The Low Fidelity Experience
The Low Fidelity Experience is a 1996 fan bootleg. It is notable for having archived much of the first online Dial-A-Song service.
The original 'Dial-A-Song Online' site ran from January 1994 to February 1996.[1] This bootleg was compiled in May 1996 by Jonathan Chaffer, one of the owners of the tmbg.org fan site.[2] After the Dial-A-Song site shut down, Chaffer took the initiative to seek out any surviving original audio files from it.[3] As a result, this bootleg contains the only known recordings from the original Dial-A-Song Online. In assembling the compilation, recordings of the tracks were captured directly from a computer into a cassette tape deck (so the quality is relatively high). Cassette copies of the bootleg were distributed for free on the tmbg.org online mailing list in May and June.[4][5]
The bootleg was comprised of six parts. In addition to the 'Dial-A-Song Online' tracks, the collection included: backwards messages from TMBG songs, original versions of songs that TMBG covered, fan-made MIDI versions of TMBG songs, the John Henry HyperCard Stack, and a reenactment of a written John Flansburgh interview.[6]
These Dial-A-Song tracks are unique high-quality recordings that aren't present on other bootlegs. The collection doesn't include every track that appeared on the original Dial-A-Song Online, but it probably has a majority of them. None of these tracks were sourced from the second online Dial-A-Song service, which began in January 1997.
'Dial-A-Song Online' track listing
| # | Title | Length | Lyrics | Guitar Tab |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mario Speaks | 1:46
|
|
N/A |
| 2 | Stormy Pinkness (Dial-A-Song) | 0:51
|
|
N/A |
| 3 | Feel Good Sublet (Dial-A-Song) | 1:15
|
|
|
| 4 | The King Of Wingo | 0:39
|
|
|
| 5 | Maine (Dial-A-Song) | 2:05
|
|
N/A |
| 6 | Mainstream U.S.A. | 1:15
|
|
N/A |
| 7 | So Long, Mockingbird (Dial-A-Song) | 1:40
|
|
N/A |
| 8 | Nixon's The One (Dial-A-Song) | 0:32
|
|
N/A |
| 9 | Operators Are Standing By (Dial-A-Song) | 1:28
|
|
N/A |
| 10 | Rat Patrol (Dial-A-Song) | 1:06
|
|
N/A |
| 11 | Rock Club (Dial-A-Song) | 2:06
|
|
N/A |
| 12 | The Summer Breeze (Dial-A-Song) | 1:54
|
|
|
| 13 | What Bothers The Spaceman? (Dial-A-Song) | 1:29
|
|
N/A |
| 14 | Swing Is A Word | 0:53
|
|
|
| 15 | Subway Token To Brooklyn | 1:18
|
|
|
| 16 | When Tornadoes Take Over The World | 1:30
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| 17 | Tryptophane | 1:36
|
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| 18 | Wreck It Apart | 1:53
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| 19 | We Just Go Nuts At Christmastime | 1:27
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