John Henry - They Might Be Giants

They Might Be Giants' first album with a full band, "John Henry" was met with mixed opinions upon its release and continues to divide fans to this day; many fans felt the Giants had compromised their unique, quirky two-man-band roots by getting other musicians in on the act too. I'm happy to report that while there is a change in tone, it is largely for the better and helps to make this the band's most listenable - not to mention their most polished - album to date. The LP kick-starts with the superb upbeat triumvirate of "Subliminal", "Snail Shell" and "Sleeping In the Flowers". The former remains one of TMBG's most ...  Read the complete review

This is They Might Be Giants' fifth album, and it came as an enormous disappointment to me. In fact, listening to it again to review it has been a fairly painful experience - I spent most of my time with my finger hovering above the 'skip track' button. There is as much inventiveness and originality to their lyrics as we have become used to over the last four albums, but the problem is that the tunes are nothing like as catchy or as upbeat as their previous albums. Many of the songs have a far harsher feel to them than the band's earlier albums, with much stronger guitar sounds. This wouldn't be such a problem if they didn't ...  Read the complete review