I like both “Maine” and “Louisiana”. “Maine” has John’s classic unreliable, evil narrator, while “Louisiana” just feels like a fun take on a hostage situation.
“The Songs of the 50 States” is also dear in my heart as it gets gradually crazier.
My favorite thing about State Songs is the track order. My wife if from Maine and I’m from Oregon, and our home tracks are next to each other.
Cool. Admittedly, I’m a bit mad about the two songs representing where I’m from. There’s no “Arizona”, and “Nevada” is not not not so great.
I haven’t listened in ages, and to be honest I never loved the album. (I’m the rare person who likes Flansburgh’s style over Linell’s.)
But I’ll give it a couple of listens tomorrow at work and come back with a better answer.
I’d say I’m generally neutral between Flans and Linnell. I might say that Linnell’s songs tend to be of consistent quality, but when Flans puts out a good song, it’s a great song. Some songs are just better with Flans’s helium voice.
Edit: To clarify, I like the experimentalism of Flans’s stuff. I find the band needs a balance of both.
I do enjoy both of Linnell’s albums/EPs a lot, though. I haven’t listened to much of Flansburgh’s non-TMBG stuff like Monopuff.
