Review Summary: The Story of the Men on the 22nd Floor by The Men on the 22nd Floor is the closest I've come to finding a work of art, eerily similar to the minds of Daniel Johnston and Elliot Smith.
Please take the time to google The Poor Frisco Experiment Recording
Wow.. where do I begin?
Let's start from what I know (which isn't a lot).
The Story of the Men on the 22nd Floor is the seventh release from The Poor Frisco Experiment Recording Company, which from what i can tell, is just one guy using different band names for god knows the reason why. Maybe so the identity isn't tied down to one band name, but to the 'Recording Company' itself. Who the hell knows.
The first track, titled '*** You' is a fitting start to the album, throwing you into the album experience, with great lyrics of sheer honesty mixed with philosophy
"Hell is not a place where you burn,
For your eternal life,
No, it's just the moment before you die,
And life is okay but not to me,
But to the people that deserve it,
And please don't let me be homeless,
And if you do then *** you."
And all throughout the track there is a sort of droning, bending of a note acting not only as a simple solo, but as a harmony to the main melody of the song.
The two tracks that follow '*** You' are arguably the weakest part of the album, but that's only because they are covers of other songs. That's not to say they are bad, they actually match the overall tone and message(?) the album is making. But when you hear something done by other people after hearing such good stuff, it just disappoints.
The cover of George Harrison's 'Something' off Abbey Road is pretty mediocre. Not much else to say about it than that. Leave George Harrison to George Harrison.
The third track is a twofer im that we get two covers in one track. You get 'Be My Baby' by the Ronettes, the infamous Phil Spector song, and then Linda Scott's 'I've Told Every Little Star'.
These two covers are better than the track before, in that he changed the lyrics of 'Be My Baby' on one instance.
"Ever since the first day we met,
I knew you were ***in' special,
I wanted to show you a good time,
So I got you tickets to a Jeff Mangum show,
I just hope you realise how much you mean to me,
We'll make them turn their heads everywhere we go"
The way the track was instructed, is genius. It provides the same message, same chord sequence, and even was personalised for whoever he is referring to.
Now here comes what I call, 'The Suite of the Men on the 22nd Floor', which is essentially, the last three tracks of the album.
The Story of the Men on the 22nd Floor Pt.1 is like going into an elevator. Because in reality, it's just a bunch of songs thrown together on a 12-minute track. But I think it's like if someone pressed all the buttons on the elevator and you go up one floor at a time and each floor is a different song. And then he says,
"There is a tunnel at the end of the light,
That you see at the end of your life"
which indicates that we have now reached the 22nd Floor.
"Cause the men on the 22nd floor,
know nothing more than the lies they concoct,
hovering over the bubbling mixture simmering in the cauldron on the floor
and they own the land, the air, and the sky,
and they say things made of lies and misconceptions,
but who can blame them because they know nothing more,
than being raised by the same beast that roams the countryside,
and makes the townsfolk all run and hide,
like insects scurrying away from a magnifying light"
He then starts to shout i love you and stuff for a few minutes and the song ends with the theme from the Godfather on organ. No, I swear to god. Listen to it.
The Intermission is touching. And from what I can tell, it's about the Elephant Man. Because the lyrics are essentially a poem that Joseph Merrick himself wrote with a few lines added.
"Oh Mother Vera Please,
How dearly I do miss you"
The Story of the Men on the 22nd Floor Pt.2 brings a fitting end to this album.
It starts out harsh, but grows into a ballad that is a proper followup to Pt.1.
It even has a Tim & Eric easter egg, which more or less describes the album art.
But it ends on such a neutral note, you just have to say "Is it really over? I was just getting used to this ***"
One of the best tracks on the album.
