Monthly Archives: September 2022

#968: They Might Be Giants – Old Pine Box

1 Reply

‘Old Pine Box’ arrives as the third track on They Might Be Giants’ 2011 album Join Us and is also the first time that listeners will hear the sweet, sweet voice of John Flansburgh on there, due to the preceding two numbers being primarily sung by John Linnell. In my case, I was somewhat accustomed to the track as it had been available to hear on a four-song EP, released by the band about three months in advance of the album’s official release. The track brings another of those instances where I can’t exactly remember where I was and how I felt on that first listen. I do want to say that I would have heard it on YouTube first though. I do recall being generally excited for Join Us to arrive. The previous two albums had been tailored towards children, so to hear new adult-oriented music by the band… just felt like everything was making sense again.

As stated by Flansburgh in 2011, the song is “about a burnout but it’s not sung by a burnout.” And reading the lyrics, that sounds about right. It’s from the perspective of someone looking in at another person who just doesn’t know when to call it quits. This ‘old pine box’ goes around punching policemen, unnecessarily pulling fire alarms and generally engaging in behaviour that’s just not right for someone of their time. And still, there’s still something you’ve got to admire about them. At no point in the track does Flansburgh make this character out to be an ass. Their mother thinks they’re a bit crazy, but otherwise it’s a case where people just kinda watch and admire the energy this person has. I feel like there could possibly be a bit of self-commentary hidden in there somewhere. At that point TMBG were approaching 30 years as a band. Maybe Flansburgh was writing about himself in another person’s eyes. Just speculation.

It’s a mainly acoustic number, but produced in a way that the acoustic guitars have this large presence in the mix and provide a proper warm feeling to the proceedings. A nice boom-boom-clap “We Will Rock You” type rhythm comes in to give the track some oomph. And if you listen hard enough, you’ll make out a bass guitar that’s really low in the mix, but it has just enough of a frequency to it that you can make out some of its melodies. Things slow down for the bridge where some vocoder comes in alongside a rapid drum roll, before returning to the boom-clap of the earlier verses and fading out. The track truly does all it needs to in the minute and 50 seconds it lasts for. In the context of the album, it keeps things rolling along smoothly. On its own, just a delightful treat to pass the time.

#967: The Raconteurs – Old Enough

2 Replies

Consolers of the Lonely is an album that I didn’t give an honest chance to for too long. I initially wanted it just so I could listen to ‘Salute Your Solution’ on repeat. So, when I turned 13 and got the album as a gift, all of my focus went onto that track and I shamelessly disregarded everything else. I do remember thinking ‘You Don’t Understand Me’ was quite good too. Years later I would have my iTunes library open with all the songs on shuffle while playing FIFA when I got bored of the game’s soundtrack. Whenever songs from Consolers… popped up, they were always the tracks that immediately caught my ears, which made me wonder how I had this great album up on my shelf all this time. But I was a kid, really. The mind can’t concentrate on albums at that age. At least mine couldn’t. Was all about the singles with me.

‘Old Enough’ surely would have played during those FIFA days. But those days were so menial that trying to recall my first impressions of the songs would be pointless and probably exaggerated. Though as I type to you now, what I can say is that Consolers… is definitely my favorite Raconteurs album, and ‘Old Enough’ is one of my favourite tracks on there. The fourth number on the record, it showcases a folky/bluegrass influence – a significant change up from the hard rock one-two punch of the almost title track and ‘Salute’ and the piano ballad of ‘Understand’ – emphasised by a presence of acoustic guitars and fiddles. Even so, the band still provide a great rock groove behind it. Brendan Benson and Jack White have a bit of tag-team dynamic going on when it comes to the lead vocal, which is always appreciated. The song concerns a girl who maybe thinks they’re more important they she really is and acts as a bit of a know-it-all. Benson and White take on the narrative voices telling her that, like a lot of young people out there, she really doesn’t know anyhing, and once she actually lives and gains experience with age then she might actually feel a lot better about herself. I don’t think it’s about any girl in particular. Just the mention of a dress in the song’s first line gives me reason to believe it’s about one. Really, it’s a message for all teenagers and the like. They don’t know shit.

