Track Listing

1. Minimum Wage
2. Meet James Ensor
3. Particle Man
4. Don't Let's Start
5. She's An Angel
6. Cyclops Rocks
7. Istanbul
8. Purple Toupee
9. James K. Polk
10. Birdhouse In Your Soul
11. Ana Ng
12. The Guitar
13. Bangs
14. The Statue Got Me High
15. New York City
16. Doctor Worm
17. Boss Of Me
18. Your Racist Friend
19. Why Does The Sun Shine? (The Sun Is A Mass Of Incandescent Gas) (Live)
20. They'll Need A Crane
21. I Palindrome I
22. Put Your Hand Inside The Puppet Head
23. John Lee Supertaster
24. Older
25. We're The Replacements
26. Dr. Evil
27. No!
28. Clap Your Hands
29. Spider

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9590 in Music
• Released on: 2008-03-03
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered

CD Description
Anyone who appreciates melodic hooks, humor, originality, and inventiveness, but doesn't know They Might Be Giants, should pick up A USER'S GUIDE. Whereas 2002's two-disc, 52-songbox DIAL-A-SONG offers a broad overview of the Brooklyn band's catalogue, A USER'S GUIDE is their first true "greatest hits" release, condensing the Giants' prolific output to 29 of their most insanely catchy, beautifully crafted tracks.
Given the consistency of head Giants John Flansburgh and John Linnell's songwriting, many great tunes have necessarilybeen left off the compilation. Still, the absolute essentials are here, including the surrealist love anthem "Birdhousein Your Soul", the spastic power-pop of "Don't Let's Start", the angular wit of "The Statue Got Me High", and "Boss of Me" (the theme to TV's MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE), along with other wondrous tracks. Accordions wheeze, horns blare, keyboards pound, and Flansburgh and Linnell unravel verses full of clever wordplay and absurdist (yet oddly resonant) philosophy, making A USER'S GUIDE a gleeful pop jubilee.

Customer Reviews

1-disc/29-songs/17 years/2 Johns...
'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...

They ARE Giants!
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.