Customer Reviews

John Henry

5 star:		(42)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

TMBG graduate from drum machines and samples to a full band on this album, and the results are great. Purists label this TMBG's "bad" album, but I believe the full band lends these songs a shot of adrenalin. The lyrics are as good as ever, and they fit well into their new, energetic fixtures.

So many good songs -- the bells of "Destination Moon," the trippy distorted vocal on "Self called nowhere," the theremin on "AKA Driver." There are big rock songs and small gems throughout. Even a seeming throw-away like "Meet James Ensor" is a perfect pop confection (and probably the only song of that genre about a famous dutch artist).

I don't get the jibe "if that's your idea of clever" in the Amazon review. If an album that incorporates Alice Cooper, James Ensor, and Alan Ginsberg in the same 18 songs isn't clever, one wonders what is.

If you can deal with the fact that this album has a different sound than the first four TMBGs, you'll love this stuff.

John Henry sounds as good as any TMBG effort, but on inspection, I think it also proves to be one of their deepest and most cohesive albums. Random cleverness is replaced by a subtle, consistent mood, total lyrical abstraction begins to give way to a message, and the individual songs are great. Besides, with a full twenty songs (almost an hour of music), there's bound to be something on here for everyone.

Most of the songs on Henry have a darker tone, whether explicitly (Why Must I Be Sad?; The End of the Tour) or subtly, coded into the lyrics (Destination Moon, Spy, Sleeping in the Flowers). The sound is also vaguely more _metal_ than the sort of candy-coated synthesizers and horns that characterized their earlier albums (not that there's any absence of horns), from the rough-edged harmonica opening of Subliminal to the grungy guitars on Sleeping In The Flowers and others. It may seem more commercial to some, but this sound is still entirely distinct.

As for the theme of the lyrics, it may seem hypocritical for a band which used to be more machine than man to entitle one of their albums John Henry ("a man aint nothing but a man / but before I let that steam drill beat me down / I'm gonna die with a hammer in my hand, yessir; etc.") and record a song like Thermostat, an impassioned plea against the dangers of modern automation. But the sentiment is real, and portraits of human alienation and loneliness (Spy) placed alongside villanous characterizations of machines (AKA Driver; Dirt Bike) suggest a unity which no TMBG album has had to date. The result is a deeper listening experience relying on more than puns for its effect.

As for the individual songs, the upbeat Destination Moon and James Ensor just sound terrific; some of my favorites. The End of the Tour is also powerful and genuinely touching. Some of the tracks are weaker, and I tend to skip Unrelated Thing and I Should Be Allowed to Think. Still, with this kind of quantity, the quality is very consistent.

All in all, TMBG has produced something really outstanding. Even people who dismiss them for their lack of substance (a charge that, you have to admit, is somewhat fair) should take note of Henry.

Okay. I absolutely adore this album. Critics panned it, but screw them--what do they know? From the hard-rocking "Snail Shell", to the bouncy "Destination Moon", to the beautifully sad "The End Of The Tour", this album is awesome.

Now for a track-by-track analysis.

1. Subliminal (2:45) - Pretty good. The backwards portion at the end is really cool. 4/5
2. Snail Shell (3:20) - Awesome. This song rocks out loud, pure and simple. 5/5
3. Sleeping In The Flowers (4:30) - This song is just cool. The chorus is really different from the verses, but it works. 5/5
4. Unrelated Thing (2:30) - Everyone hates this one, but I think it's good. 4/5
5. AKA Driver (3:14) - Another song that just rocks. 5/5
6. I Should Be Allowed To Think (3:09) - This is a song about teen rebellion, I think, and somehow, it works. 5/5
7. Extra Savoir-Faire (2:48) - Eh. One of the weaker tracks. 3/5
8. Why Must I Be Sad? (4:08) - Cool, in a dark sorta way. 5/5
10. O, Do Not Forsake Me (2:30) - This one's weird, but I kinda like it. 4/5
11. No One Knows My Plan (2:37) - This one's good for dancing! 5/5
12. Dirt Bike (3:05) - Another slightly weaker one. 3/5
13. Destination Moon (2:27) - This is an awesomely bouncy song, but knowing TMBG, the lyrics are darker. I love it! 5/5
14. A Self Called Nowhere (3:22) - Another dark, yet REALLY cool one. 5/5
15. Meet James Ensor (1:33) - Weaker. 3/5
16. Thermostat (3:11) - This one's really catchy and cool. 5/5
17. Window (1:00) - Nice. Has a very theme song-ish quality. 4/5
18. Out Of Jail (2:38) - Another extremely catchy song, with a very twisted theme. 5/5
19. Stomp Box (1:55) - Awesome and hard. Probably TMBG's hardest song yet. 5/5
20. The End Of The Tour (3:18) - Best. Song. Ever. It's so sad...I want it played at my funeral.

