The Daily Spin, July 15
They Might Be Giants | John Henry
Welcome back to the Daily Spin, the series in which I review 365 albums during 2023.
Each album will be given a rating on a scale from 0 to 10. You can look at the entire set here. Additionally, you can check out a list of my favorite song from each album right here.
Album: John Henry (1994)
Artist: They Might Be Giants
Link:
The hardest part of making music, if you ask me, is figuring out how to put it all together cohesively. With John Henry, it feels like They Might Be Giants had all the pieces, but couldn’t stick the landing.
Beyond the bloated runtime - 57 minutes - this is an album full of songs that function best as quick-hitters, none of which are allowed to breathe properly. On top of that, a lot of the quirkier instrumentation doesn’t land for me at all - instead, it all feels terribly contrived and misses any sort of lasting impact beyond an opinion that the fun stuff should’ve probably been left at home.
I think what disappoints me most about this album above my desire to like this sort of music is that I can see the moments where it had the potential to really be great, but those glimpses are so fleeting that I’m left befuddled by the rest - trading decent, if not outstanding rock for hymnals and music that feels like Weird Al taken seriously.
Rating: 5.0/10
Best Tracks: AKA Driver
Worst Tracks: Why Must I Be Sad?; Snail Shell; O Do Not Forsake Me