Birdhouse in Your Soul is my top pick. Flood is one of my all time most listened to albums.
I have an odd fondness for She's An Angel and put it on just about any playlist that is vaguely romance-y. They really have a great career but pretty much all of my favorites are from Flood and Lincoln and their self titled. My uncle gave my sister a copy of Flood in 91' for Christmas. She shelved it for a year and later became obsessed, and being my cool older sister, I basically had a deep love of TMBG from like 10 years old onward. I think my second concert ever was TMBG when I was around 13 years old (the first was Atom and His Package, another one of my sisters).
- She's An Angel
- Birdhouse in Your Soul
- Ana Ng
- Don't Let's Start
- Lucky Ball And Chain
Edit: Also isn't this a list thread? I might have to close or rename this :X
I know the general opinion is that their first three albums are their best with Flood being their mainstream hit and second most cited favorite album after Lincoln.
They're my favorite band and I really enjoy all their stuff. And while Flood is the album I would recommend to people if they want to start exploring TMBG and want to listen to an actual album (I actually think a compilation is a better starting point), it's actually not even in my top half of their 15 adult albums.
This isn't definitive but off the top of my head I think these would be my top six TMBG albums.
1. John Henry (1994)
2. They Might Be Giants (1986), Lincoln (1988)
4. Mink Car (2001), The Else (2007), Join Us (2011), I Like Fun (2018)
Here's my TMBG hot take:
TMBG's biggest album (Flood) is also their worst. Reminds me of R.E.M's Out Of Time - a small handful of classic singles, and a fistful of c-tier songs.
The Spine is their most underappreciated album.
Lincoln is easily their best.
I can sympathize with a lot of this. Flood does feel kind of empty especially lyrically despite being their most "catchy" album. It wouldn't be my list favorite. That'll be 1996's Factory Showroom. Or 2009's Here Comes the Science if you include their children's albums.
Also The Spine is indeed the album I would think is underappreciated. It's between two albums, Mink Car and The Else, where TMBG's sound went to their most extreme places (personal favorites). It's hard for even me to kind of quantify it.
I have a soft spot for Climbing the Walls
The Else doesn't get enough love.
