QUANTITY

Kid Rock!

Recorded on the second leg of the Join Us tour, At Large is an originally IFC-exclusive live album that opens with explosive power. That's right, it's When Will You Die?, and it feels like a call to action. Specifically, a call to action to kill Kid Rock, which makes sense. I would as well.

From there, we go into Why Does The Sun Really Shine?, which is one of the more interesting tracks on Here Comes Science, an album that we didn't really talk about. I want to talk about how interesting it is to revise old material like this song does, especially a song like Why Does The Sun Shine? that's deeply ingrained in TMBG history. I know it's a cover, but it still speaks a lot to the nature of that era of TMBG, at least I think so. I mean the real reason is just because they needed to fact-check stuff for Disney, but, y'know.

The distinct drum machine on Cloisonné is a return to form for TMBG, one that'll be discussed later in this writeup. It's reminiscent of solo Johns stuff, almost, despite the presence of the full band that shows up later. It feels like the song reflects the progression of TMBG as it gradually goes from strange sounds and synths into Marty Beller's drums.

Speaking of reflecting old TMBG, Battle For The Planet Of The Apes off Severe Tire Damage is back! It hasn't shown up since 2015 at the time of writing, but it's really reminiscent of earlier stuff again with audience participation and everything. It's great. More spirit, less feeling!

From there on, we're moving to 2015 following the release of Glean with a set at The Music Hall of Williamsburg. This set is notable because it's recorded, and because it has the Johns performing without a backing band as well as a full-band set. "There may be a reason why we stopped. We're gonna explore that this evening."

Despite the "early" arrangement, the solo stuff sounds different due to the amplification of the drum machine and backing beats. It's not going to be the same, of course. It's certainly simplistic compared to modern TMBG live work, but it has the refinement of having existed for this long. It's fun to hear Linnell wailing on the accordion in a way where it's overpowered by absolutely nothing else. I've never been much for The Famous Polka, but it's fun on this because of the stark contrast it has with modern material. It's one thing, done well.

The majority of the Quantity era has to do with the idea that TMBG already has done enough to cement itself in history, which is certainly the case. In this way, the nostalgic sentiment that this duo set echoes is kind of the meat and potatoes of the era. It's a reminder of the foundation that all these songs about death and running out of ideas and existing too long lie on.

Straight out of rehab, it's the stick. Remember the stick? THE STICK!!! It's back, and it's keeping tempo, still on Lie Still, Little Bottle. This alone cements this as a real "return to form" for those who stopped listening after Apollo 18, if any of them are still keeping up. I think it's pretty evident how TMBG feels about that.

Some of the songs that aren't from this era, specifically the 2015 Dial-A-Song ones and Wearing A Raincoat, feel massively different, almost... slidey, to a degree. I don't have the right adjectives for this, but my point is that they are a fundamentally different beast here. The fact that turn to drugs is replaced to play the drums on Wearing A Raincoat probably means something, but I'll leave that to you.

Did I mention that this set continues into a full-band set? TMBG's relation to quantity is exemplified by its live sets, something I'll get to later. Can you imagine playing this many songs back to back? This live album is two hours long. Another live album we had to scrap, Asbury Park Live, was even longer than this one. We quite literally wouldn't have made it through the quantity era if we didn't drop something.

The idea of Number Three being played as the fifth track, with a full band, is absolutely beyond me. I love it. The stage banter on this album is next-level; TMB-no-show. I think they should actually do this. They are allowed. Stick got unplugged.

Glean sounds incredible live. Music Jail? Fuuuuck. Wow. I don't have anything to say about that. It's just good.

Anyway. Beast of Horns is a live album with a lot of horns on it, the Tricerachops Horns, specifically. Notably, this album was recorded on the 2022 and 2023 Flood tours, themed around Flood. Beast of Horns does not feature any song on Flood. This is hilarious to me. We don't know these guys, but please tell their families if you know them.

Boy howdy, does this album have horns. Why do I like horns so much? I don't know, maybe if you don't like horns you have the heart of a microwave. They add an intense, bombastic energy to every single song. It is impossible to be mad about horns. I do not think you are a real person, and I am going to discard you. When Will You Die? That being you. The hypothetical horn-not-liker.

Brontosaurus live is one of the most transcendent things I have heard. It's a great track, maybe one of my favorite TMBG tracks, and to hear it with this horn arrangement is incredible. It's 10:47 PM and I have about half an hour of They Might Be Giants to listen to. That's correct, I have been writing this live, but I have been chill and normal about it, unlike Cast Your Pod To The Wind.

I like the more subdued horns on The Darlings Of Lumberland. Random thought — if we're talking about quantity, then having an 8-piece band sure is a reflection of quantity, huh?

I don't know, I'm out of ideas. I can't figure out anything else to say. Sorry everyone, pack it up. Just kidding — I have one more live set to talk about, though I don't have that many words for it.

We went to the December 6, 2024 show at Union Transfer in Philadelphia, PA with our friends Alice and Chloe. The experience was wonderful; the Tricerachops Horns were present, Spy live is insane, and it was also somehow the first time we ever heard Museum of Idiots, which is one of our favorite TMBG songs. This was part of the BIG Tour, which is very distinctly related to the theme of quantity throughout this era of TMBG: two sets, two days per city (sometimes 3). I mentioned Williamsburg being insane. This is more insane.

During the first set, they played Sapphire Bullets of Pure Love in reverse (titled stelluB, which will be commented on more extensively later), and then they played the video of their playing it in reverse. It was a great moment. They had two encores! The experience was explosive, and shows how much energy TMBG continues to bring into their music even as they should ostensibly be winding down.

But that's kind of the point of it all, right? You keep going until you can't anymore.