I really enjoyed the Factory Showroom album, but it was kind of a disappointment after all of the tracks that John Henry had. John Henry was sort of a long listen, more bang for your buck. The tracks on Factory Showroom are wonderfully arranged, and really well thought out, but I would have liked it more if it had been just a little bit longer. There's only twelve tracks, which is a lot more than some artists I know, but it seems like TMBG have always tried to push the limit on their albums. It seems as if the length of John Henry tired them out and they weren't up for a lengthy new album.

They seem to have really taken to their back-up band in this album, it doesn't seem awkward at any point. It's nice to hear a good fleshed-out TMBG. Although a couple of tracks sound like bad 70's music (S-E-X-X-Y, in particular. I not too fond of the violins, they don't seem to work very well. I prefer the Warren Riggs Microwave Mix), they're still great.

All in all, it's an excellent album, I just wish it were longer...

I got Factory Showroom before John Henry so the length thing doesn't bother me a lot. It's kind of a slow album if you think about it, Till My Head Falls Off is the only "speedy" song on the album, while everything else is very soothing and rhythmatic (is that a word? well no it is). I think that it's good driving music, maybe that's because I have it on tape in my car. Now it's starting to warp, kind of interesting though.

I like 'The Bells are ringing' and 'New York City'. When I first heard 'New York City' is sounded like it wanted to be a theme tune for Friends. :lol: That was my theory about how it came about - not true I now know.

I like The Bells are Ringing because when I got it, I lived in a street in Oxford near a church that tolled a bell early every Sunday morning. :lol: I used to listen to it whilst walking into Oxford, over Magdalen Bridge on sunny spring mornings. A great walk to work.

I like 'Exquisite Dead guy'. There's something very American about their use of the word 'guy', like ' in the allegory of the people in the cave by the Greek guy'. I like it.

I don't like 'S-E-X-X-Y' because it seems to be about sex, and I don't like songs about sex, because so many other bands do songs about sex. I prefer smart-kid whimsy.

I haven't listened to Factory Showroom for ages. Think I will look it out and have another listen. I have been listening to 'No!' a lot recently which is better than I thought, it improves on listening.

Factory Showroom is very listenable, I didn't think so at first I heard it but it grew on me, a great album.

Till My Head Falls Off is a wonderful shower tune. I yell it at the top of my lungs til someone knocks on the curtain and tells me I'm causing structural damage to the house. :music: Lean my head against the frosted showerstall :music:

Spiraling Shape is of course ^_^ a great song.

Darnit, the moment I start on an album I realise I like too many of the tracks and can't even say what's good about them :rolleyes:

:music: Guess where I am, I'm calling from the plane :music:

John Henry took awhile for me to get into (years), but I did eventually really get into it. Its one of my top 3 TMBG albums, and it has the scratches to prove it.

Factory Showroom, however... I like several of the songs on it, but I really don't like S-E-X-X-Y and XTC vs. Adam Ant. There are a couple others that I can take or leave. Spiraling Shape, I already had on the KITH:BC soundtrack. So, since there are only 9 other tracks, I burned out on the cd, and it is a permanent resident of my cd rack. I listen to most of my music in the car, and it just wan't worth playing - after the first few weeks of it, I couldn't even play it on loop (skipping songs) I don't know the last time I actually played it - I mean, I ripped a bunch of TMBG Mp3s for my MP3 player (plus State Songs & MP stuff), but I didn't even bother with FS.

Same here, but after everthing else TMBG has written about, they're entitled to at least one song dedicated to that topic.

I was talking to Jen last night, and I had The Bells Are Ringing stuck in my head. I have an interesting history with that song. A while back, I used to use that song to go to sleep. In a sort of ways it was soothing, and almost immediately after it was turned on, I would go to sleep. It was sort of creepy, but it got the job done. I'm sad to say, however, that that doesn't work any longer. I'll just have to see if there are any other songs that could possibly cure my insomnia...

Factory Showroom is at the least a very under appreciated album. It is full of gems like Your Own Worst Enemy, S-E-X-X-Y, and how could I forget EXQUISITE DEAD GUY.

