6/02/2004

74. They Might Be Giants, Flood (Elektra, 1990)

Gigantic, the fairly groovy if a bit overlong feature-length documentary on this venerable duo, features an astonishing clip of them performing this album's centerpiece, "Birdhouse In Your Soul", with Doc Servinsen on The Tonight Show! Now, you can't imagine Branford Marsalis or Kevin Eubanks jamming with the Johns, can you? (Maybe Paul Shaffer). I resisted these accordion-and-tape-loop lovin' guys all through high school, dismissing them as geek-rock until I heard this album when I was 18 and finally succumbed to my inner geek. Some fans balked at the fuller, slicker production on this "brand new record for 1990", but it's still their most satisfying set. "Instanbul (Not Constantinople)" and the naggingly insistent "Particle Man" you may remember, but there's at least a half dozen other effortless miniature triumphs ripe for rediscovery, including a self-titled theme song that fits them to, well, a T.