As a reviewer, I've never felt dwarfed by a band whose album I was about to critique. From Springsteen to the Shins, I've always been able to take a step back and listen to the music without feeling an attachment to the artist. But when They Might Be Giants' new album, The Else, arrived in my mailbox and made its way to my car stereo, I suddenly became nervous. It's not that I have any great affinity for this band that has been making music since the year I was born – one of my closest friends is a rabid fan girl, but I only have an attachment to a mix CD of their work that she made me. It's just that their fan base is such a unique niche and their oeuvre is so cemented in the pop culture landscape after 25 years that it doesn't feel like what I'm about to say is even going to matter. But, because I'm something that resembles a professional, I'm going to say it anyway.
The Else isn't very good.
It starts out promising, with the catchy "I'm Impressed," an up-tempo, vaguely political song about following an unnamed primate of a leader. Following that is "Take Out the Trash," a grungy plea for a girl to dump her lazy lothario of a boyfriend. The song doesn't seem to plead for this woman to date either of the Johns that make up TMBG, but it has a winsome charm that's appealing.
You might imagine the song quality on The Else as a reverse bell curve, because after the first two tracks, the good quickly drops out. The band is known for its lyrical silliness, but their better songs have a good, discernable message beneath it all. From "Upside Down Frown" to "Careful What You Pack" and "Bee of the Bird of the Moth," though, the Giants come up remarkably small, their instrumentation clangy and lyrics too enigmatic to even be bothered with. It feels neither innovative nor very much fun. A few departures from the quality of the earlier cuts might be forgivable, but the weakness here is consecutive and takes up more than half the length of the album.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - TV's Kyle
Ok, so you said it's not very good, and then said nice things about most of the individual songs. Did it grow on you without you knowing it?
2 - Jeff Martin
Well, Kyle, some of the songs are okay, but a huge chunk of the album - the middle seven songs - fall by the wayside.
3 - J. Kernan
Interesting. My impression was that I'm Impressed and Take Out the Trash were only lead-ins to the album's most fun and inventive songs, The Cap'm, With the Dark, and especially Bee of the Bird of the Moth.
As for the supposed bell curve, having listened extensively to all their albums, this one shows quite possibly the best flow and album unity of all of them.
The thing with They Might Be Giants, even moreso than with other bands, is that some listeners will hate it and others will worship it. Lyrics that are "too enigmatic to be bothered with" for some are pure genius for others for that same reason.
Even though I obviously fall into the latter group, I do not envy anyone trying to review their music with parity.
4 - TV's Kyle
Understood. Do you think you'll listen to it again in part or in whole?
5 - Mander
I've got to agree, as this isn't my favorite TMBG album, but I wouldn't go so far as to call it awful. It's got some signature catchy songs, but nothing that, I believe, can ever even compare to their older songs of the John Henry, Flood, or Factory Showroom days.
They're an old band; they're just experimenting with new sounds now to see what works and what doesn't, and while this new sound may work for some, it's definitely not going to satisfy everyone.
6 - Jeff Martin
Kyle - of course. I've listened about a dozen times and I'm sure there still isn't stuff I've picked up on.
7 - TV's Kyle
I ask because for me, this album was really a grower. My first impression was similar to yours, but I found it rapidly growing on me. Its certainly not one of their more user-friendly efforts. It came as a bit of a shock after the very comfortable The Spine, which became, and stayed, one of my favorites. I'd be curious to see what you think of this album in a month, but it sounds like you really did your homework.
8 - Mareeface
It's like you took the words right out of my mouth, even though I don't think Contrecoup is the best song... although maybe I'm just tired of hearing it.
That said, I've never gotten tired of songs like Lucky Ball and Chain or Sleeping In The Flowers. Some songs are just that good. I'd even say that up until Factory Showroom, 99% of every album was worth playing on repeat. I never found myself having to skip more than one song. But, with The Else, I'm already planning on never listening to a few tracks again... and that never happens to me with TMBG.
I'd say that from FS on, I've only really liked about 1/2 of every album, with the exception of The Spine, which is one of my favorites.
Hm. Anything else I want to get out?
I guess another possibility is that John and John are just singing about things I don't care about on The Else... but it really just feels weak.
