Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Can't get enough They Go Boom!!

VALENTINE'S DAY SPECIAL, part I: A happy medium



If They Go Boom!! was a cup of tea, it'd have 10 sugar cubes in it....and it would taste delicious. Because Daryl of TGB is such a nice and awesome dude, he contacted me over last.fm and offered to give me all (well, most) of the missing pieces to the TGB discography and gave his permission to share them with you today. Thus, in combination with the previous posts, I present you the very close to complete TGB discography in fragmented pieces on Bigger Splashes. In the same vein as their other material, debut Atlantic is a synthy ornamented “hyper” pop classic, and a fantastic debut full length comprised of the classic TGB formula: lovelorn lyrics over melodic music. This nevus, once again is nothing new, but they push it to the extreme. Although Atlantic is not as polished as their later efforts it still stands on its own two feet, sans legerdemain.

Their compilation tracks features a phenomenal cover of Felt’s “Ballad of the Band” and puts into concrete their credibility as a band whose taste and influences are undoubtedly refined. Normally, I would have put this in with the Trash Can Sinatras as music for the lonesome folk, but there’s a sense of hopefulness with every other TGB song that isn’t present in The Sinatra’s work, and their style is just far too upbeat to be labeled as downtrodden. That’s not to say that there aren’t heartbreakers here. “I want somebody to want me to carry on / I need somebody to need me to be strong” is the catchy refrain on “Twentieth Century” from The Ruby Lounge EP. Also on the same release, “Take me to the End of the World” is, as the name suggests a blissful ballad which leads into the band’s ultimate quasar and potentially most well-known track “She’s Not my Friend” which is just pure perfection. Dig on these guys, not just because they're underappreciated, but because they're the real deal and deserve to be heard loud and clear.

Collection features:

The Ruby Lounge EP (1991)
Europop EP (1991) (missing track 2)
Woody Allen (EP? year unknown)
Compilation tracks (various)
Atlantic LP (1995)

Rating: Magical/10

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2 comments:

  1. Very cool! TGB is a gem. And hurry up with that link. :-p

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  2. They are indeed. Slowly but surely the link will come. I need to stop leeching internet and get my own connection. Would make this whole uploading process way easier.

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