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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
How do they keep on knocking out such brilliant songs - 18 more of them on this album out of a total that must now be over a thousand! GREAT tunes, time and time again - then they just let them go whilst other less talented folks would hang onto them and wring them dry. A great feeling of fun and lyrics that no one else could write - and the songwriting and musicianship is quietly superb. No real favourites yet - though Cloisonne made me spurt out my drink in amusement - "I don't want to tell 'em mister"! They've never produced any bad albums but this does seem to be a classic amongst classics. Enhance your quality of life and buy it.
1 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
After the recent kids albums, full of catchy songs, and the band's brilliant gig in London in the summer, I was eagerly awaiting the 'Join Us' CD.
The last "adult" album 'The Else' in 2007 was hit and miss for me, but the subsequent 'Here Come the 123s' and 'Here Comes Science' CDs renewed a lot of faith.
'Join Us' gets off to a good start with the extremely catchy 'Can't Keep Johnny Down' and 'You Probably Get That A Lot'. 'Old Pine Box' and 'Canajoharie' are solid too.
'Cloissone' gets off to a good start but the abstract brass section at the end always has me skipping the last 40 seconds of the track.
Unfortunately in my opinion it goes downhill from there. 'Let Your Hair Hang Down' is a weak song that has a theme reminiscent to 'Bangs' on the 'Mink Car' album.
There are 18 songs on the CD, and the last third of the album is only saved by 'Never Knew Love'.
'Spoiler Alert' should have been missed as the staggered lyrics theme has already been tried once (successfully I might add) for 'What Is A Shooting Star' on 'Here Comes Science'. To use the same structure again on the next CD is not good.
As for 'Dog Walker'..... I know TMBG like to write about some interesting and strange stuff, but that one is very off the wall, with strange effects over the vocals.
So overall I'm actually quite disappointed with the CD as a whole. I prefer TMBGs more straightforward "rock song" approach myself, and there is too much experimental stuff going on here that should have been saved for the band's Podcasts or any future "rarities" type CDs.
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EDIT 16th March 2012: OK I've listened to this album quite a bit since I bought it and some of the tracks have taken some getting into. However I now really like When Will You Die, Protagonist, You Don't Like Me... and 2082.
So I really like 9 of the 18 tracks. The others are OK but Let Your Hair Hang Down and Dog Walker are very weak.
I've now given the album an extra * and now it's 3/5 for me.
The last "adult" album 'The Else' in 2007 was hit and miss for me, but the subsequent 'Here Come the 123s' and 'Here Comes Science' CDs renewed a lot of faith.
'Join Us' gets off to a good start with the extremely catchy 'Can't Keep Johnny Down' and 'You Probably Get That A Lot'. 'Old Pine Box' and 'Canajoharie' are solid too.
'Cloissone' gets off to a good start but the abstract brass section at the end always has me skipping the last 40 seconds of the track.
Unfortunately in my opinion it goes downhill from there. 'Let Your Hair Hang Down' is a weak song that has a theme reminiscent to 'Bangs' on the 'Mink Car' album.
There are 18 songs on the CD, and the last third of the album is only saved by 'Never Knew Love'.
'Spoiler Alert' should have been missed as the staggered lyrics theme has already been tried once (successfully I might add) for 'What Is A Shooting Star' on 'Here Comes Science'. To use the same structure again on the next CD is not good.
As for 'Dog Walker'..... I know TMBG like to write about some interesting and strange stuff, but that one is very off the wall, with strange effects over the vocals.
So overall I'm actually quite disappointed with the CD as a whole. I prefer TMBGs more straightforward "rock song" approach myself, and there is too much experimental stuff going on here that should have been saved for the band's Podcasts or any future "rarities" type CDs.
--------------
EDIT 16th March 2012: OK I've listened to this album quite a bit since I bought it and some of the tracks have taken some getting into. However I now really like When Will You Die, Protagonist, You Don't Like Me... and 2082.
So I really like 9 of the 18 tracks. The others are OK but Let Your Hair Hang Down and Dog Walker are very weak.
I've now given the album an extra * and now it's 3/5 for me.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
43 reviews
30 of 32 people found the following review helpful
A Return To Form
28 July 2011
What's the best way to judge a They Might Be Giants album? I've been a big fan of theirs basically my entire life, I've seen them live seven times, I own virtually every piece of music they've ever released. But to read most of the reviews of Join Us by some of the other hardcore fans, you'd think this album (like the last one and the one before that) was the second coming of Christ. To uncritically gush over a TMBG album does nobody any good, so I won't be doing that. Conversely, you've got hardcore fans that say TMBG sold out before the clock struck 1990 and nothing they've done since then has been any good at all. I'd like to think I don't take the band so seriously. So I'll just try and be honest with "Join Us". That seems like the best route to me.
