Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum (Album)

Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum
Studio Album
Released	2005, re-released in 2008
Length	49:21 (2005), 01:01:35 (2008, with bonus tracks)
Label	Quack! Media (2005), Atlantic Records (2008), Needlejuice Records (2021)
Producer	Tally Hall, Chris Shaw (co-producer '08)

Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum (M.M.M.M.) is Tally Hall's first studio album, released under the Quack! Media music label in November of 2005, re-released in September of 2006, and finally rerecorded/remixed and release by Atlantic Records in 2008. Their previous recordings were all independently produced and distributed demos. All of the tracks on the album are fleshed-out, finished versions of their demo tracks, with the exception of "Haiku," which was a completely new song. The album gets its name from a museum of mechanized curiosities of the same name located in Farmington Hills, Michigan.

History

Tally Hall signed a recording contract with Quack!Media's Al McWilliams in 2005 and started recording in June of the same year. Al pressured the group to finish the album in about a month, but they needed more time to finish the album. They would also run into budgetary concerns, as the album cost more than triple their original budget. After 4 months of recording and mixing, the album would be finished and released.

Later on, the album was officially re-released on September 12, 2006. The reasons for the re-release were never 100% clear, but this re-release coincided with additional publicity on MTV, national distribution in all major retail stores, and various other TV appearances including The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson. This 2006 re-release also fixed some errors with the 2005 release. In the original pressing, the Zubin page in the lyric sheets was colored purple instead of blue and the spine of the CD had a typographical error. It read: "Marvin's Marvelous Mechancial Museum" as opposed to "Mechanical". Both of these errors were fixed for the 2006 re-release. The music video for the first single from the album, Good Day, was first shown at two Ann Arbor concerts on September 23rd 2006.

Tally Hall was later signed with Atlantic Records in 2007 and was approved to go back and touch-up Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum at Stratosphere Sound Recording Studios in NYC with producer Chris Shaw. During this time the band filmed multiple vlog style videos not unlike Boralogues, cataloging the recording of this new version. The first single, Good Day, was released on February 26th, 2008. Another single from the album. Welcome To Tally Hall. would be released but only as a radio promotional item. The new version of the album was released on April 1st, 2008. This release also included a limited black vinyl LP pressing of the album.

If a person were to buy a Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum CD at a Tally Hall concert around 2008, their copy would include a download code for three bonus tracks. These were Mucka Blucka, Dream, and Just A Friend. Mucka Blucka and Dream were included with the iTunes release of Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum along with the Good Day music video and the first episode of Tally Hall's Internet Show Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum.

In 2021, after a resurgence in popularity, Tally Hall signed to Needlejuice Records, and agreed to re-release physical copies of the 2008 version of Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum on CD, Vinyl, and for the first time: cassette tapes. This version would also include the bonus tracks: Mucka Blucka, Dream, and Just A Friend. The 2021 vinyl releases would include new gatefold art by Court Jones, the artist behind the original album cover.

Key Differences Between 2005 and 2008 Releases

The album received new cover art and an overall tune up for the later Atlantic version (as well as iTunes bonus tracks), the key differences between particular songs can amount to being anywhere from very minimal to entirely different recordings:

• Good Day: Vocal Introduction at the beginning contains more than 2 voices. The part at the end beginning with “I thought you knew I knew” is much slower.
• Greener: Guitar does not switch channels throughout the introduction.
• Welcome to Tally Hall: Joe’s beatboxing is much louder during Rob’s verse and the build-up heard after the song is much more dramatic.
• On the Atlantic "Taken For A Ride," just before the previous track (“Welcome to Tally Hall”) ends, there is a climactic build up of clanking sounds right up to the start of the next song. In addition, the Vocoder technique being used on Andrew’s voice is much cleaner sounding in the later version, allowing one to more easily understand the lyrics. Pauses of silence are also minutely extended to create more punctuation. The bells heard during the lines “Listening to painted whisper…” are also slightly different.
• “The Bidding” was originally performed at a faster tempo, but the later version is significantly slower to the point that it adds roughly 10 seconds to the overall length. The Atlantic version is a new recording and not simply a slower master of the ’05 release. The keyboards and the bell sounds during Rob’s verse are also much louder.
• Be Born: The vocals starting at 2:05 are a little bit more quiet.
• Lots of balancing changes are dominant in “Banana Man,” the spoken intro sounds different on both releases. The guitar is louder, harmonies throughout the song are louder, and the “Wheee” sound at 1:35 is slightly different.
• Of all the songs however, it appears that “Just Apathy” went through the most changes, as the Atlantic release is entirely different. The brief violin intro from the original is absent and the song starts off with the lyrics instead. Some small instrumental breaks were also omitted for the sake of moving through the beginning more quickly. The piano chords are slightly different, there are missing violin and cello tracks, the guitar solo does not continue to the chorus but instead is present during the bridge, and the short break after the first verse is missing.
• A noticeable change for “Two Wuv” is that when the words “you dressed up like a bee” are sung, there is a faint buzzing sound to emphasize the joke in the wording. For whatever reason, this was removed from the ’08 release (perhaps considered too silly or obvious). The drums are also considered to be louder throughout.
• “The Ruler of Everything” (along with its intro “13”) is, at the beginning, slightly lower in pitch than the older release. The lowering of pitch was caused by slightly slowing the song, according to Joe Hawley. The change was made, possibly to create a more ominous initial impression of the song. The silence and ambient wave sounds at the end are also extended, so that there is a longer wait time before “Hidden in the Sand” starts playing.