Yeah!!! I like Exquisite Dead Guy. Once I started singing it at the railstation and people gave me funny looks. Any song that can do that is worth it! :machinegun:

I once blurted out "The Sun is a mass of Incidescent Gas, a Gigantic nuclear Furnace!" in a busy subway at the top of my lungs. I also got straneg looks.

I listen to 'Fountains of Wayne's Welcome Interstate Managers to get me off to sleep. The first seven tracks are very soothing and soporific if listened to in order... but then 'Little Green Light' comes on with its metal sound and it gets my adrenaline going. Wakes me up again. :angry:

I don't think I could listen to a They album to get myself to sleep. The music is too challenging and interesting. And loud! Last night I enjoyed listening to Severe Tire Damage to get myself to sleep but couldn't because I was too busy trying to make out which John was singing which line in 'Birdhouse'. :lol: 'The Sun' is SUCH a great tune. Fell in love all over again.

I really don't like 'XTC vs Adam Ant', it sort of drones on for way too long and I don't know who the h*ll XTC is. Maybe if I knew I would appreciate it better. :( It's a bit like 'Mammal' which goes on for way too long about a boring subject. (Sorry!!!)

Abby

What XTC Vs. Adam Ant is about as told by They Might Be Giants:
"This song is about an imaginary rivalry between these two seminal but totally distinct early `80s rock icons. It is also definitive proof TMBG is still hopelessly trapped in a world of pop culture references. We recorded a song for the XTC tribute record last year, and while we were tracking it we had to record some backwards vocal for a psychedelic section. Since it didn't really matter what we said we recited a bunch of bands contemporary with the lads from Swindon, including Adam Ant. The contrast between the two seemed striking and while doing a bit of press to promote that tribute album, we cooked up this song." --TMBG

<Information taken from TMBW.net>

I believe the song that went on the XTC tribute disc was 25 O'Clock. The name of the CD is "XTC: A Testimonial Dinner" (by various artists), check it out, it's okay.

I played factory showroom for a friend of mine as I was driving him to work. After "Exquisite Dead Guy" played he looked over at me and said

"So, They just get in the studio and do whatever they want right?"

I thought that was hilarious.

As to FS There's nothing on it not to love. My favorite is Bells, followed by Spiraling Shape and TMHFO

I'm not sure about most of the songs on FS, but I like Spiraling Shape, Till My Head Falls Off, New York City, and I've recently taken a liking to Metal Detector as well.
^_^

Don't yell your giant head off please, that really will cause structural damge.
:o

That's what makes them such a cool band, They have no 'image' to maintain and no limits on what They chose to sing about. :rocks:

why would you want to make any music that wasn't just what you wanted? why? why? why? sit down, have fun...see who wants to join.

FS is probably my absolute favorite TMBG album, and John Henry is BY FAR my least favorite. I have a very hard time wading through the murky 20 MOR tracks from that beast, some of the songs are great, well all of the songs are good I guess, but it is far too homogenous.

What I have always loved about TMBG is that each song on each album can be so wildly different from the next one, you never know what's going to happen next. Well obviously, John Henry is the album where nearly every song is sonically identical. FS, on the other hand, TOTALLY all over the map and that's why I love it so much. The first line on the album, "Dressed only in clothes, from her head to her toes." cracks me up every time. 'Till My Head Falls Off is a great song, but it is actually my least favorite, because it sounds like it was directly ported over from John Henry. But the rest of that album, oh man - Your Own Worst Enemy, I can Hear You, XTC VS. Adam Ant, S-E-X-X-Y, The Bells Are Ringing, I LOVE this album.

It's funny that Flood which was produced in 1989 is longer than Factory Showroom that was produced in 1995-1996. Factory Showroom is indeed a very great album. T.

I only got Factory Showroom yesterday, so I've yet to really grasp it. But, I do really like James K. Polk, XTC vs. Adam Ant, and (partially because of it's novelty) I Can Hear You. Also, S-E-X-X-Y is VERY grooving. I really enjoy it!