Personal audio highlights from the track? I think Benson and White’s vocal performances throughout. Benson comes through with the sort of softer tones to his voice with the verses with White coming with the stinging nasal tone during those bridges. It’s a great contrast. And even with these differences in tones, the two singers blend together so well when they harmonise. I like the melodic rundown on the ‘free’s and ‘see’s that are sung in the verses. Those maybe what got me hooked on those initial listens, but again, I really can’t remember. And that repeated guitar lines before the rapid “What you gonna do” middle section are so rousing, especially alongside that organ and the bass. So yeah, look out for those. Those are my feelings on ‘Old Enough’. And I haven’t listened to ‘Salute Your Solution’ in years. Go figure.

#966: David Bowie – Oh! You Pretty Things

1 Reply

It was a sad day when David Bowie died. I remember it well. If you’re into hearing about that experience, I covered it in my post about ‘Life on Mars?’ some time ago. The story’s all there. His passing was something that came out of nowhere, and something of a trigger that set off the strange year that 2016 turned out to be. Bowie was gone, but the music remained, and the most logical thing to do was listen to his music just to feel good and listen to his voice. I most certainly did that. The Hunky Dory album had been in there ever since I got my laptop in 2013. However, ‘Changes’ and ‘Mars’ up to 2016 had been my favorites from that record, and I was sure that wasn’t going to change anytime soon. But Bowie died, and then I came across a 1972 live performance of Bowie singing ‘Oh! You Pretty Things’ on the BBC. It was watching that that made it properly set in that the man was gone. Also made me appreciate the song a lot more than I did before.

Well, I think the main thing to take note of is Bowie’s vocals throughout. The track is about a master race of some kind taking over the world, based on the ideals of Nietzche and Aleister Crowley. Quite dark origins. But Bowie turns it into something positive and relatable by basing the lyrics on the kids – the pretty things – of the ’70s who were into these strange new things that parents just weren’t able to understand. And Bowie sings about all of this right from the heart with the most sincerity. That delivery ‘put another log on the fire for me’ in the first verse, that hits the sweet spot. If the whole track had been just Bowie and the piano, I wouldn’t even mind, but it’s a very cathartic moment when the rest of the band enter on the first beat of the chorus. That sense of tension is all released in that burst of energy. And still, Bowie continues to blow the track away with his vocal. Joined along with Mick Ronson on the backing vocals, the chorus is the greatest opportunity for a singalong if ever there was one.

I don’t know what else to tell you, readers. Between the quieter contemplative verses with Bowie and the piano and the rousing choruses where the rest of the band joins in, I can’t find much fault with this song. Makes me wonder why it had to take Bowie’s passing to make me listen to it again. It was right there that whole time. But it’s nothing to work myself up about, I know. Same thing applies to a lot of people in that situation. I do wish I knew how to play the piano though. If I learned it enough, I could wow people by playing the intro/outro to this track. Not a lot of people did it better than Bowie though. What a wonder he was.

#965: Mac DeMarco – Ode to Viceroy

Leave a reply

Honestly, when it comes to ‘…Viceroy’, I’m not too sure I can pinpoint the exact moment when it clicked with me. I can say for sure that I would have heard it the first time when going through Mac DeMarco’s 2 for the first time in 2014, not too long after Salad Days had dropped and was instantly one of my favourite albums of recent times. I do recall wondering how the word ‘Viceroy’ was pronounced before the track started. Being from the UK, I don’t think I’d ever seen/heard that word in my life. Once DeMarco sings the word, it’s actually very obvious. I also remember ‘…Viceroy’ being a bit of a slow burner for me. The track’s the longest tune on the album, but it finishes off just under 4 minutes, which is a pretty standard song length. But still, it took a few listens for it to sink in. But once it did, well, just couldn’t get enough of it. Whoo, it’s a jam.

