Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum (Album)

Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum
Studio Album
Released	2005, re-released in 2006 and 2008
Recorded	June-October 2005, May-June 2007 (re-release)
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 label on November 22nd 2005, re-released on September 12th 2006, and finally re-recorded/remixed for release by Atlantic Records on April 1st 2008.

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

2005 and 2006

Despite having a major hit on the early internet and being a popular band in their home of Michigan, Tally Hall didn't think about re-recording the songs featured on Complete Demos until they signed a recording contract with Quack!Media's Al McWilliams in 2005. The idea came to record those songs, plus newly written ones, starting in June of the same year. McWilliams would give the band 2 weeks to record the album, 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 to create. Part of this cost would be spent pulling in music school graduates and friends like Jeremy Kittel (Be Born) and Bobby Streng (Welcome To Tally Hall) to record parts. One track planned for recording was Inside The Mind of Simon, a track Joe Hawley penned in 2004. This however would never happen, due to budgetary and time constraints. By October 2nd, the band only had two tracks left to record. Meanwhile, Court Jones was working hard on the album cover with art design by Joe Hawley.

After 4 months of recording and mixing, the album would be finished and released on November 22nd, 2005.

Later on, the album was officially re-released on September 12th, 2006. The reasons for the re-release were never 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 reads "Marvin's Marvelous Mechancial Museum" as opposed to "Mechanical". Both of these errors were fixed for the 2006 re-release.

2008

Tally Hall would sign with Atlantic Records in early 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. Of the tracks on the album, two would be re-recorded (Just Apathy and The Bidding) and the drums on each track were re-recorded. During this time the band filmed multiple vlog style videos cataloging the recording of this new version, culminating in a skit video ("APRIL FOOLS") promoting its release on April 1st.

If you're looking for the differences between 2005 and 2008, please look for the "History" section on each song.

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 on CD and digital services and with it, a limited black vinyl LP pressing of the album.

M.M.M.M. CDs bought at Tally Hall concerts after the album's re-release included a download code for three bonus tracks. These are 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 first episode of Tally Hall's Internet Show, Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum. Just A Friend however would stay exclusive to the download code for years, until the release of Admittedly Incomplete Demos in 2015.

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 also includes Mucka Blucka, Dream, and Just A Friend as bonus tracks. The physical releases include new artwork by Court Jones, the artist behind the original album cover.

The 2021 CD release is an enhanced CD, containing the music video for Good Day and the first episode of Tally Hall's Internet Show. The Simlish version of Good Day recorded for The Sims 2 also appears for the first time on physical and digital platforms, being the "pregap" track on the 2021 CD and a hidden track on the Bandcamp release.

Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum has become a favorite among many fans since its release(s) for its variety and strong tracklist, and original vinyl copies have been in high demand in recent years. Among the tracks on the album, Hidden In The Sand and The Bidding have enjoyed a big boost in popularity after the rise of the social media app TikTok.

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.
• According to Joe, the hardest songs to record on the album were Taken For A Ride, Spring And A Storm, and Ruler of Everything.

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

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

#	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 & 2021 Vinyl Release

All variants of the 2021 vinyl release from Needlejuice Records. The Marionette Quintet variant is available in 6 colors: Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, Grey, and Orange

#	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

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