July 15–22, 1999
disc quicks
They Might Be Giants
Long Tall Weekend
Don’t believe the hype — nobody’s really ready to put out a proper, MP3-only album. That new Public Enemy album is also available on CD. They Might Be Giants’ Long Tall Weekend is MP3-only, but it’s largely a collection of songs Giant-heads have heard before or will hear somewhere else. Some tracks are veterans of the Brooklyn duo’s long-running Dial-A-Song, concerts and other albums (including "She Thinks She’s Edith Head," one of a few Weekend tracks we can expect to find on a future CD). Despite the MP3’s drawbacks, putting out a "record" this way does afford John Linnell and John Flansburgh some freedom. Would the haunting, a cappella "On Earth My Nina" have a place on a major label release? Giant-heads can finally own a non-bootlegged version of "Older," the simplistic live show standard. Most of Weekend’s best moments have Linnell behind the microphone — the Flansburgh tracks are a little more straight-ahead pop, reminiscent of his side project, Mono Puff. Despite its eclectic feel and patchwork origins, Weekend’s got just enough Giant weirdness (both musically and lyrically) to make it absolutely essential (for Giant-heads, that is).
Long Tall Weekend is available from www.emusic.com for $8.99. They Might Be Giants will celebrate the release of the album with a live show/chat session on emusic.com on Mon., July 19, 7:30 p.m.
