(Elektra)
As much as I enjoyed this album, I have to admit that, compared to other They Might Be Giants discs, Factory Showroom does not have the same range. They Might Be Giants have long been known for producing sounds that are unusual and experimental, and we certainly see some of this in Factory Showroom. For example, they play with funk and disco styles to produce "S-E-X-X-Y", which is a bit different from the usual fare. I also can't picture many other bands going down to Edison Laboratories to record a song on the historical equipment, as They Might Be Giants did for the song "I Can Hear You." Still, with a mere 13 songs, Factory Showroom is about 70% as long as a typical They Might Be Giants album, and seems to contain about 70% as much material that is really fresh and new as you would normally expect to find in a They Might Be Giants album.
Some highlights of Factory Showroom include "James K. Polk," which is a favorite from their live shows and first saw the light of day as a B-side; "Metal Detector" and "Spiraling Shape," which are some fun new products of They Might Be Giants' amusingly unique style; and "XTC vs. Adam Ant," a song that is about competing music styles, but which is difficult to identify as belonging to a particular musical genre itself. Still, in all, the album could have stood to contain more surprises.
Possibly John Flansburgh's sideline album, Mono Puff, proved to be too much of a distraction. Indeed, if you were to take the best five songs from Mono Puff and add them to Factory Showroom, you would have a really good album - definitely up to They Might Be Giants usual high standard. The obvious solution for fans of TMBG is to buy both albums and tape them together. If you're not familiar with They Might Be Giants, however, I would recommend starting with one of their other albums.
