So, another law school blogger linked to this awesome video showcasing Steve Burns (formerly of Blue's Clues) and Steven Drozd from the Flaming Lips performing a cute song about Groundhog's Day. She labeled her post as "for the mommies," but I heartily disagree, and not just because I'm a childless fan of smart kids' music (my sixteenth birthday party did, in fact, prominently feature VeggieTales' first Silly Songs video).
It reminded me that after Songs for Dustmites, Steve Burns totally dropped off the map, which is sad because I liked that CD quite a bit and I wanted to hear what else he had to offer. A swift iTunes search confirmed no new albums, and a swift trip to his homepage confirmed that there's a new album "nigh," but not yet here. However, I DID see that his cover of They Might Be Giants' "Dead" is available on iTunes, and I recommend it.
In ever-outward-spiraling efforts to procrastinate, I sampled the rest of the Hello Radio TMBG tribute album and found... not much else to recommend. The Long Winters' "Pet Name" is possibly better than the original, and I snagged "Narrow Your Eyes" for the cool harmonies on the chorus, and "It's Not My Birthday" because I just love that song, and the cover features an accordion. But the rest? Meh. Several sound like dirges (including, disappointingly, the Wrens' "They'll Need a Crane," and OK Go's dismal rendition of "Letterbox"), others are just ill-conceived ("Boat of Car," "She's an Angel"--and seriously, that is MY SONG, and I'm so bummed at how uninspiring the cover is), and still others I just reject on principle (I've never liked "Road Movie to Berlin"--sorry, Frank Black. I hear your album Honeycomb is highly reccommended, though).
Bottom line: TMBG fans, get the Steve Burns and Long Winters tracks, leave the rest. If you've got the originals, you're not missing anything.
Anyway, that was an unusually digressive trip round the internets. And as I'm leading discussion in Trip to Egypt Class tomorrow and not yet done with the reading, I've lots to do this evening. But I'm in a cheerier mood, thanks to the groundhog song. hee.
1 comment:
Agreed on all counts for that travesty of an album, except one - Dead. I was so disappointed to hear it done in the most boring 4/4 ever, not to mention the monotone. But then, I'm obsessed with compound meter and things like, you know, melody, so the original wins on that alone.
-lawrence
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