Best of 2007: Album

For the foreseeable future, I'm going to devote a few posts to my own personal "Best Of" list for the year 2007. I'll be spotlighting different categories, and writing about the best entry of the previous year for each. This is a novel, exciting concept which I think might catch on with some others. To my knowledge, no one has as yet undergone such a task.
The obligatory "Best Album" goes to They Might Be Giants' "The Else," which came out last spring. I have been a huge TMBG fan for many, many years, but was very disappointed with their previous release, "The Spine." Quite frankly, it sucked. As such, I was a little hesitant when this latest disc came out, but after the initial spin all worries went out the window. This is prime TMBG, and it's their best album since 1994's "John Henry."
Only now do I realize how retarded it is to write about this disc. I'm reminded of Theolonious Monk's famous quote, "Writing about music is like dancing about architecture." Well, I won't be dancing to the Louvre any time soon, but I may as well churn out a few more sentences about this collection of songs.
One thing that struck me regarding the Else was how Linnell-heavy it is. On most Giants albums, the two Johns pretty much trade songs back and forth. Off the top of my head I don't remember how many songs feature John Linnell on lead vocals this go-round, but I know I counted a few months ago, and it seemed like he did way more than half. I've always enjoyed his stuff more than Flansburgh's, but Flansy is no slouch in the writing department, either. I will definitely be sad when these guys finally break up the band.
Another interesting aspect of this disc is that it was released on iTunes a few months before the physical copy hit stores. I didn't buy it from Apple, and I'm certainly glad I chose to wait. (Technically I didn't really wait, since I downloaded it elsewhere prior to its official release). The initial pressing of the album came with a bonus disc of songs culled from the TMBG podcast, a total of 21 more tracks that are, while not as tight as the album itself, a worthy companion and well worth the price of admission. This was a much better way to treat the fans than the aforementioned Spine, which clocked in at just over a half hour, and was accompanied by a download-only EP that cost an extra ten bucks or so. Fuck the Spine, but long live the Else!