Factory Showroom by They Might Be Giants

Pros: Some good songs lurking beneath...
Cons: ...lurking beneath annoying musical excess and deadly production.

Factory Showroom is an odd album. On one hand, it's the bands most accessible effort and given the amount of negative attention it's gotten since it's initial release, your bound to be somewhat pleasantly surprised upon first listen. It's not an awful...

Pros: Fun to listen to. "Till My Head Falls Off" needed to be recorded.
Cons: Their shortest album. Needs at least six more songs, and a couple cuts.

In 1996, They Might Be Giants released Factory Showroom, and the response was pretty lousy - critics bashed it, the record company did little to promote it and it wasn't much success commercially, and even TMBG's loyal fanbase kind of scoffed at it. ...

Pros: You can really feel the band geling with the johns
Cons: Not as creative as other releases

TMBG taking a more generic feel to songs probably makes music purist happier, but doesn't do much for fans of earlier work. The best way I can explain things is you trade in 18 two minute goofy songs for 13 three minute more serious songs. They still...

Pros: Classic They Might Be Giants tunes.
Cons: What's with "I Can Hear You"?

And Ambassadors they are.
With every album, you get a different aspect of the crazy minds of John Linnell and John Flansburgh. This album is full of great songs that are classic Giants.

1. S-E-X-X-Y
The album starts off with a...

Pros: More hooks then you’ll know what to do with
Cons: I Can Hear You and the absence of real albums after this one

The first time I saw They Might Be Giants, I hadn’t heard Factory Showroom yet, and a large amount of their set was from that album (as well as the follow-up live album Severe Tire Damage). The songs were excellent, even though I was hearing them for...

Pros: Some truly great songs, typical of TMBG
Cons: Filler isn't quite good enough. A little bit of songwriters' block

Ever since 1996's Factory Showroom, the Giants have been avoiding the traditional studio scene like nothin'. An early years compendium, live album, MP3 full-length & EP, and four years later, John and John have yet to release another...

Pros: Great songs with meaningful lyrics.
Cons: none

I was at Tower Records the other day and was torn between Factory Showroom and another TMBG album, John Henry. I finally decided on FS because it was about $5 less, and am very glad I got it. Most of the songs on this album I've heard before, but since I...

Pros: Yet another evolution
Cons: Not too many as usual

They Might Be Giants have come a long way since the accordion and morphing pedal days of old. Dial-a-Song (still available at 718-387-6962 "call from work") has been given a backseat to their website (www.TMBG.com), which allows for the downloading of...

Pros: Wondefuly inventive
Cons: Not everyone will 'get' their music

Lyrically one of the best bands ever. They are inventive and poetic, blending it in a fun mix. Musically they defy being categorized.

This is a great album to introduce your friends to They Might Be Giants (TMBG). The tracks on this album...

Pros: Great sound, a good mix of songs
Cons: TMBG can be an acquired taste...

This is almost the perfect album for a first-time TMBG buyer. Factory Showroom gives a tasty buffet of the various styles that the Giants have made their name on, in a friendly and easy to access format.
We have the educational song-- In this...

Pros: It's almost all good.
Cons: The track "I can hear you".

Every time I buy an album based solely upon the reputation of their past success, I'm worrying about it all the way home from the record store. This was one such purchase. I hadn't heard anything about it, except the fact that it was out. So, being...

Pros: Everything
Cons: Nothing

This is the most understandable They Might Be Giants recording yet. TMBG fans must be used to songs that seem to mean nothing more than inane ravings. But Factory Showroom is unlike this, they have songs that you know what they are talking about! They...

Pros: Vintage TMBG
Cons: If you're new to the band, you may not understand them very easily at first.

They Might Be Giants, and they might be geniuses. Factory Showroom shows the Giants in top form expressing exactly what they are capable of, great music. For anyone who is a fan of TMBG, this album marks a mixture of the new instruments (full band...