I'll briefly preface the review by saying that I haven't liked much of TMBG's output in the last ten years. "Mink Car" was kind of a mess and "The Spine" was really bland. "The Else" was better, but very lopsided. The band's style had gravitated to straight rock in the 2000's, and in the process they lost that fun experimental essence that had made them so unique in the eighties and nineties. On the other hand, "No!" was excellent, and "Here Comes Science" was refreshing in its zaniness, so I had some hope that "Join Us" would be an improvement.
The short answer is that yes, it certainly is an improvement. Even a glance at the track listing gives the first indication that this album has more in common with "Lincoln" than "The Spine", as most of its 18 tracks are less than three minutes long. And like their earlier efforts, each song feels like a nice vignette, with a wide spectrum of styles and themes being visited throughout the course of the album. Flansburgh really steps up to the plate on "Join Us", delivering some of his most experimental works in fifteen years with tracks like "Cloisonne" and "Protagonist". Linnell backs him up with his trademarked pop masterpieces like "Canojaharie" and the wickedly dark "When Will You Die" (perplexingly made darker by the fact that it is set to the peppiest horns ever written). Where the Johns join forces lyrically is where some of the best magic happens, like the synth-fused "Never Knew Love" and the brilliant-yet-unfortunately-named "Spoiler Alert" (which features a simultaneously-sung dual narrative, if you can wrap your brain around that).
Not every song is great on "Join Us", but the missteps here (like the bland "Let Your Hair Hang Down") are merely mediocre. And overall, the album has a hyper-clean sound that lacks warmth, and can get to be grating upon repeated listen. But these are minor quibbles, and the most important thing about "Join Us" is that it feels refreshing and fun. It's good have They Might Be Giants back.
I'll briefly preface the review by saying that I haven't liked much of TMBG's output in the last ten years. "Mink Car" was kind of a mess and "The Spine" was really bland. "The Else" was better, but very lopsided. The band's style had gravitated to straight rock in the 2000's, and in the process they lost that fun experimental essence that had made them so unique in the eighties and nineties. On the other hand, "No!" was excellent, and "Here Comes Science" was refreshing in its zaniness, so I had some hope that "Join Us" would be an improvement.
The short answer is that yes, it certainly is an improvement. Even a glance at the track listing gives the first indication that this album has more in common with "Lincoln" than "The Spine", as most of its 18 tracks are less than three minutes long. And like their earlier efforts, each song feels like a nice vignette, with a wide spectrum of styles and themes being visited throughout the course of the album. Flansburgh really steps up to the plate on "Join Us", delivering some of his most experimental works in fifteen years with tracks like "Cloisonne" and "Protagonist". Linnell backs him up with his trademarked pop masterpieces like "Canojaharie" and the wickedly dark "When Will You Die" (perplexingly made darker by the fact that it is set to the peppiest horns ever written). Where the Johns join forces lyrically is where some of the best magic happens, like the synth-fused "Never Knew Love" and the brilliant-yet-unfortunately-named "Spoiler Alert" (which features a simultaneously-sung dual narrative, if you can wrap your brain around that).
Not every song is great on "Join Us", but the missteps here (like the bland "Let Your Hair Hang Down") are merely mediocre. And overall, the album has a hyper-clean sound that lacks warmth, and can get to be grating upon repeated listen. But these are minor quibbles, and the most important thing about "Join Us" is that it feels refreshing and fun. It's good have They Might Be Giants back.
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful
I never knew love before this album
20 July 2011
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
I anxiously waited for this album since they first announced they were releasing another adult album, and I must say this was worth the wait. From "Can't Keep Johnny Down" to "You Don't Like Me" there is not a track on this album that I would skip over. My personal favorite at the moment is probably "When Will You Die" which is a rather humorous song in its own way. One of the other amazing songs is "Canajoharie" which is a straight forward rocker. "Spoiler Alert", "Never Knew Love", and "Cloisonné" are also fantastic songs. The weakest track is probably "Dog Walker" though it does have it does have a couple of nice lines.
Though it is an amazing album, I don't think this is the album that someone who has never listened to TMBG should start on. Instead they should start with "Flood" or possibly "Lincoln" and if they like those they might want to work their way up to this album.
Though it is an amazing album, I don't think this is the album that someone who has never listened to TMBG should start on. Instead they should start with "Flood" or possibly "Lincoln" and if they like those they might want to work their way up to this album.
11 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Yes!
20 July 2011
I only got the album today, but I love it. Usually it takes me a little while to really dig a new TMBG album, but this one I liked right off the bat. The songs range from "great" to "fantastic", and the album as a whole sounds wonderful. I don't think I'll have any "skip" songs on this album. I realize that I'm fangirling and not being terribly technical in my review, but I really do think it's a great album.
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