Show | Hide |
Tracks | 9 | Last tmbg compilation | TMBG Unlimited - The Ritz Show | |
| Label | They Might Be Records | Length | 25:21 | Next tmbg compilation | TMBG Unlimited - July | |
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Track listing
| # | Title | Length | Lyrics | Guitar Tab |
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| 1 | My Man | 2:57
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| 2 | Man, It's So Loud In Here | 3:59
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| 3 | Yeh Yeh | 2:40
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| 4 | Mink Car | 2:09
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| 5 | She Thinks She's Edith Head | 2:37
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| 6 | Anecdote | 1:41
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N/A |
| 7 | I'm Your Boyfriend Now (Demo) | 2:47
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| 8 | Museum Of Idiots | 3:03
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N/A |
| 9 | North To Alaska | 2:54
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| 10 | Tender Is The Mind (Video) | 1:15
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N/A |
Official description
Greetings to All
John and John here. We just got back from the UK where we've been wrapping things up on "Mink Car" with super-producers Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley. Clive and Alan, you may recall, produced some songs back in 1989 that ended up on the Flood album, and this was the first time we had worked with both of them since then. They are still fond of wine, still like irregular song forms, and they are apparantly still enjoying their jobs. We had a wonderful week finishing their four tracks at their studio in West London. This month's selections feature some of the results of those sessions, along with a spontaneously written song (and video) we cooked up as we waited around for Clive and Alan to finish a mix.
My Man
This song is the story of someone having a chat with his own body after he's become paralyzed. It's not meant to be sick or anything. Check out the triangle and bongos.
Man, It's So Loud In Here
Completely reorchestrated with the help of producer Adam Schlesinger (who's also in Fountains of Wayne), this song doesn't sound like anything we would have ever done by ourselves, probably. It pays homage to one or two well known bands from the mid-1980's, but we're hoping the song will be so successful that eventually people will hear them and be reminded of us.
Yeah! Yeah!
There's this guy named Georgie Fame who had a hit with this song way back when. He played jazzy electric organ and sang this melody, whose lyrics were set to what was originally an instrumental jazz solo. This was the preferred songwriting method of Dave Lambert and his pals Hendricks and Ross. Nobody else really did that kind of thing. Our version retains some parts of the original but the rhythm has been electronically tousled.
Mink Car (with Jim O'Conner) [sic]
We wrote this song while Adam was tinkering with Yeah! Yeah! in the other room. Jim O'Connor who owns and operates a flugelhorn, expressed some feelings he has been keeping in the freezer since 1966. Danny Weinkauf made everybody burst into tears with his bass playing and that's Clem "Wildman" Waldman pounding the skins and triangle. Clem is part of the Loser's Lounge, a New York revue at the Westbeth Theater.
She Thinks She's Edith Head
After recording this with a high pitched, angst-drenched vocal (you can hear that version on the CD that comes with McSweeney's issue 6) we tried it again with this more subdued and creepy approach.
Anecdote
This is a live track of Flans telling an amusing story. It was recorded clandestinely by one of you people out there and we found it on the Internet. As a result, we have no ethical qualms about repirating it here, though we give our thanks to the anonymous amateur recording engineer.
I'm Your Boyfriend Now (Demo)
Didn't make it onto Mink Car. Will perhaps get a ride on some other car. It's all one road.
Museum of Idiots (5 Piece TMBG - Live)
Again, someone we don't know made this recording. Written especially for our titanic brass orchestra shows, Museum of Idiots has only been performed a few times in public. After we spent all our money paying the horn section, we worked up this little version with our regular band.
North to Alaska (John Linnell And The Statesmen - Live)
Thank you, secret taper. Written and originally recorded by Johnny Horton. The Statesmen on this track were: Dan Miller (guitar and mushing), Mark Lerner (bass and vocals), and Mark Donato (drums, mushing).
Tender is the Mind
If you examine this carefully you can see the studio where we mixed the Clive and Alan material. Right near the end you can almost see Clive and Alan through the big window behind Flansburgh. The cool thing is they have both British and American electrical outlets. Somebody was thinking. As you can probably tell we made up this song right as we were shooting this video.
Email description
Description written by John Flansburgh in an email to Unlimited subscribers:[1]
Hey everyone!
Just wanted to tell you the June issue of They Might Be Giants Unlimited at EMusic is available on June 9th. Pardon the slight delay, but we just got back from the UK with the final master of "Mink Car" under our arms. We were mixing with producers Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley (of "Birdhouse In Your Soul" fame) and are happy to report that the June issue will preview some of our work there, as well as a spontaneously written song captured on John Linnell's video camera called "Tender Is The Mind." The issue will also include a great track from the crypt, plus some recent live tracks.
