Songs For The Terrestrially Challenged is the second album from The(e) Speaking Canaries, a Pittsburgh-based indie rock band. Songs For The Terrestrially Challenged is the first Speaking Canaries album to be released on compact disc, and the first to see worldwide distribution; therefore, it has often been erroneously attributed as The(e) Speaking Canaries' debut album. (The Joy of Wine, the band's actual debut, was a vinyl-only release on a small label and was limited to five hundred copies.) Nevertheless, Songs For The Terrestrially Challenged set a number of precedents for which the group would eventually become notorious: long songs, a long total running time, and multiple released versions of the same album.
Songs For The Terrestrially Challenged is probably best known for including not one but two Van Halen covers: "Girl Gone Bad" and "Secrets" -- a bold move for a band in an indie scene in which giving credit to spandex-clad arena rockers is generally frowned upon. (What's more, "Summer's Empty Resolution", a harmonics-drenched solo for acoustic guitar, is vaguely reminiscent of Eddie Van Halen's "Spanish Fly".)
Read more about Songs For The Terrestrially Challenged: Track Listing, Personnel, "Low-fi Version"
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