SOUNDTRACK: THE SHINS-“Plenty is Never Enough” from Score! 20 Years of Merge Records: The Covers (2009).
The Shins have taken this song and completely turned it into a Shins song.
It is bouncy and poppy with some nice tempo changes. It could easily fit onto any Shins album.
The original (I’d never heard of Tenement Halls) is very similar to The Shins’ version. The big difference is that it doesn’t have The Shins’ vocals and musical sensibilities. The original feels kind of flat, the highs just aren’t as high. But it serves as a good stepping off point for the cover.
[READ: March 30, 2012] “Chapter Two”
This story is about A.A. But, amusingly, Hil is tired of telling her own stories at A.A., so she starts telling the story of her fifty-something alcoholic neighbor (with the wonderful name of), Bergeron Love (the story is set in Houston).
Interestingly, no one at A.A. complains that she is talking about someone else (in fact the blind guy just seems to smile politely). This is just as well because Bergeron’s story is pretty funny. Bergeron arrives at Hil’s door, stark naked and invites herself in. This is not atypical for Bergeron who crashes neighborhood parties and plays ridiculous pranks. But not everything she does is funny: she also reports overgrown lawns and loose dogs.
Hil lives with her son and a roommate, Janine. Janine is a very fat woman (see my diatribe about fat characters yesterday). But Janine is not the victim or the pity-case in this story (well, maybe a little). Hil figures Janine must eat all day to be as big as she is, but she has never seen her eat. But then Hil’s son, Jeremy, a shy teenager enjoys playing video games with Janine more than going out with his peers (and more than being with his mom, I believe). (more…)
I Just Read About That... 