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A Come Lately Fan's Intro to They Might Be Giants

David Zimmerman | Baton Rouge, LA USA | 12/28/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

""A User's Guide" is an entertaining and reasonably-priced intro to the fun and sometimes informative music of the Brooklyn-based band They Might Be Giants. Fun for songs like "Dr. Worm" (the story of a would-be rock drummer who's "not a real doctor" but is "an actual worm") and a cover of the classic "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)"; and informative for songs like the almost-historically accurate "James K. Polk" and maybe-not-so "Meet James Ensor" (Belgium's famous painter). TMBG offers a science lesson or two along the way as well--"Particle Man" introduces us in a way to particle physics (I did a reasonably well-received Karaoke version of this one); "The Sun Is a Mass of Incandescent Gas" explains the nuclear processes that go on in that important stellar body; and "John Lee, Supertaster" is kind of a cross between science, superheroes, and "names in the news", though I'd never heard of him. Their best-known song from the CD is the bouncy "Birdhouse in Your Soul", which some claim to be quite cryptic, but the spirituality of which seems obvious to me. If you like music that gives you a little to think about, but not too seriously, TMBG might be your band, and "A User's Guide" is a great introduction."