John Linnell - State Songs
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Music CD Cover
Artist: John LinnellEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 1999-10-26
Music Label: Zoe Records
Soundtracks:
- Illinois
- The Songs of the 50 States
- West Virginia
- South Carolina
- Idaho
- Montana
- Pennsylvania
- Utah
- Arkansas
- Iowa
- Mississippi
- Maine
- Oregon
- Michigan
- New Hampshire
- Nevada
Free Music Notes for State Songs
Free Music Review: Brilliant concept, stunning execution
Hit: 5 Stars
Linnell creates a purely abstract framework to test his songwriting skills against and hangs one after another perfect pop songs upon it. This is a concept album with a deliberately absurd concept (unless I'm simply missing it). However, there are few songs not to love here. There's the bizarre Arkansas which touches the patriotism and pride gland for a non-existent object. There's South Carolina which actually seems to reflect an actual severe bike wreck that Linnell was involved in. Everything there is to like about TMBG is here in spades, on the surface a good listen. However, the album seems much more impressive upon reflection when you realize that the world is large enough to produce someone to attempt something so bizarre, take it seriously, and succeed.
State Songs Poster
The prolific and quirky John Linnell of They Might Be Giants has come up with 16 pop songs-one each for 16 different states of the U.S., but not literally, of course. Here you'll find songs about Iowa being a witch and Oregon being bad ("Oregon is bad / Stop it if you can"), coupled with every musical genre you can think of-bossa nova, carnival music, polka, you name it. Linnell's craggy twang wraps around the surreal lyrics with a brainy, tongue-in-cheek earnestness that will, no doubt, delight TMBG fans. Linnell, an equivocating sort, gives the rest of us a little slack. In "The Songs of the Fifty States," an overture of sorts, he sings, "I'm not going to say they're great, I ain't gonna say they ain't." Pipe organs and accordions flesh out most of these songs, contributing immensely to their old-timey wackiness and giving the impression that these pieces could have been written for a 1940s-era musical comedy. --Wally ShoupAlternative Rock Music CDs
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