I saw TMBG in concert in late 1997. I was familiar with most of their set with the exception of the song Sleeping In the Flowers from this album, which caught my ear with its major-key chorus set against a minor verse. These days, I would just download that tune and that would be the end of it, but since that option wasn't available in '97, I bought the whole album just to hear that one song again. It is the first album in which the "Two Johns" of TMBG (John Linnell & John Flansburgh) utilized a full band, as opposed to playing most or all of the instruments themselves. As a pop album, it isn't bad, but it's not really what I want from TMBG. This is one of those times when an artist tries to grow and change and the audience (in this case, me) hates it and just wants more of what came before. One review I read said this album was more than the band's usual "smart-aleck herky-jerk novelty tunes," but, being smart-aleck and herky-jerk myself, that's what drew me to the band in the first place.
Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: #61 (Oct 1, 1994)
Tracks: I really liked Sleeping In the Flowers when I first heard it, but now it doesn't interest me much. Even though I haven't listened to this album in a long while, today's listen isn't changing my mind. None of this CD has been ripped to iTunes. I don't hate it; I'm just indifferent.
Personal Memory Associated with this CD: See above.
Previously revisited for the blog:
Factory Showroom (1996)
Why Does the Sun Shine? (The Sun Is a Mass of Incandescent Gas) (1993)
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