9 - Bing Helthrouge
Odd. I find myself most enjoying the songs you mention disliking, and I'm lukewarm to some of your favorites. I find this is often the case with people who don't loooove TMBG: they like the songs we TMBG fans had initally to suffer through. Sure, we eventally fell in love with them, but Contrecoup? Maybe it's the fact that I've been hearing it for a year now, but I can't see how Contrecoup is the best song on the album, while Feign Amnesia is a mistake. I'd put money on TMBG fans agreeing with me, and casual listeners agreeing with you.
It's a strange phenomenon that seems to repeat over and over: TMBG half-fill their albums with songs that rabid fans will like, and the other half are for recruitment to the fanbase.
10 - Destin
Yeah, it's interesting how completely opposite my feelings on the album are from yours, while still agreeing with you that it's not their best work. I've been a TMBG fan for about 16 years, so maybe that's the difference. Either way, I was just telling someone that I felt the album had a weak beginning and end but a great run of 7 songs in the middle... to me, Careful What You Pack is one of the best songs John Flansburgh's written, and The Cap'm is a close second favorite. The rest of the middle songs from Climbing the Walls through Withered Hope are worthy additions to their catalog, as is The Mesopotamians.
I think Upside Down Frown is the worst song on the album, followed by the underwritten Feign Amnesia and the overworked Contrecoup. I'm Impressed and Take Out The Trash are fairly boring. Those are the songs that drag it down to a good, not great album... most of the ones you hated are in my plus column.
11 - Jeff Martin
This is an absolutely fascinating phenomenon. I look forward to hearing from more of you TMBG die-hards.
12 - Dave
Trouble a-brewin'
13 - oz_ash
I have been a massive TMBG fan since I first heard S-E-X-X-Y about 11 years ago. I have to agree with most of the comments here. On first listen, I didn't think much of it but after a few more listens it's growing on me quite nicely - the same thing happened with The Spine. To date, my favourite songs on this album are probably The Cap'm, With The Dark, Bee of The Bird of The Moth, Withered Hope and Feign Amnesia. I quite like I'm Impressed and Take Out The Trash, but they are fairly weak openers compared to previous albums. I agree with Mander that they haven't been as good since Factory Showroom - personally I think their first 3 albums were their greatest and they've been on a very slow decline since then with the odd brilliant song but still better than just about anything else out there
14 - Scott
As a long-time (15 years) TMBG fan, I do like this album. Maybe not as much as "The Spine" but this one is definitely growing on me. "I'm Impressed" and "Take out the Trash" are fairly boring but, in my opinion, they do lead into some great songs and set up the mood fairly well. "Climbing the Walls" is one of the finest on the album, along with "Withered Hope," "With the Dark," and "The Mesopotamians." My problem with TMBG now-a-days is that Flansburgh only seems interested in writing these rock'n'roll rave-ups whereas he used to write much stranger stuff. "Feign Amnesia" is practically "Prevenge" all over again. He still pulls out a few strange ones here and there, but...
I personally think "Mink Car" was the band's low point. "The Spine" was a definite improvement, and though this one may not be much of an improvement over "The Spine," it's still quite good.
15 - Roger Brandon
I think "The Mesopotamians" is easily the best track on this album and IS an instant classic. Bee of th Bird follows closely behind. Much of the stuff on this album is complex and heavily produced and will take some time to digest. Sometimes when I listen to it, I am blown away and other times I am like "this ins no John Henry". I think it will take some time to know where it will settle among their albums.
16 - Jazmik
What I really miss on the stuido version of ''Bee of the Bird of the Moth'' is the keyboard sound they use live. On the album, its more of a bass/square wave kind of sound.
17 - Robyn
I'm at work after hours, fighting a deadline and listening to The Else on repeat. After 4 cycles, which songs are shaking me from my stupor?
Climbing the Walls. Bird of the Bee of the Moth. Withered Hope. The Cap'm. With the Dark. Contrecoup. The Mesopotamians.
In my road test, these are the standouts. None of the album strikes me as awful, but my song skip finger IS beginning to itch when "Careful What You Pack" starts yet again. I agree with the comment that it's reminiscent of "Prevenge" - another song that at first seemed just innocuous but became too saccharine on repeat. Overall though, I think the album will weather well - and that it's their best overall effort in a while. Can't wait to hear the new songs live!
