22. They Might Be Giants--Mink Car
#22: They Might Be Giants--Mink Car (2001)
Top-Notch Tracks: "Older,"[HJ200 #10] "Man, It's So Loud In Here," "Working Undercover for the Man," "Yeh, Yeh," "I've Got a Fang," "Bangs," "Mr, Xcitement," "(She Thinks She's) Edith Head," "Wicked Little Critta" "Drink!"
Album Depth: "Cyclops Rock," "Another First Kiss," "Hovering Sombrero," "Hopeless Bleak Despair," "Finished With Lies," "Mink Car"
Weak Links: "My Man"
Stand-Out Lyrics: "You're older than you've ever been...and now, you're even older."--"Older"
"They revamped the airport completely. Now it looks just like a night club. Everyone's excited and confused."--"Man, It's So Loud In Here"
"Glistening white triangular tooth, open up a can of tomato juice,"--"I've Got a Fang"
"I'll take back my pinata, it's wasted on you--just twirling that pool cue all over the room. And give back the blindfold that's under your shoe."--"Drink!"
"I've been working hard, trying to sing and play guitar. Growing out my hair and practicing my stare."--"Working Undercover for the Man"
"And there'll be no one else alive 'cept you and me."--"Yeh! Yeh!"
"She thinks she's Edith Head or Helen Gurley Brown, or some other cultural figure we don't know a lot about."--"(She Thinks She's) Edith Head"
"And he clips the ball from Havlicek, and Havlicek is used and abused. He's a wicked little critta with a sissy bar, and he lays a patch on the tar."--"Wicked Little Critta"
"I'm only holding your hand so I can look at your bangs."--"Bangs"
"Now I'm telling the truth. I'm finished with lies. Lies. If you don't believe me now, you'll never believe me now."--"Finished with Lies"
"They fixed up the corner store like it was a night club. It's permanently disco. Everyone is dressed so oddly. I can't recognize them. I can't tell the staff from the customers."--"Man, It's So Loud In Here"
"Girlfriend took me to meet her dad. Didn't like me because I looked so bad."--"I've Got a Fang"
"Planning midnight raids on our unsuspecting fans, while the roadies rig the video surveillance van."--"Working Undercover for the Man"
"Other people were too sentimental and always worrying about their hair."--"Another First Kiss"
"The accent in her speech, she didn't have growing up."--"(She Thinks She's) Edith Head"
"Time is marching on. And time............is still marching on."--"Older"
Album cover: 6 out of 10. Slightly interesting and unique, but not very colorful or dynamic.
Official youtube playlist: Here
Comments: Fifteen years after the release of their first album, They Might Be Giants were at their creative peak. They knew how to craft songs. They easily glided between many genres of music. They were at the pinnacle of their powers, and put together one of the finest albums ever. When it was released, it would surely take the world by storm. Undoubtedly, people all over the world would run to their record stores and purchase the pure power pop of "Mink Car," performed by They Might Be Giants. The people would forever remember they day they purchased the album: September 11, 2001.
Okay, so not many people bought the album that day; something else came up.
Yes, the release of "Mink Car" had a bit of bad timing. And, to compound the issue, the album released on 9/11, the day thousands of people died when a couple of buildings collapsed, features the song "Drink!" which frequently repeats the lyrics, "What word rhymes with buried alive?" Oops.
Only one song from this album made the HondoJoe Top 200 Songs list, "Older" at #10. But, there are four more songs that are definitely worthy to be on that list, including "Man, It's So Loud In Here," "Yeh Yeh," "I've Got a Fang," and "Working Undercover for the Man." (Two of these songs, "Older," and "Working Undercover for the Man," were first heard by me live at actual They Might Be Giant concerts in Salt Lake City. I immediately loved both songs, and had to wait impatiently for them to be released on albums so I could enjoy them again.)
"Yeh Yeh" is the only song on the album not written by John and/or John. It was originally a hit in 1965 by someone named Georgie Fame. The TMBG cover of it is groovy, rockin', and an excellent workout song. (If you want to see and hear the song as sung by Dr. Gregory House himself, actor Hugh Laurie, you might look: here.) (Unfortunately, I have been unable to find a video of the song as performed by Dr. Charles Emerson Winchester, Dr. Perry Cox, or Dr. Stephen Strange.)
Three songs from this album have strikingly different versions than the one featured on "Mink Car." The version of "(She Thinks She's) Edith Head" that appears on the EP "Long Tall Weekend" features more intense and high-pitched vocals, and is in my opinion far superior to the "Mink Car" version.
"First Kiss" originally appeared on the live album "Severe Tire Damage" as an uptempo rocker before becoming the slow ballad "Another First Kiss" on "Mink Car." I think I prefer the faster version.
"Older" appeared on an ABC News Special called "Brave New World," and on the Malcolm In the Middle Soundtrack before showing up on "Mink Car." I call the "Mink Car" version the Donuts For Everyone (or DFE) mix, because it features instruments not often found on rock and roll records, namely the contrabass sarussophone and the rauschpfeife. (But, sadly, no Lithuanian forceps.)
Speaking of Malcolm In the Middle, two other songs were featured on non-USA releases of this album. "Boss of Me," the theme song from the aforementioned television program, is one of They Might Be Giants most recognizable songs. (And #121 on the HondoJoe Top 200 Songs list.) And "Your Mom's Alright" is much more than just alright. (Both songs are linked to in the official youtube playlist link.)
I initially had this album ranked a bit lower on my Top 60, but as I played it a few times, it kept creeping up the list, higher and higher. It's just got so many great songs! I haven't even mentioned the ode to Boston, "Wicked Little Critta," or the ode to a certain haircut, "Bangs," or ode to what-the-hell-is-that that is "Mr. Xcitement."
They Might Be Giants have released many, many albums since this one, and have had some really good songs, but They haven't been able to reach the heights of the "Mink Car" album.
It's just too bad that on September 11, 2001 there were other things that diverted our attention from this great collection of songs.
Up next: You will always remember Lance Burton.
This album isn't just Quirky Brilliance. It's Quirkly LEE Brlliance! And the way that you know that it's Quirkly LEE Brilliance is that you watch Hugh Laurie sing "Yeh Yeh," and you realize that They Might Be Giants do it so, so much better.
ReplyDeleteAs I was listening to this album, I started to get a disturbing recurring thought running through my head. I kept saying to myself, "Yo, Nardo! Isn't this a greatest hits album?" To help get that thought out of my head, I actually checked the interwebs to make sure I wasn't listening to a They Might Be Giants greatest hits album. Finding plenty of compilation albums based on their Dial-A-Song material, but finding no evidence of there ever being a They Might Be Giants "greatest hits" album, I then looked really hard at the cover of the album to make sure that I had the correct album, and I saw what it says right underneath the album title--"It's all in your head." That's when I knew that I had a case of full-blown dementia and had entered a fantasy world of my own making in which I had somehow gotten my fantasy band Donuts for Everyone mixed up with the real band They Might Be Giants. And at that point, I was able to briefly escape my self-inflicted dementia for a moment of ultimate epiphany in which I knew--I mean, I actually KNEW--that I was, in fact, not Edith Head. Then the hopeless bleak despair that had been inhabiting my brain for five decades suddenly disappeared, only to be replaced by a cacophony of strange but pleasant sounds and freaky imagery of a mink car being driven by a cyclops with bangs and a fang wearing a hovering sombrero. He's a wicked little critta!
Man! It's so loud in here!
Nardo