John Henry (album)

John Henry
Studio album by
They Might Be Giants
ReleasedSeptember 13, 1994
RecordedNovember 1993–June 1994
Studio
  • Bearsville (Woodstock, New York)
  • Skyline (New York)
GenreAlternative rock, indie rock
Length57:07
LabelElektra
ProducerPaul Fox, They Might Be Giants
They Might Be Giants chronology
Back to Skull
(1994) 		John Henry
(1994) 		Live!! New York City 10/14/94
(1994)
Singles from John Henry
  1. "Snail Shell"
    Released: August 15, 1994
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Chicago Tribune[2]
Entertainment WeeklyB[3]
NME7/10[4]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[5]
The Village Voice(choice cut)[6]

John Henry is the fifth studio album by American alternative rock group They Might Be Giants. It was released in 1994. It is the first album by They Might Be Giants to include a full band arrangement, rather than synthesized and programmed backing tracks. The album's name, a reference to the man versus machine fable of John Henry, is an allusion to the band's fundamental switch to more conventional instrumentation, especially the newly established use of a human drummer instead of a drum machine.[7]

John Henry is TMBG's longest record and was the band's highest-charting adult album, having peaked at #61 on the Billboard 200, until 2011's Join Us, which peaked at #32.[8] In 2013, the album was reissued across a double LP by Asbestos Records.[9]

  1. ^ Anderson, Rick. "John Henry – They Might Be Giants". AllMusic. Retrieved September 4, 2016.
  2. ^ Caro, Mark (September 29, 1994). "They Might Be Giants: John Henry (Elektra)". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved September 4, 2016.
  3. ^ Mirkin, Steven (September 16, 1994). "John Henry". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on February 4, 2017. Retrieved September 4, 2016.
  4. ^ "They Might Be Giants: John Henry". NME. September 17, 1994. p. 50.
  5. ^ Considine, J. D. (2004). "They Might Be Giants". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 808–09. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  6. ^ Christgau, Robert (March 11, 1997). "Consumer Guide". The Village Voice. Retrieved September 4, 2016.
  7. ^ "tmbg.com information on John Henry". Archived from the original on June 6, 1997. Retrieved 2017-04-25.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link). Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  8. ^ Billboard.com TMBG chart history. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  9. ^ "They Might Be Giants - John Henry 2xLP". Asbestos Records. Retrieved 2013-05-16.