18 - nub
for reference, i'm a fan since apollo 18ish, seen them live since john henry, and think they've been amazingly consistent for most of their career, including their last few albums. i also tend to be more of a linnell than flansburg fan, song-wise, but whatever.
i had to go back and listen to it again to make sure i wasn't insane - i think "upside down frown" is great! granted, i don't really care about the lyrics. i also think "climbing the walls" is one of the better linnell hooks i've heard in awhile.
basically, my first impression of "the else" is amazement that the johns (particularly linnell) can still crank out the sweet, catchy melodies so relentlessly.
19 - Ags.
What strikes me most about this album is that it sounds the most like Them than some of their other albums lately. Mink Car's "Man It's So Loud In Here" and The Spine's "Stalk of Wheat" mostly had me thinking that They were trying to copy some other genre or sound. This entire record sounds less like them trying to sound like something they're not and more like themselves. I can see how this album makes sense in their progression.
I do generally like Linnell's songs better than Flansy's, and I agree with Scott's comment about Flansy's songs lately.
Have to admit, the first two times I heard this album I was disappointed. I kept listening for songs to grab me like "Experimental Film" did the first time I heard it. By about the fourth time around, the entire thing was starting to grow on me -- and now twenty times later (I have a loooong commute) I can't turn it off. The last four tracks always have me diving for the back button to hear them all again.
20 - Steve Peretti
The Else is an excellent album.
21 - DJ Sloofus
Wow, I'm pretty shocked at the reactions so far. I've been a fan since FLOOD, and I have to say this is their best album since John Henry (which I also love, though it seems to get trashed a lot). I'm even more surprised that some of you loved the Spine, which I found to be really flat. I think the over-abundance of Linnel tunes makes this album a real keeper. It seems like he's leading 75% of them.
22 - Flansy lover
I'm a hardcore TMBG fan, but I've only recently delved into all of their music. I agree with DJ Sloofus, John Henry is a great album and it has at least four heavy-hitting songs. Mink Car was really bad (and contains Flansy's worst song, "Cyclops Rock") but The Else seems like a better overall effort.
23 - Pompey Pirate
I've been a converted Giants fan since my home country, England, first encountered the two Johns when they released Flood. Since that happy occasion, I went out and bought their entire back catalogue (not always easy in a land where they are not very well known) and have seen them on several tours over here where they never fail to rock! [Except that they don't seem to be coming over here for this album, the swines!]
Anyway, back to The Else.
Whilst I agree that it is not their most immediate of albums, like many above, I certainly found it growing on me.
If I had their whole catalogue on my MP3 player can't think of any tunes I would delete and even the "Take out the trash" would be played. Although I think it's the weakest song on the album it is growing on me.
One of the things I like about TMBG's music is that their songs could only be sung by them.
If any other band tried to educate you about the ancient civilisation of the Mesopotiamians, obscure Belgian painters or 19th Century presidents, you'd laugh in their face, but Linnell and Flansy get away with it, mainly cos unlike many other straight faced and serious bands TMBG have a sense of humour. (Sorry for the inclusion of the second 'u' in that word! Doesn't look right without one.)
And even when they do songs about relationships, they are generally from an off the wall view or they use unusual symbolism, such as cranes, beards and ball and chains. But, returning to The Else, "Take out the trash", could be done by another band. Ah well. Must try harder John and John!
To conclude this waffle, I think it's another great album with enough top tunes to ensure it remains in my car for a long time. But it's no Flood or John Henry.
24 - shane
it is very interesting to see that there's a lot of difference of opinion among fans concerning all the full band albums (john henry on). I think JH was awesome, I think Factory Showroom was their best full-band album so far (why doesn't everyone love that album?). Mink Car and The Spine were really weak in my opinion, but each had a couple great songs that almost saved them.
The Else is definitely way better than the last two, with much more consistent songwriting (and maybe it's fresher sounding because of the new blood from the Dust Bros.) I think Withered Hope is really great, also The Cap'm is pretty amazing. Shadow Gov't is probably my favorite Flans song on this one.
25 - Yeah
Its a great cd