They Might Be Giants – “John Henry” review

Final verdict: 8/10 ★★★★☆

At first I was afraid, I was petrified.

Although by the time I got to this album, I’d been only barely familiar with the majestic world of They Might Be Giants, I felt well acquainted with the concept of John, John, and a drum machine, as well as the rinky-dink sound that that configuration gave way to. And now I get starved of it? Shit.

Now, I wasn’t around in 1994, but I am informed that the masses had a similar reaction to mine back in the day. And that should’ve been no surprise – an established band underwent a major stylistic change. So many things could’ve went wrong.

But well, They Might Be Giants are still They Might Be Giants, at the end of the day. Songwriting has always been one of their biggest strengths, if not their biggest strength. And so though this album lacks the surreal bizarreness of their self-titled debut and “Lincoln”, and the one-dimensional sonic charm of their subsequent “Flood” and “Apollo 18”, it remains a very They Might Be Giants record, since the songwriting chops are still very much present, only… even better than before? Which is kind of wild, but hey, I ain’t complainin’!

Now a 6-piece outfit, They Might Be Giants solidly step foot into traditional alternative rock territory with 1994’s “John Henry”. A whopping 57 minutes in duration, this is TMBG’s longest running studio album to date. It is composed of 20 songs, and boy, do they pack a punch.

Well, to get it out of the way – the Linnell songs are the best here. His songwriting is incredibly refined (which it almost always is, but y’know), and possibly his most surreal and detached, a style of which I am a huge fan. Notably, “A Self Called Nowhere” gave us the insanely quotable line “I’m standing in the yard, where they tore down the garage / To make room for the torn down garage. / I’m looking for my car, but I must’ve sold my car / When I needed to buy an electric organ” – now say that fast three times. Additionally, “Destination Moon” has to be one of my favorite TMBG songs, period. The steadfast refusal of the narrator to admit there is something terribly wrong with him sure does strike a chord in ways I don’t even want to think about. “The End of the Tour” is something of a tearjerker – not particularly notable, but a great closer to this album.

Regardless of Linnell’s evident songwriting prowess, the Flansburgh songs do not fall that far behind, really. “Sleeping in the Flowers” is easily one of his best songs in general, and I do really appreciate the irony in “Extra Savoir Faire”; “What’s a man like me supposed to do / With all this extra savoir-faire”. “Meet James Ensor” is plenty catchy, and “AKA Driver” is very good too. But honestly? “Out of Jail” could never be “A Self Called Nowhere”, which is saying something.

Was the risk they took with this album worth it? I’d say so, yes. Because hear me out – the $5 budget aesthetic was cool and all, but by this point it’d been worn out thin. Sure, these guys would continue to pump out great songs (because they always do that anyway), but the band wouldn’t nearly reach the heights it did with this album. The fact this risky move worked out as well as it did should act as a major “fuck you” to all the haters. These guys still got it!

8/10.