This jam is exactly what it says in the title. It’s a dedication to Viceroy cigarettes, one that came about after DeMarco started trying another brand of cigarettes, realized they were terrible and fully appreciated how great his beloved Viceroys were. There was a period in the mid-10s where DeMarco was the poster boy of indie rock, and his dedicated followers really wanted to be like him, wearing similar attire to the guy and smoking Viceroys just to be that closer to him. He however has made it clear that this is not a track that is meant to endorse smoking, but rather one that’s meant to put emphasis on his terrible smoking addiction. I think that unsettling outro with those heartbeat-like pulses that go on and on while a deep-pitched DeMarco starts choking puts a highlight on that too. But the glorious minutes are formed by a glorious song, one that only consists of two verses and two choruses, but the melodies are so memorable and the mood is so enticing. Really, it’s no wonder that fans wanted to smoke after hearing it. It’s too good not to smoke to.

What I’ve come to appreciate more and more is the contrast between those reverb-soaked guitars and DeMarco’s drier vocal that sits over the top of them. The juxtaposition is one that works too well. When you hear it, you come to realise DeMarco doesn’t really sing that much, and it’s the guitar that’s doing a lot of the melodic work. A lot of string bends and fills going on in those verses. And then those culminate in the call and response choruses with DeMarco singing and the guitar soloing in response. Man, it’s just good structure. And you can sing along to every part. This song’s great. Centerpiece of 2. Admittedly, I think Salad Days is slightly better. Just a bit more consistent. But 2 has very high highs, and ‘Ode to Viceroy’ is right up there. This’ll be the last track from that album I write about. If I had started just a bit later, ‘Cooking Up Something Good’ and ‘Dreamin” would have had their own posts on here. Wasn’t meant to be, but I’d suggest you check those out too.

#964: Ween – Ocean Man

1 Reply

Set up in a rented beach house on the shore of New Jersey, Gene and Dean Ween were overcome with inspiration. Their surroundings were an influence on many of the songs that would end up on The Mollusk and many others that were left on the cutting room floor. ‘Ocean Man’ provides a clear example. That song is from the point of view of a person who wants to know more about the titular character, hoping to become their friend and be taken to the strange places this character goes. It’s basically Ween’s ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’. Gene Ween had a mandolin and was always playing around with it, the chords came about, the lyrics were written quickly and everything seemed to fall into place. That’s according to Dean Ween himself in a 20th anniversary retrospective of the album. A great read, would recommend. Once finished, it was put in the penultimate slot on the record. The place that, from what I’ve gathered, is usually where artists put the songs that are good, but don’t really amount to much when it comes to album flow. Am I wrong in saying that? I feel like there’s some unspoken truth about it.

Anyway, I don’t think the duo could have imagined how much of an impact the song would have on generations to come upon its inclusion in the very last scene of the SpongeBob SquarePants Movie in 2004. SpongeBob becomes the manager of the Krusty Krab, spoilers, and as the ‘camera’ freezes while he delivers the last line of the film, the opening drum roll to ‘Ocean Man’ cuts in and the credits start to roll. Now, Ween were no strangers to SpongeBob. They had provided the song ‘Loop de Loop’ for the cartoon for an episode where SpongeBob doesn’t want to tell anyone that he doesn’t know how to tie his shoes. But as a track from the album that actually influenced the creation of that series, ‘Ocean Man’ acts as the perfect way to bring it all full circle in what was originally meant to be the cartoon’s grand finale.

It’s where I heard the track for the first time, albeit a few good years later when the film was showing on TV because I never saw it at the cinema when it initially came out. What drew me to the track immediately were the exaggerated vocals. Knowing Ween now, it’s not that much of a surprise. It’s just standard practice that they change the pitch or speed of their songs when mixing in order get those effects on their vocals. But being 13/14 or however old I was when I saw that film the first time, it was definitely odd yet strangely appealing. I downloaded that track, and for years it was the only Ween song I had in my library. Took a while, but now I have practically all their albums in there. It takes a seed to make a tree.