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Apollo 18

They Might Be Giants - Apollo 18 Audio CD

A fair review of the They Might Be Giants "Apollo 18" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all They Might Be Giants reviews here, or go back to the They Might Be Giants tabs.

Band: They Might Be Giants
Title: Apollo 18
Rating:

Release Date: 1992-03-24
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Dig My Grave 2: I Palindrome I 3: She's Actual Size 4: My Evil Twin 5: Mammal 6: Statue Got Me High 7: Spider 8: Guitar 9: Dinner Bell 10: Narrow Your Eyes 11: Hall of Heads 12: Which Describes How You're Feeling 13: See the Constellation 14: If I Wasn't Shy 15: Turn Around 16: Hypnotist of Ladies 17: Fingertips 18: Fingertips 19: Fingertips 20: Fingertips 21: Fingertips 22: Fingertips 23: Fingertips 24: Fingertips 25: Fingertips 26: Fingertips 27: Fingertips 28: Fingertips 29: Fingertips 30: Fingertips 31: Fingertips 32: Fingertips 33: Fingertips 34: Fingertips 35: Fingertips 36: Fingertips 37: Fingertips 38: Space Suit

TMBG peak with the amazing Apollo 18 before our very ears.
The year in which they were "Musical Ambassadors for International Space Year". Ahh, 1992. You've gotta love it. It was with this album that I became a full-on TMBG fan. I'd first heard them when they hosted Post Modern MTV during the Summer of 1989. "Purple Toupee" was the song/video that won me over.

"The Statue Got Me High" is a fun psychedelic single, "Mammal" is one of my all-time fave TMBG songs, "I Palindrome I" is a great, great single, "Which Describes How You're Feeling", "My Evil Twin", "Dinner Bell" and "Space Suit" are all TMBG sleepers and wonderfully psychedelic. "See the Constellation" - which samples Dee Dee Ramone for the intro count - could be considered the title track (okay, that and "Space Suit") and is, again, one of my fave TMBG songs. "Spider", "Turn Around" and "Dig My Grave" are funny and show TMBG still in full command of their use of insane lyrics and humor. The brilliant "Fingertips" for me, is just the icing on the cake. A wonderful psychedelic Summer afternoon cake.

I've personally, always found "The Guitar" to be a tad empty, crass and misguided. I'm guessing this was intended to be a hit single. Needless to say, this is the song from the album they continue performing live to this day.

I'm of the thinking that they peaked around the time of getting a rhythm section? This is the last album that contains what was singularly unique about TMBG.

Employ the shuffle button for this one!
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Almost TOO Consistent
They pack two verses, a bridge, and a repeated chorus into two minutes or less on many occasions. Anybody who's familiar with They Might Be Giants probably knows about the average duration of their songs. However - even this gets to be a little bit boring when all of the songs generally feel the same, and it's not an entirely great same.

This album was produced in that all of the music is very spacious and drenched in reverb; and though it can be a cool sound, it really isn't with those songs that are only a guitar, keyboard, and a drum machine (There are some songs on here with saxes and actual drums, but not for the most part. . . )

But that's not to say the actual songs are bad. Most of them are catchy and fun and do hold your attention - you just start to wish it weren't so easy to tell that this album was produced in a time when keyboards didn't sound too much like an piano.

When you're in the right mood, though, this album can work - you can love the whole thing immensely, only you have to be in that mood. I think it might also have to do with Flansburgh having a very heavy prominence on this album. . . this album does lack the usual Linnell powerhouses we're used to! There are no bad songs, though, it's just very monotonous in feel, I suppose.

Four out of five stars for excellent music in an occasionally boring context.

...ah...memories...
. . when I was younger my dad would play music that I would deem as. . . strange and weird. . . from awkward sounds of electronica. . . to this. . . but this really is something special. . .

. . . if you only know this band for their prestige of making TV theme tunes then you are only on one side of the dodecahedron shaped glass. . . this band has an experimental side like you wouldn't believe. . .

. . . sure there's simple songs like "the statue made me high" but they are still enjoyable and have very good hooks (not in the bad poppy way) but I want to spend the rest of this review reviewing the elusive FINGERTIPS!!!

. . . now this isn't just any kind of simple sound clips. . . I could probably remember every sound clip off fingertips off by heart. . . it is many very short (most around ten seconds) sound clips fused together to create a trip of bizarity and confusion. . . hearing "aren't you the guy that hit me in the eye?" followed by "please pass the milk please" is a truly mind boggling experienc. . .

. . . to put it simply. . . you should buy this for fingertips alone but if you like the weird and bizarre quirks of they might be giants. . . this is the album to buy.

Help Me, I'm Stuck in 1992 (and Loving It)
Awhile before that I bought "Apollo 18" by They Might Be Giants. I recently discovered 4 Non Blondes "Bigger, Faster, Better, More!" from 1992 (check out my review in here for the backstory). Other than the year of release and their being two of my current favorites there's not much in common between 4NB's melange of blues, folks and mostly rock and TMBG's pop absurdist lyrical extravaganza.

TMBG cover some of their usual subjects--science with "Mammal" and "See the Constellation" and language with "I Palindrome I", and they include a clever cover of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" as "Guitar". But the highlight of the CD is Tracks 17-37; called "Fingertips" on the CD cover and lyrics sheet, but actually an amalgamation of 21 song fragments--the ideas for 21 different songs--ranging from about 5 seconds to 20 seconds long. The Johns get a variety of vocal help on these to fit the genre and content of each fragment. Among my favorites (if one can have favorites in the 10-second song category) are "what's that blue thing doing here" and the ultra-dramatic "mysterious whispers". Maybe the montage is a tribute to Paul McCartney's brilliant side two of "Abbey Road". If so, I join in that tribute and add my own to TMGB's terrific "Apollo 18".

This is a 4. 5 star rating--5 stars of listening enjoyment with a half point taken off for the mostly goofy content. It's great stuff, but not the overall equal of such true 5 star recordings like Paul Simon's "Graceland" and Van Morrison's "Moondance" (both of which I've reviewed in here).

.

Everything is catching on fire
Beyond all known things. This cd is beyond belief. Beyond imagination of the imaginable imaginative. I have listened, and have found, that time and space are now a mystery to me. You MUST for your own health,safety,and sanity, purchase this beautiful display of words placed in no certain order. On a scale of one to ten, this cd is awesome. .

You can see a complete list of all They Might Be Giants discography, or go back to the They Might Be Giants tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.