Search - They Might Be Giants :: They Got Lost

The music's great, but it's a weird compilation.

Acdir | Livermore, CA. | 12/16/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"They Got Lost is a collection of rarities. Meaning, a couple B-Sides, a hidden track on "Factory Showroom", and songs off out of print or hard to find albums. This isn't the most solid collection, but the music is great none the less.



Rest Awhile is a hard rock song with catchy tunes and morbid lyrics. A Linnell masterpiece, need more be said? Truth In Your Words is pretty good music wise. The chorus is ok, and the verses are just boring. On The Drag is another catchy one. It's pretty good. A Flansburgh stereotype. Very monopuff-ish. All Alone is my least favorite on the album. I usually skip it.

Down To The Bottom of The Sea is very cool, but too short. The synthesizer is pretty cool (possibly a Moog?), but this doesn't do much seeing how short it is.



I'm Sick (Of This American Life) Is similar to Cyclops Rock lyrically, but the music is MUCH more laid back. It's acoustic too. I like it. Words Are Like is pretty boring. It's ok from time to time, but it's mostly a vocal song. I'm pretty sure it's sung with Flansburgh's wife, Robin "Goldie" Goldwasser (I think that's it). I Am A Human Head. My ABSOLUTE favorite song on this collection. I love it... a lot. Words cannot describe how I love it so (I know, I shouldn't love it this much.)



Oranges: A testimonial for the Chopping Block web design company. I like the other version more. Empty Bottle Blues: As the name suggests, it's a blues song. It's also instrumental. It's pretty good. They Got Lost is a nice story, but it's tough to listen all the way through sometimes. There's a more upbeat version on Severe Tire Damage. It's pretty good though. Reprehensible is a weirder song, not that great, but it's ok. I like the music more than anything and it has a nice solo in the middle. Rat Patrol is a strangely vocaled song, but I like it a lot.



Army's Tired Now has a nice and lengthy intro. Overall a great song. Certain People I Could Name is mellow and I love the instrumentation. Another great Linnell song. Theme To McSweeney's Sounds like the "Disneyland Main Street Electrical Parade" With many synthesizers, it's fun and catchy. Reminds me of a demo tape my dad made of himself playing the Moog (Not sure if this is good or bad... meh.)



Dollar For Dollar sounds kind of like the interlude of Paul McCartney's "Tug Of War" album, which is done with a vocoder. This track is interesting, but there's not much you can say about it. Mosh Mokem Abadon is a remake of an Arabic pop song. This is instrumental though. it's cool, but not too accessible.

Token Back To Brooklyn is taken from "Factory Showroom". It's a hidden track that you can access by reversing the first track into negative time. Doesn't do much for me.



Disappointing Show was done spontaneously live when (I think) nothing was working right, so they just did this or something... I don't know. It's humorous, and shows how well They Might Be Giants work together (And stay in the same key).

The Oranges Testimonial is the poppier, better version of the Chopping Block song. For a fuller version, put the "NO!" album in your computer and view the credits.



There you go. A run down of a pretty good album. But beware, this is not a good place for a beginner... of course, most albums aren't... you should start with "Flood" or "Dial-A-Song""

But now they are found

DJ Gilbert | Phillipsburg, NJ United States | 11/05/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is a compilation of TMBG rarities that were previously only released online, on singles or on the McSweeney's bonus cd. Almost all of the tracks are excellent (with the exception of the McSweeney's tracks which just sound odd and out of place). TMBG's patented sense of humor is rampant throughout ("Words Are Like" and "Disappointing Show" will have you laughing out loud) and many of the tracks are real rockers. Now, there are some songs on here most TMBG fans are already sure to have (the tracks from the "Working Undercover For The Man" EP, "Token Back To Brooklyn" which was a hidden track on "Factory Showroom" and "Oranges" which was a hidden track on "No!") but the album works so well on a whole that it doesn't really matter. Ironically, the album's weakest track is the title track which is long and boring and doesn't hold a candle to the previously released live version from "Severe Tire Damage"."

A mixed bag

John Provis | 09/18/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Rarities collections are generally either full of moments of pure inspired genius that were inexplicably left off albums, or full of utter trash. This one has quite a few from Column A, but also a smattering from Column B just to keep your finger on the 'skip' button...



Some of the good ones:

Rest Awhile - Classic TMBG

On The Drag - Treading the fine line between annoying and interesting, and getting it right

Words Are Like - Country(ish). And yet, I like it.

I Am A Human Head - An interesting one, you'll either love it or hate it. I love it.

Empty Bottle Blues - Yep, I'm biased, I'm a trumpeter. But it's great.

Certain People I Could Name - Again, classic TMBG



Some of the particularly lousy ones:

I'm Sick (Of This American Life) - It's less than 90 seconds long. Fortunately.

Oranges/Oranges Testimonial - Not enough ideas in here for a single one-minute song, let alone two of them.

They Got Lost - Unfortunately, it's by far the longest song on the album, and also one of the least interesting

The Army's Tired Now - This one actually sounds like the intro to a good song, so it annoys me that it cuts off just where it should launch into something more.

Theme To McSweeney's - Why?

Dollar For Dollar - See above.

Disappointing Show - Disappointing song. (Probably funnier live than on CD though)



So, all in all - it's not a bad album, but probably (as is usually the case with this sort of compilation) strictly one for the fans.

"