LONG TALL WEEKEND

There isn't much that I can reasonably say about Long Tall Weekend, given that it's more of a rarities compilation than it is an album. It's notable for it being the first digital-only album released by a major band, which is extremely important.

Since I can't really talk about the thematic content, I want to talk about the arc of the band up until this point, as well as some standout tracks. More specifically, I want to argue that They Might Be Giants could have stopped here; they've completed the full arc of a rock band. They started off, honed their craft and released an album (The Pink Album), got really good (Lincoln), got picked up by a label (Flood), kept their momentum (Apollo 18), it died off (John Henry), they got dropped (Factory Showroom), and you clear house before you end it (Long Tall Weekend). They didn't end it, but they're at a place that they could.

Each of these tracks almost definitely belongs on another album. (She Thinks She's) Edith Head and Older quite literally appear on Mink Car two years later. Maybe I Know was supposed to be on Flood, back when it was 17 tracks. Dark and Metric is a John Henry outtake. In general, these are tracks that already were around, circulating among fans of demos; eMusic, the distributor, outright said that many were "songs already considered classics". It doesn't have a thematic through-line, because it's ending an era. That's fine.

I love the sax on Drinkin', which is almost whimsical and tipsy. It opens up what ultimately is a very disorienting experience.

(She Thinks She's) Edith Head is very full of energy, and is far better than its Mink Car version. I love the screaming on it, I love the fact that this song is inexplicably about factives. It's great.

Reprehensible is very John Henry. I believe that the narrator of this song is unreliable, seeing themself as far more evil than they actually are; it's a song largely about hating yourself, because you think you're the worst person in the world, but you really aren't. You are not G-d's perfect angel, and you are not Satan. You are just some guy.

Certain People I Could Name is very James K. Polk with it, except it insists that the fascists, the colonizers, they're people around you. This is one of the things that I really like about this song, and other messages about fascism that TMBG often delivers; they never stoop to the level of calling fascists inhuman. They are human, and that is horrifying.

They Got Lost almost feels like a premonition of what's to come, but that's more reflective about my feelings towards Mink Car than anything.

Yep.