I didn't realize this came with a bonus CD filled with over a half hour of extra TMBG songlets. Very much the feel of "Fingertips" from Apollo 18, where you got 18 tracks crammed into about 5 minutes, the bonus cd included with "The Else" is a better-realized group of 20 songlets, each about 1-2 minutes in length.

Although there are several great songs on the main album, this bonus CD is chock full of brilliant little ditties that harken back to the Johns' Flood and Apollo 18 days.

This album is amazing... fun, funny songs that rock. My favorites are the ultra-catchy "The Cap'm" and hilarious "The Mesopotamians" (check out the video on YouTube), but really the whole CD is amazing. Mine came with the bonus disc "cast your pod to the wind" which has some of my favorite tracks on it. If you're interested in this band, buy this CD!

Another great album from the two John's. Accessible and with some great sing along choruses. It's great that I can keep enjoying them, I first bought Flood in 1990, since then i've bought nearly all the albums before and since.They've developed their sound and influenced many bands. Keep it up.

Plotting the course and nature of They Might Be Giant's creative output is a lot like trying to map a vast river system. Over the past ten years or so their flow has been channelled through diverging tributaries. They do children's music, they do commercial music ("Malcolm in the Middle," "The Daily Show"), they do music for theater, and they play rock and roll as an impeccably entertaining live band. And while all of this can be read as one interconnected system when viewed from an aerial perspective, each tributary is navigated separately.

The Else is basically the latest mile marker in the continuous stream their full lengths have been travelling since Factory Showroom.

While The Else is at least as good as The Spine and Mink Car, I'm not convinced it couldn't benefit from some editing. TMBG somehow manages to record nearly every song they ever write. It seems to me they allocate certain "types" of songs to their full lengths, a different "type" to their ep's, and delegate a third "type" to their podcasts and compilations. I'm not convinced this is the best approach.

The result is consistent full lengths characterized by lots of well developed but basically conventional (if whimsical) pop songs. The little charming and weird songs that punctuated earlier releases are missing. These songs still exist and appear on an assortment of delightful ep's (ex. The Spine Surfs Alone) which sort of supplement the full lengths. But, unfortunately, there are now big repositories of offal, such as They Got Lost and Cast Your Pod to the Wind where choice songs get buried alive.

If, through editing, They Might Be Giants could integrate the best features of the three "types," they might release records with the kind of dynamics and charm of earlier records like Flood and Apollo 18. I don't say they would be able to recreate the SOUND of those earlier records, but they could recapture the FEEL.

The Else is fine. There are some excellent songs. Frankly, Flansberg's "Take Out the Trash" could be a huge commercial success with a little marketing. Linnell offers two amazing songs that showcase his peerless, peculiar perspective ("Contrecoup," "Withered Hope"). There are also some tracks that cover old ground ("The Mesopotamians" is an updated "Hi, We're the Replacements" and "With the Dark" is a refreshing update to "Fingertips"). Unfortunately, there are some tracks that are hard to love, such as "Upside Down Frown" and "The Cap'm," which, despite their hooks are a little too hokey for my taste.

For TMBG fans, buying The Else is a foregone conclusion. For people less invested in the band, The Else is worthwhile, but be sure to get Flood, Apollo 18, and Factory Showroom too.

This is the 12th album by They Might Be Giants (it says on the CD). It features their usual brand of catchy melodies and peculiar lyrics. Some of TMBG's later efforts (including this one) have met with disfavor with some longtime fans. But I find their new albums to be quite enjoyable, including this one.