The Spine

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This article is about the They Might Be Giants album. For the 2009 Chris Landreth short, see The Spine (film).
The Spine
Studio album by They Might Be Giants
Released July 5, 2004 (2004-07-05)
Recorded 2003-04
Genre Alternative rock
Length 35:53
Label Idlewild/Zoë (US)
Cooking Vinyl (UK)
Shock Records (AU)
Producer Pat Dillett
They Might Be Giants chronology

Indestructible Object
(2004)		 The Spine
(2004)		 The Spine Surfs Alone
(2004)
TMBG studio album chronology
No!
(2002)		 The Spine
(2004)		 Here Come the ABCs
(2005)

The Spine is the tenth full-length studio album by They Might Be Giants. The album was released on July 5, 2004 in the UK, and July 13 in the US. The album was released alongside a companion EP, The Spine Surfs Alone. It was preceded by the Indestructible Object EP, which featured two tracks that appear on The Spine.

Promotion

Two music videos were produced for The Spine. The first, a Flash-animated video for "Experimental Film", was created in conjunction with the creators of Homestar Runner, and features Homestar Runner characters. An animated music video for "Bastard Wants to Hit Me" appears on the DVD for Venue Songs. The video was directed by Aaron Sorenson and Courtney Booker of Laika.[1] The video was nominated for the Annie Award for "Best Animated Television Commercial" in 2005.[2]

Track listing

All songs by They Might Be Giants unless otherwise noted.

  1. "Experimental Film" – 2:54
  2. "Spine" – 0:31
  3. "Memo to Human Resources" – 1:56
  4. "Wearing a Raincoat" – 3:07
  5. "Prevenge" – 2:41
  6. "Thunderbird" – 2:34
  7. "Bastard Wants to Hit Me" – 2:13
  8. "The World Before Later On" – 1:49
  9. "Museum of Idiots" – 2:59
  10. "It's Kickin' In" – 1:58
  11. "Spines" – 0:23
  12. "Au Contraire" – 2:20
  13. "Damn Good Times" (Marty Beller, Dan Miller, They Might Be Giants) – 2:33
  14. "Broke in Two" – 2:55
  15. "Stalk of Wheat" – 1:24
  16. "I Can't Hide From My Mind" – 2:40

iTunes bonus track

  1. "Renew My Subscription"

Reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source Rating
Metacritic (59/100) [3]
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [4]
The A.V. Club C [3][5]
Blender [3]
The Guardian [6]
NME (5/10) [3]
Pitchfork Media (5.3/10) [7]
PopMatters [3][8]
Q [3]
Rolling Stone [9]
Tiny Mix Tapes [10]
In Music We Trust (favorable) [11]

The Spine received mixed reviews from critics. Writing for Allmusic, Heather Phares found that John and John had already exhausted the album's best content on the preceding EP, Indestructible Object. Phares concluded that the album contained a few engaging hooks, but was overall inconsistent.[4] Josh Modell of The AV Club berated the album's lack of "idiosyncrasies", and reported that The Spine was generally unsurprising.[5] Contrarily, Patrick Schabe of PopMatters lauded the album for its uncharacteristically traditional rock arrangements.[8]

References

  1. ↑ "Crazy Bastard Wants To Hit Me". Laika. Retrieved 2013-07-10. 
  2. ↑ "33rd Annual Annie Award Nominees and Winners". Annie Award Database. 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2013-07-10. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 "Critic Reviews for The Spine". Metacritic. Retrieved March 30, 2013. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Phares, Heather. The Spine - They Might Be Giants at AllMusic. Retrieved July 21, 2012.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Modell, Josh (July 12, 2004). "They Might Be Giants: The Spine". The A.V. Club. Retrieved March 30, 2013. 
  6. ↑ Sweeting, Adam (July 15, 2004). "They Might Be Giants, The Spine". The Guardian. Retrieved March 30, 2013. 
  7. ↑ Singer, Liam (July 18, 2004). "They Might Be Giants: The Spine". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved March 30, 2013. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Schabe, Patrick (July 9, 2004). "They Might Be Giants: The Spine". PopMatters. Retrieved March 30, 2013. 
  9. ↑ Walters, Barry (August 19, 2004). "They Might Be Giants: The Spine : Music Reviews". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on October 2, 2007. Retrieved March 30, 2013. 
  10. ↑ Weir, Matt (2004). "They Might Be Giants - The Spine". Tiny Mix Tapes. Retrieved March 30, 2013. 
  11. ↑ Halverson, Brad (2004). "They Might Be Giants: The Spine". Retrieved 2013-07-08. 

External links

They Might Be Giants
Rock albums
Children's albums
EPs
Singles
Other notable songs
Live albums
Compilations
Video releases
Related articles
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