This came out in 2004 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
If you’ve heard the theme song to Malcolm in The Middle, you’ve heard They Might be Giants, the long-serving alt-rock outfit led by John Flansburgh and John Linnell.
But if that’s the only TMBG you’ve heard, you should do something about that. Namely, you should acquire their 10th disc The Spine. Like its predecessors, it’s chock full of endearingly bizarre indie-pop novelties built from sugary melodies, genre-busting musical mischief and smartypants lyrics — sort of a cross between Squeeze, The Bonzo Dog Band, Fountains of Wayne, Robyn Hitchcock and Ween. Except none of them ever wrote songs called Bastard Wants to Hit Me and I Can’t Hide From My Mind. Now I’ve heard everything.
