I have several songs where I think they could have done better on the album version.
This includes a lot of Mink Car:
- Bangs - Snapping Turtles had the more John-y lyrics in my opinion.
- Man, It’s So Loud in Here - The first demo just had more soul, in my opinion. I get they were going for Pet Shop Boys pastiche/parody, but I really liked the general 80s vibes of the original demo.
- My Man - There’s a demo that has some better compositional choices in my opinion.
- Another First Kiss - I prefer the one from Severe Tire Damage by leaps and bounds.
Another addition is I like the Severe Tire Damage version of They Got Lost more than the Long Tall Weekend version.
It’s a cover, but I prefer the version of New York City that describes the Empire State as where “King Kong lived.”
Alphabet of Nations is one where I most enjoy the versions with more verses of county names.
I like TMBGs One More Parade than the og version. The uptempo and march feel brings an irony I love to no end.
I was talking about TMBG songs with multiple variants, but I’m intrigued. Do you have a link to this cover? I can’t find a link online.
Wow! It really is phenomenal. I really dig the blend of circus and military march!
Fingertips live, eg the one on the Gigantic DVD.
And most live versions of Istanbul - recent versions with Curt Ramm were fantastic.
I’ve never listened to a live version of Istanbul, and I am now questioning my life choices.
After hearing it some many times and it being the song most associate with the band, I’d always skipped over it. I always felt it just needed a smidge more compositional complexity, and the live versions deliver it.
I think because it is such a simple song that they’ve played so much, they can easily play around with it. They usually have Dan Miller play a semi-improvised acoustic guitar intro (Miller Time), and they add an extended outro.
The live version of She’s an Angel on Severe Tire Damage is one of my all-time favorite songs.
I love that recording too, but equally to the album version. One has awesome horns, the other as good synth.