In short, buy this album. You won't regret it.

By Anna Ng, a 13-year-old TMBG fan, and no, that's not her real last name

Well, what can I say? TMBG have done it again. Some people have said that John Henry is not as good as some of TMBG's other albums. To those people, I say it is your loss. This album is without a doubt, one of TMBG's best. Granted, some of the instrumentation sounds more like mainstream rock, but the lyrics are pure TMBG. My favorite tracks are; Subliminal, Sleeping in the Flowers, AKA Driver, I Should Be Allowed to Think, Extra Savoir Faire, Spy, O Do Not Forsake Me, No One Knows My Plan, Meet James Ensor, Thermostat, Out of Jail, and End of the Tour. Spy is one of my favorites because it sounds like a song that would be heard in a spy movie. O Do Not Forsake Me sounds like songs that I've heard my grandparents listen to. That statement is not ment as an insult, I prefer my grandparents' music to some songs I hear today. The song End ofthe Tour: It is TMBG's saddest song. Sure, a lot of their songs aresad, but those songs are usually disguised by up tempo rhythyms and peppy melodies. End of the Tour is just beautiful, and I'm glad the Johns wrote it. And as a final message to those who dislike this album, if you really want TMBG to not change, if you want nothing but Birdhouse in Your Soul or Particle Man, don't buy this album. People change over time, and as the people change, their tastes change. So don't get mad if TMBG makes changes that don't suit you.

It takes a while to get the hang of this one but it is worth it. This summer I spent 2 weeks in an armed compound in Pakistan (really) and took 2 dozen disks with me, John Henry won hands down. An idiot reviewed this for Amazon.com saying "These 20 songs include a tune that quotes Allen Ginsberg's "Howl,"" and decided that was reason enough to pan it. Actually, the song (I Should be Allowed to Think) made fun of Ginsburg; ie "I should be allowed to blurt out the merest idea if by random whim one occurs to me". He also hated "Dirt Bikes" which is a great commentary on the trendiness of our culture. Meet James Ensor, The End of the Tour, and Destination Moon are classics. This album has excellent lyrics and very good music. I didn't give it 5 stars only because Flood and Severe Tire Damage are better but this is a fine CD.

ok, read all the reviews on here by the fans who own all the tmbg albums, and guess which one's the best? if you guessed "flood," you should be hit on the head with a frying pan. yes, "john henry" is my favorite tmbg album.

i originally hesitated in buying this album due to some bad reviews, but i am so glad i did. what happened was my friends and i went to dc for an instore performance, and sadly, i left the cd i wanted signed in the car. ("the best of the early years" does have the coolest cover art.) anyway, i had to get their autographs and the only tmbg album borders had that i didn't already have at the time was "john henry." the johns signed it, and now i think it must've been fate that i left that other cd in the car, as my favorite tmbg album is the one i now have autographed.

this disc is more rocking than any of their others, due to the full band. the title refers to the heroic battle between machine and man, and as in the folk tale, man proves to be the victor.

chances are, if you're used to listening to "flood" and "apollo 18," this album may not strike you as great on the first listen. considered their dark album, "john henry" is undeniably different than any of their releases, old and new. but, as the arby's slogan goes: different is good. for best results, listen to this cd in its entirety, in order, so set aside some time or put it in the car player. i will warn you that after about 3 listens, you won't be able to listen to any other cd in the car for awhile.

