The Else

[edit ] Loading... If loading fails, click here . See Discography Glossary for definition of various terms. The Iraq War was an influence on the songwriting process for the album. John Linnell : That period was also in the wake of Iraq War, so we were kind of feeling bad all the time because of the shitty government that we had. Normally that kind of thing won't have a very direct relationship to our own theme, but there's a number of songs on The Else that were a reflection of how horrible everything seemed at the time. Before that project had a name, all my files were just in a folder called "During the War." It's not the topic but it is the backdrop. It was the thing that's happening that's just sort of poisoning everything around it. During the band's 2006 tour , they previewed three songs from the new album, "Bee Of The Bird Of The Moth ", "Careful What You Pack " and "The Cap'm ". No other songs from the album were performed until May 2007 , on TMBG's "warm-up tour" for the album. The album was collaboratively produced by Pat Dillett (TMBG's producer since 1996 's Factory Showroom ), The Dust Brothers , and They Might Be Giants themselves. The album's title was revealed in late February 2007, during a phone interview by Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child with Marty Beller . Artwork for the album was created by Marcel Dzama , the artist behind TMBG's 2003 Bed, Bed, Bed "Bed, Bed, Bed (Book)") book. Dzama has also created many promotional photographs for the album, included with the album's CD release . In a 2007 interview with Paper Thin Walls , Dzama spoke to Flansburgh about the making of the album cover:[[1]]( On April 27, 2007, TMBG revealed via a Myspace bulletin that The Else would first be released via iTunes on May 15, seven weeks before its July CD release. According to a disclaimer posted to their Myspace profile, the band made the decision to release it early on iTunes "out of consideration for their fans that feel they cannot wait." Following its May 15 release, the album reached the following peak positions on the iTunes album charts: It also reached 9 on the Billboard Top Digital Albums charts that week. A chart showing the performance of The Else on the CMJ charts. In its first week of release, the CD reached 118 on the Billboard 200 chart, 15 on the Billboard Tastemakers chart, and 130 on the Billboard Comprehensive Albums chart. The album spent two weeks on the Billboard 200 before falling off. The band's second album to carry a dedication, The Else is dedicated to Michael Kahn, a long-time member of Hornblow Group , who passed away in 2006 after battling leukemia. The album art was shot outside a cabin in the Catskills. The Johns claim that the two figures appearing on the cover are not, in fact, themselves. " Se aprovechan " is written on the front of the suitcase. This Spanish phrase translates roughly as "they take advantage [of]". It refers to an engraving of the same name by Francisco Goya , depicting victorious soldiers availing themselves of the possessions of the dead after a battle. (Note too the similarity in the way it is written on the suitcase and the bottom of the sketch). The typeface used on the digital version cover is Los Feliz , by Christian Schwartz for Emigre Fonts. Agency FB Bold Condensed and Bodoni Poster are used throughout the packaging. This is TMBG's first album in which the accordion makes no appearance, and their first album in which every song is longer than 2 minutes. An album of many firsts, The Else was also their first album never to have been released in Europe. Music videos were made for the following songs: I'm Impressed directed by Rob Shaw "wikipedia:Rob Shaw (filmmaker)")