Trivia

• In 2015, Tally Hall posted a "#throwbackthursday" showcasing the original sketches for the cover art
• The 2008 and 2021 vinyl have track listings that differ from the other formats. Specifically, The Whole World And You had to be moved up to Side A in order for all the songs to properly fit on each side of the record.
• Though the 2006 re-release of the album corrected the purple coloring and the spine typo, it can still be hard to determine if you have a 2005 or 2006 printing when it's still sealed. The best way to know is by the barcode. The barcode for the 2005 is: 6-1689268282-0. The barcode for the 2006: is 7-8144491001-7.

2005 Track Listings

2005 CD

The cover of the 2005 issue. Both versions were illustrated by Court Jones

#	Title	Writers	Lead Singers	Duration
1.	"Good Day"	Horowitz	Hawley, Cantor	3:25
2.	"Greener"	Cantor	Cantor	3:43
3.	"Welcome To Tally Hall"	Cantor, Hawley, Sedghi	Cantor, Sedghi, Hawley	5:10
4.	"Taken For A Ride"	Horowitz	Horowitz, Hawley	4:40
5.	"The Bidding"	Hawley	Hawley, Cantor, Sedghi	2:29
6.	"Be Born"	Cantor	Cantor	3:10
7.	"Banana Man"	Hawley	Hawley	4:09
8.	"Just Apathy"	Cantor	Cantor	3:12
9.	"Spring And A Storm"	Hawley	Hawley	4:43
10.	"Two Wuv"	Horowitz	Sedghi	3:41
11.	"Haiku"	Cantor	Cantor, Hawley	2:58
12.	"The Whole World And You"	Horowitz	Horowitz	1:45
13.	"13"	n/a	n/a	0:13
14.	"Ruler Of Everything"	Hawley	Hawley, Sedghi	4:17
15.	"Hidden In The Sand" (hidden track)	Hawley	Hawley	1:54

2008 Track Listings

The cover of the 2008 version.

2008 CD

#	Title	Writers	Lead Singers	Duration
1.	"Good Day"	Horowitz	Hawley, Cantor, Sedghi	3:26
2.	"Greener"	Cantor	Cantor	3:43
3.	"Welcome To Tally Hall"	Cantor, Hawley, Sedghi	Cantor, Sedghi, Hawley	5:10
4.	"Taken For A Ride"	Horowitz	Horowitz, Hawley	4:43
5.	"The Bidding"	Hawley	Hawley, Cantor, Sedghi	2:40
6.	"Be Born"	Cantor	Cantor	3:10
7.	"Banana Man"	Hawley	Hawley	4:09
8.	"Just Apathy"	Cantor	Cantor	3:11
9.	"Spring And A Storm"	Hawley	Hawley	4:47
10.	"Two Wuv"	Horowitz	Sedghi	3:43
11.	"Haiku"	Cantor	Cantor, Hawley	3:02
12.	"The Whole World And You"	Horowitz	Horowitz	1:44
13.	"13"	n/a	n/a	0:13
14.	"Ruler Of Everything"	Hawley	Hawley, Sedghi	4:32
15.	"Hidden In The Sand" (hidden track)	Hawley	Hawley	1:53
16.	"Mucka Blucka" (iTunes bonus track)	Hawley	Federman	1:38
17.	"Dream" (iTunes bonus track)	Horowitz	n/a	1:49

2008 Bonus Downloads

Those who purchased a physical copy of the album received a card with a download code from the band at concerts. The bonus downloads are as follows:

#	Title	Writers	Lead Singers	Duration
1.	"Mucka Blucka"	Hawley	Federman	1:38
2.	"Dream"	Horowitz	n/a	1:49
3.	"Just A Friend"	Biz Markie	Cantor, Sedghi	4:29

2008 Vinyl Release

#	Title	Writers	Lead Singers	Duration
A1.	"Good Day"	Horowitz	Hawley, Cantor	3:26
A2.	"Greener"	Cantor	Cantor	3:43
A3.	"Welcome To Tally Hall"	Cantor, Hawley, Sedghi	Cantor, Sedghi, Hawley	5:10
A4.	"Taken For A Ride"	Horowitz	Horowitz, Hawley	4:43
A5.	"The Bidding"	Hawley	Hawley, Cantor, Sedghi	2:40
A6.	"Be Born"	Cantor	Cantor	3:10
A7.	"The Whole World And You"	Horowitz	Horowitz	1:44
B1.	"Banana Man"	Hawley	Hawley	4:09
B2.	"Just Apathy"	Cantor	Cantor	3:11
B3.	"Spring And A Storm"	Hawley	Hawley	4:47
B4.	"Two Wuv"	Horowitz	Sedghi	3:43
B5.	"Haiku"	Cantor	Cantor, Hawley	3:02
B6.	"13"	n/a	n/a	0:13
B7.	"Ruler Of Everything"	Hawley	Hawley, Sedghi	4:32
B8.	"Hidden In The Sand" (hidden track)	Hawley	Hawley	1:53

2021 Track Listings

Mockup of the 2021 CD release from Needlejuice Records

2021 CD

#	Title	Writers	Lead Singers	Duration
1.	"Good Day"	Horowitz	Hawley, Cantor, Sedghi	3:26
2.	"Greener"	Cantor	Cantor	3:43
3.	"Welcome To Tally Hall"	Cantor, Hawley, Sedghi	Cantor, Sedghi, Hawley	5:10
4.	"Taken For A Ride"	Horowitz	Horowitz, Hawley	4:43
5.	"The Bidding"	Hawley	Hawley, Cantor, Sedghi	2:40
6.	"Be Born"	Cantor	Cantor	3:10
7.	"Banana Man"	Hawley	Hawley	4:09
8.	"Just Apathy"	Cantor	Cantor	3:11
9.	"Spring And A Storm"	Hawley	Hawley	4:47
10.	"Two Wuv"	Horowitz	Sedghi	3:43
11.	"Haiku"	Cantor	Cantor, Hawley	3:02
12.	"The Whole World And You"	Horowitz	Horowitz	1:44
13.	"13"	n/a	n/a	0:13
14.	"Ruler Of Everything"	Hawley	Hawley, Sedghi	4:32
15.	"Hidden In The Sand" (hidden track)	Hawley	Hawley	1:53
16.	"Mucka Blucka" (bonus track)	Hawley	Federman	1:38
17.	"Dream" (bonus track)	Horowitz	n/a	1:49
18.	"Just A Friend" (bonus track)	Biz Markie	Cantor, Sedghi	4:29

2021 Vinyl Release

File:MMMM21vinyl.jpeg

Mockup of the 2021 vinyl release from Needlejuice Records

#	Title	Writers	Lead Singers	Duration
A1.	"Good Day"	Horowitz	Hawley, Cantor	3:26
A2.	"Greener"	Cantor	Cantor	3:43
A3.	"Welcome To Tally Hall"	Cantor, Hawley, Sedghi	Cantor, Sedghi	5:10
A4.	"Taken For A Ride"	Horowitz	Horowitz, Hawley	4:43
A5.	"The Bidding"	Hawley	Hawley, Cantor, Sedghi	2:40
A6.	"Be Born"	Cantor	Cantor	3:10
A7.	"The Whole World And You"	Horowitz	Horowitz	1:44
B1.	"Banana Man"	Hawley	Hawley	4:09
B2.	"Just Apathy"	Cantor	Cantor	3:11
B3.	"Spring And A Storm"	Hawley	Hawley	4:47
B4.	"Two Wuv"	Horowitz	Sedghi	3:43
B5.	"Haiku"	Cantor	Cantor, Hawley	3:02
B6.	"13"	n/a	n/a	0:13
B7.	"Ruler Of Everything"	Hawley	Hawley, Sedghi	4:32
B8.	"Hidden In The Sand" (hidden track)	Hawley	Hawley	1:53