Comments on: They Might Be Giants – My Top Ten Tracks

By: rumrokh

rumrokh — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 20:30:58 +0000

Dude, I totally agree, Now is Strange is one of the greatest songs of all time. You’re one of the few TMBG fans who dig Apollo 18 and John Henry a lot – and also love the new material! But at the same time, I think I’d duplicate three, maybe four on my list. Such is the variety and awesomeness of the Johns.

When camping last summer, my brother and I challenged ourselves with a TMBG compilation limited to three tracks from each album. Deceptively difficult. John Henry, my favorite, proved exceptionally difficult to whittle down.

Great post!

By: Luke

Luke — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 03:59:29 +0000

Ana Ng, Cowtown, and Purple Toupee…is there a better first third to any album ever?

By: Aron Head

Aron Head — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 03:38:11 +0000

Great choices, but my list would have to include The Mesopotamians and… Ana Ng. Loves me some Ana Ng. The surging rhythm and circus like cadence of the vocals? Masterpiece!

By: Luke

Luke — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 03:22:07 +0000

The Mesopotamians is solid gold. Au Contraire also gets honorable mention.

By: Aaron M

Aaron M — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 01:47:03 +0000

Honorable mention: “Thunderbird”, from Spine. It’s a song that they’ve been doing at live shows on and off for years. And “On Earth My Nina”, from way back on John Henry, is an approximation of “Thunderbird” played backwards; they just released the punchline five years before the setup.

I agree, Luke, that Mink Car is the best of the last few albums, though there are several songs on the last two that I like a lot (“The Mesopotamians”, “Museum of Idiots”, “Experimental Film”, “The Shadow Government”, etc).

Oh, and my favorite TMBG song, for personal reasons is Destination Moon, from John Henry.

By: Luke

Luke — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 22:05:01 +0000

I have to agree, the list hits a lot of the lesser-known gems. TMBG live is always a treat. I love when they turn the radio on and riff off of whatever tune is playing.

I thought both The Spine and The Else were kind of weak. Both had some great songs, but not much cohesion. I think Mink Car is the best of their last few, easily.

I’d like to state for the record that “End of the Tour” from John Henry is my all-time favorite TMBG song.

By: mjbauer

mjbauer — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 21:59:26 +0000

Great list. I’m glad you didn’t stick to the well known songs and hit the gems that frequently get passed up. I’ve actually been slacking in the TMBG’s department lately so I don’t even know your top 3 picks (even though I own the albums), so I’ll have to give them a thorough listening.

And as for your wish to see Absolutely Bill’s Mood live, you never know what the John’s might do. When I saw them on the Factory Showroom tour they opened with Spider, which is a song I never expected them to do live. Keep the hope alive!