They Might Be Giants

They Might Be Giants Album: “Else [Bonus CD]”

Album Information :

Title:

Else [Bonus CD]

Release Date:2007-07-09

Type:Unknown

Genre:Rock, Comedy, Indie Rock

Label:Longtime Listener

Explicit Lyrics:Yes

UPC:9332727009617

Track Listing :
1 - 1	I'm Impressed Video
1 - 2	Take Out the Trash
1 - 3	Upside Down Frown
1 - 4	Climbing the Walls
1 - 5	Careful What You Pack Video
1 - 6	Cap'm
1 - 7	With the Dark Video
1 - 8	Shadow Government
1 - 9	Bee of the Bird of the Moth
1 - 10	Withered Hope
1 - 11	Contrecoup
1 - 12	Feign Amnesia
1 - 13	Mesopotamians Video
2 - 14
2 - 15
2 - 16	Why Did You Grow a Beard?
2 - 17
2 - 18
2 - 19
2 - 20
2 - 21
2 - 22
2 - 23
2 - 24
2 - 25
2 - 26
2 - 27
2 - 28
2 - 29
2 - 30
2 - 31
2 - 32
2 - 33
2 - 34
2 - 35
2 - 36

Review - :

For their twelfth full-length -- and first "{\rock}" album in three years -- {$They Might Be Giants} recruited {$the Dust Brothers} as co-producers, a combination nearly as intriguing as the fact that the duo released {^The Else} digitally via {@iTunes} more than a month before it was issued on CD. Pairing {$the Dust Brothers}' sonic invention with {$John Linnell} and {$John Flansburgh}'s winning ways with words and melodies should be a dream collaboration; after all, the producers' work with {$Beck} was just as witty and playful as it was funky and innovative. Nearly every time {$They Might Be Giants} has ventured into territory that might be considered strange ({^Apollo 18}'s {&"Fingertips"} mini-songs, their foray into {\children}'s music), they've pulled it off with flair. However, {^The Else} is surprisingly -- and at times, a little disappointingly -- straightforward, particularly on its first half. While {&"I'm Impressed"}'s distorted beat reflects {$the Dust Brothers}' influence on the album (though this track isn't one that they produced) and {&"Take out the Trash"} is a brassy, winning admonition to a girl to dump her loser boyfriend, {^The Else} begins with a string of songs that are fun but not especially memorable. Fortunately, the album's second half is much stronger. {&"With the Dark"} rambles playfully from a ballad about a girl who hates sunlight to a lumbering section about a pirate tired of his "nautical dreams" and then into much more surreal territory; likewise {&"Withered Hope"} tells the tale of a sad sack yet sounds like anything but. With its circular wordplay, {&"The Bee of the Bird of the Moth"} feels like a classic {$TMBG} track, as does {&"The Mesopotamians,"} which marries one of the album's hookiest melodies with the antics of {&"Sargon, Hammurabi, Ashurbanipal and Gilgamesh"} and ends up sounding like the theme song for a show about a {$Monkees}-like band set in ancient times. {&"Contrecoup,"} which deals with phrenology and other obsolete sciences and words, is another in a long line of {$They Might Be Giants} songs that uses your head for thinking as well as bobbing it to the beat. Indeed, the second half of {^The Else} is so good that it's a little frustrating that the entire album isn't this solid. Still, there are more than enough good moments to keep longtime fans happy. [The CD version of {^The Else} comes with "Cast Your Pod to the Wind," a bonus disc of podcast highlights. For die-hard fans who don't already have the podcasts, this disc is worth the price of admission -- the loungy cover of {$Joe Meek}'s {&"I Hear a New World"} and songs about mysterious beards and other {$TMBG}-like phenomena capture the band's most adorably off-the-cuff moments.] ~ Heather Phares, All Music Guide


	Privacy Policy Terms of Use Contact Us