Customer Reviews

A User's Guide To They Might Be Giants

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'A User's Guide...' is an excellent 29-track compilation taken from several albums by They Might Be Giants and can be seen as a more affordable companion to double-disc set 'Dial a Song' (it's been released alongside the UK issue of TMBG's kids album 'No')It comes wonderfully packaged, with amusing & informative sleevenotes, and is a reminder of what great popsong writers the two Johns are...

The whole collection sounds wonderful, from the tracks I knew well (Ana Ng, Birdhouse in Your Soul, Don't Let's Start, Boss of Me, Your Racist Friend) to those I didn't (just about everything else really- there always seemed to be loads of TMBG records and I didn't know where to start!)'A User's Guide...' is an ideal primer of the band's back-catalogue and alongside some of those tracks just mentioned, offers up further joys including She's An Angel (like a country Ultra Vivid Scene), We're the Replacements (amusing for fans of Paul Westerberg & co!), the gorgeous sugar-rush of Bangs, The Statue Got Me High, No!...the whole disc really!!! (I could probably live without the Austin Powers song, as I just never got ANYTHING around that franchise...)

A great collection and a band who follow in the footsteps of Jonathan Richman, Devo & Wesley Willis and lead towards such acts as Weezer, The Magnetic Fields & Barenaked Ladies...

Not since I discovered the Beatles at the age of 14 have I found a band whose music is as varied, exciting, whimsical, musical, and just plain wonderful as They Might Be Giants; and this Greatest Hits compilation shows their range and versatility.

The more well-known tracks like Birdhouse in Your Soul and Boss of Me are, of course, a delight. But there's a lot more here, a series of portraits of the many musical faces of TMBG. The children's songs Why Does the Sun Shine? and No! sit next to lyrical love songs like Bangs and They'll Need a Crane, while the verbal playfulness and mastery of language which pervades all their lyrics comes to the fore in I Palindrome I.

The musical styles represented here are as eclectic as their topics, from the traditional poppiness of Don't Let's Start to the experimental and strange Spider and the angry rock of Your Racist Friend. Underlying all of this is a real melodic sense which creates music that you'll be singing in the shower for months after you hear them.

If you're a little sick of bland modern pop, if you're a fan of good tunes, if you like intelligent, humorous lyrics, then give TMBG a try. At this price, you can't afford not to.

Wow! The passage of time makes a difference... all the hits are there, and it was great to hear them all together. Funnily enough... hearing TMBG without the more experimental tracks between the hits actually detracted from the experience, for me... the repetitive beats in some of the more memorable tracks weren't offset here... I think, although I love the band, that I prefer the originl album forms to the 'greatest hits' (ok - 'A user's guide'!).

As compilations go, this is a cracking summary of the band's output in my opinion. A good mate of mine has it too and is of the same opinion and we don't always share the same musical tastes so take a punt and go and buy it!

Loved their early LP's way back in the last century - coming back to them after some 20 years, I am surprised to find that they sound so great and to the point today. And you learn a lot, too - about the sun, Belgium's greatest painter and USA's 11th president, for example.