tracks:
1. subliminal - awesome song. for all those who said there's no accordian, what the f? the first track is accordian city, and my favorite track.
2. snail shell - i don't know why this was picked as the single, but oh, well. a cool song, but loses just a little bit of luster with repeated listens.
3. sleeping in the flowers - really good song with a great chorus.
4. unrelated thing - don't hate this track like a lot of other reviewers. it's really good and is a great comment on what love can really be like. it's also a sort of country song, which proves tmbg's versatility.
5. aka driver - great song to drive to. need i say more?
6. i should be allowed to think - one to sing along to.
7. extra savoir-faire - i don't think people understand exactly how albums work. this song is not "filler." granted, it is slower, but that only enhances the power the songs around it and it's own uniqueness.
8. why must i be sad? - dark and rocking.
9. spy - could be a james bond theme. the improv towards the end is not bad at all. listen to the guitar right at the beginning of the improv. it's one of my favorite parts of the cd.
10. o, do not forsake me - this is the slowest song on the album, and not the best. probably because the johns don't even sing it, but don't skip it because...
11. no one knows my plan - awesome horns, very catchy, and extremely powerful, especially if heard directly following "forsake me."
12. dirt bike - chill. good driving song.
13. destination moon - really rocking, and a great song. my favorite on the album upon first listening.
14. a self called nowhere - sing along to this and you'll appreciate it more.
15. meet james ensor - horns are terrific. especially cool having heard the "severe tire damage" version first.
16. thermostat - who ever thought a song about a thermostat could be so catchy?
17. window - classic linnell.
18. out of jail - one of my favorites. upbeat and rocking. favorite lyric: "i thought my luck was changing, i guess i was wrong."
19. stomp box - one of the hardest tmbg songs, next to "dig my grave" and "robot parade (adult version)." pounding and very energetic to enhance the meaning of...
20. the end of the tour - as some have said, a tmbg masterpiece. even if it's not about teenagers dying in a car wreck (which i don't know if it is), it strikes an unexpected emotional chord with the listener. it's the best finale to an album i've ever heard.

so that's it. now buy the f-ing cd!

I've always been surprised by the lingering notion that John Henry is TMBG's "bad" album. Condescending attitudes from Rolling Stone and Entertainment Weekly aside, most of my friends who listen to Johns usually dismiss this one, 'cause it's "missing the accordion." This has always been one of my favorite TMBG releases. True, it's a departure from their earlier exercises in resourcefulness, but anyone who bought Apollo 18 (and listened to "The Guitar" and "The Statue Got Me High") could probably anticipate that the Johns were moving toward a fuller sound. This effort came off better than one can reasonably expect, though the lyrics on this CD are probably the harshest they've ever written (especially on "I Should Be Allowed to Think" and "A Self Called Nowhere") But counter-balanced to that is the bounce of "No One Knows My Plan," the goofy self-pity of "Out of Jail" and the heart-breaking "The End of the Tour." John Henry may grate on you, but that last one (supposedly about a man who accidentally kills a group of teenagers in a car wreck -- the interpretation fits beautifully) is enough to redeem the whole album. Even for people who miss the accordion.

You really get a full band feel throughout most of this album and they add horns to many of the tracks as well. The only problem with this album is that it is their longest and features the most amount of songs that are longer than their trademark of under 3 minutes, even 2 minutes. There are a number of songs on here that are longer than 4 and some that just feel longer. AT a certain point it just feels as if the album has stayed past its welcome. I'm not sure if it does. I like this album because it shows the influence of grunge on a few tracks while also staying true to the stylistic flipping from song to song that they are known for. You might not make it through the entire album in one sitting, but it's still high quality.

