The Spine (album)

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.

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
ReleasedJuly 5, 2004 (2004-07-05)
Recorded2003–04
Genre
Length35:54
LabelIdlewild/Zoë (US)
Cooking Vinyl (UK)
Shock Records (AU)
ProducerPat Dillett
They Might Be Giants chronology
Indestructible Object
(2004)		 The Spine
(2004)		 The Spine Hits the Road
(2004)

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 tracks are written by They Might Be Giants, unless otherwise noted

No.TitleLength
1."Experimental Film"2:56
2."Spine"0:33
3."Memo to Human Resources"2:02
4."Wearing a Raincoat"3:10
5."Prevenge"2:44
6."Thunderbird"2:38
7."Bastard Wants to Hit Me"2:14
8."The World Before Later On"1:52
9."Museum of Idiots"3:02
10."It's Kickin' In"2:01
11."Spines"0:30
12."Au Contraire"2:26
13."Damn Good Times"2:38
14."Broke in Two"2:59
15."Stalk of Wheat"1:27
16."I Can't Hide from My Mind"2:43

Reception
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic(59/100)[3]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[4]
The A.V. ClubC[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. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved 2013-07-10.
  3. "Critic Reviews for The Spine". Metacritic. Retrieved March 30, 2013.
  4. Phares, Heather. The Spine – They Might Be Giants at AllMusic. Retrieved July 21, 2012.
  5. 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. 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.
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