I have the first "They Might Be Giants" album on CD, which contains the song "Don't Let's Start".

I also have a copy of the song that was downloaded from somewhere I don't remember.

The two songs seem to be pretty much the same recording. However they have two almost completely different mixes. There are different amounts of emphasis on different instruments, and different amounts of reverb and processing on each track.

Interestingly, the "don't know what origin" track sounds orders of magnitude better than the one from the CD. It's more in-your-face, more fun, more listenable, and all around more enjoyable.

Does anyone know where this alternate mix came from? Is there some other release of the first album with better mixes or something?

There's a double-CD release called ``Then'' that contains the first two albums plus b-sides and other miscellanea. It has a ``demo'' version of Don't Let's Start. Lemme see how different it sounds. Hang on.

Edit: Nope. That's not it. It's got different instruments, and is significantly slower paced.

Edit again: Looks like there was a ``Single Mix'' of Don't Let's Start, though, which I don't have.

Yet Another Edit: Looks like that ``single mix'' comes from the Don't Let's Start EP, which is what contained We're The Replacements, amongst other things.

If you like TMBG, read this.

That is WAY too much analysis of Particle Man.

...and to think I originally just enjoyed that song because it was quirky and original. How naive could I be?

Hugo

Oh, I knew about the Flatland references. The whole flatland concept is commonly used to explain N-dimensional geometry, I've seen lots of people use it. Still like the song, despite the over-analysis.

That is WAY too much analysis of Particle Man

That was my feeling too. Looks like they've added more since I last read it.

"They Might Be Giants - Miscellaneous T - 18. Don't Let's Start (single remix)"

Weird... I never noticed before, but while most of the songs from "Miscellaneous T" are on "Then", this version was left out. Three versions of the same song must have been deemed too much of a good thing?

So you think the one I've got is the Single Remix from Miscellaneous T?

Possibly... is there a very specific element I can cross check for you?

The Single version is very similar, but does sound a little "brighter" to me...

and the times are 2:36 for the Album, 2:34 for the Misc. T version...

Times seem right. Notable differences in the first few seconds of the song:

Album version:
- Opening guitar stabs are very dry, no reverb.
- The drumroll at the 00:05 (5-second) mark is dry, synth-y, TR-505 sounding drums.

Alternate (my unidentified) version:
- Opening guitar stabs have noticeable reverb tails that decay naturally during the rests between bars.
- The drumroll at the 00:05 mark is echo-y, almost-acoustic-sounding drums.

Bingo... the one you like is the single version.

And ick... during my detailed listening of these tracks I've realized I never reencoded Misc. T to VBR. I'm going to fix that right now!

Should I buy Miscellaneous T?

Note: Except for "Don't Let's Start", I do not like TMBG until the production got good when they made Flood. Prior to Flood, they sound like a couple of high school kids with a drum machine.

In fact, that's why I like the Misc.T mix of DLS better, because the original still sounds like the kids-with-a-drum-machine thing.

Well, I don't know how to answer that... Misc T has some very catchy tunes on it and as a fan, I really like it. But you seem concerned about the production quality/instrumentation?

I suggest taking a listen at CDNow.

(On a side note... The album is called Misc. T becuase that's where their albums usually were filed at the record store.)