They Might Be Giants: Flood (180g) [IDLEWILD]

Why you'll love it

Idlewild puts Flood back on heavyweight 180g vinyl. It's the duo's best-selling album, generally regarded as their definitive record and one of the best albums of the 1990s.

This edition

• 180g vinyl

About the album

When Elektra came calling in 1989, John Flansburgh and John Linnell had a surprise indie hit behind them with Lincoln and an A&R champion in Susan Drew, who'd followed them since 1986. The deal gave them plenty of creative control, and they used it well. Producers Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley joined them at Skyline Studios in New York, a far better-equipped room than they'd worked in before, and the Johns loaded home-recorded samples into Casio FZ-1 synthesizers.

Nineteen songs fly past. "Birdhouse In Your Soul" sets a tender night-light metaphor to a melody Linnell had kept for years, "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" whirls like a cabaret band on a deadline, and "Particle Man" is a kind of existential oom-pah. "Twisting" went to radio, and "Your Racist Friend," "Dead" and "Women & Men" round out a record that never sits still. Plenty of fans first heard it through Tiny Toon Adventures.

Two-thirds of the budget went on four songs, "Birdhouse In Your Soul," "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)," "Your Racist Friend" and "We Want A Rock." The other fifteen were left to fend for themselves, and managed beautifully.

Also at Kops: more They Might Be Giants on vinyl · browse Alternative

Tracklist

Listen

On Idlewild / Elektra (cat# IDLE185BLK), a reissue of the 1990 album.