This album is known as the one where They Might Be Giants first became a "full band." Some people apparently dislike it for this reason. Maybe they think that the drum machine was more important to TMBG's sound than clever lyrics and catchy, eclectic music. Or maybe I'm totally wrong here. I don't know. What I do know is that, while there is some definite charm to the early, heavily synthesized sound of the "pink album" and other early TMBG work, this album is still excellent. The full band allows TMBG to take new directions with their music. Granted, some of these directions aren't that good (the choppy improvisational bit at the end of "Spy," for instance), but most of them are. There are excellent horn arrangements on such tracks as the amazing "Sleeping In The Flowers" and the upbeat "No One Knows My Plan" (possibly the first conga song to reference Plato's Allegory of the Cave). There are a wide range of other songs on this album, including the slow and country-ish "Unrelated Thing," the arrogant mariachi-type "Extra Savoir-Faire," the choir-like vocal stylings of "O, Do Not Forsake Me" (performed by a group called Hudson Shad), the somewhat amusingly melancholy (and distinctly New English) "A Self Called Nowhere," the semi-educational "Meet James Ensor," the heavy metal sound of "Stomp Box," and, to finish things up, the rather sad "The End Of The Tour" (often acknowledged to be a TMBG masterpiece). That's not all, either; there are twenty songs on here, making it the band's longest studio album. This is great work by a great band.

On their fifth album (and third major-label release), 1994's John Henry, They Might Be Giants are backed by a full band, resulting in their hardest-rocking, most conventional-sounding effort. John Linnell pretty much rules the proceedings (good news for anyone who thought he was underused on Apollo 18), and he turns in some of his finest performances since 1988's Lincoln. "Subliminal" (about a near-death experience) is a catchy blast; "Thermostat" is a wry comment on unreliable technology. "Unrelated Thing," a countryish examination of a problematic relationship, features his sweetest performance since 1986's "She's an Angel." "I Should Be Allowed to Think" straddles a thin line between passionate argument for freedom of speech and thought, and satire of a childish mentality that equates being unallowed to hang a poster with being oppressed (dig the refs to Allen Ginsberg's "Howl"!). In "Why Must I Be Sad," he takes on the voice of an angst-ridden teen who personally identifies with the shock-rock anthems of Alice Cooper; I love how, as he repeats the title phrase toward the end, he has bandmate John Flansburgh string together a bunch of oddly appropriate Cooper titles ("Welcome to My Nightmare," "Dead Babies," "Raped and Freezin'", etc.). In the rollicking "Destination Moon," Linnell plays a mental patient (or possibly an ailing ex-astronaut?) who thinks he's soon due for a trip into space; and in the Latin-pop "No One Knows My Plan" -- which sounds like something the late Kirsty MacColl could have done on Tropical Brainstorm (2001) -- he inhabits the character of a smug prisoner plotting revenge against the people who turned him in (whether he was guilty to begin with or not). "The End of the Tour" is about the death and guilt that result from a tour bus crashing into a car full of teenagers; though the lyrics are a bit vague, the tasteful singing and playing on the track lend it a mournful edge.

Flansburgh turns in a few strong performances, as well. "Sleeping in the Flowers," the poignant tale of a hapless loser with a crush on a copy store clerk, alternates between ham-fisted verses and a wildly catchy chorus; the angry "AKA [NyQuil] Driver" features a similar pattern of tension-and-release ("It's just a full day's drive away ... Hey NyQuil driver, get outta my lane!"). The mellow "Dirt Bike" sounds like something Sting could do, though it's hard to imagine Sting ever writing or performing trend-weary-turned-trend-savvy lyrics like "Mind bending dirt bike in control / Soul crushing dirt bike ... You see I never thought I'd understand 'til that bike took me by the hand." In the tradition of David Bowie's "Andy Warhol," the Modern Lovers' "Pablo Picasso," and Jonathan Richman's "Vincent Van Gogh," Flansy immortalizes yet another painter with "Meet James Ensor." And in the power-poppish "Out of Jail," he expresses dismay over his larcenous new girlfriend, yet faithfully stands by her.

However, as you might expect with a 20-track album, John Henry is not without filler. The barbershop pastiche "O Do Not Forsake Me" (performed by guest vocalists Hudson Shad) feels completely out-of-place; Linnell's "A Self Called Nowhere" and "Stomp Box" -- intriguingly dark lyrics aside -- are hookless and sluggish; and a few tracks (Linnell's "Snail Shell" and "Window," Flansburgh's "Extra Savoir-Faire" and "Spy") are just too lightweight compared with the surrounding material. Otherwise, nice work!