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''Factory Showroom'' is the sixth studio album by the American rock band
They Might Be Giants They Might Be Giants (often abbreviated as TMBG) is an American alternative rock band formed in 1982 by John Flansburgh and John Linnell. During TMBG's early years, Flansburgh and Linnell frequently performed as a duo, often accompanied by a dr ...
. It was released in 1996 by
Elektra Records Elektra Records (or Elektra Entertainment) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between th ...
. The album reclaims the more diverse and electronic sound of their early work, but differed from previous They Might Be Giants recordings in some ways. ''Factory Showroom'' was their first album to feature a second guitarist, Eric Schermerhorn. ''Factory Showroom'' was tied with ''
The Else ''The Else'' is the twelfth studio album by rock group They Might Be Giants, released by Idlewild Records in 2007. The album was produced in part by The Dust Brothers, along with Pat Dillett and the band. ''The Else'' was first available fo ...
'' for the fewest tracks on any They Might Be Giants studio album, until ''
The Escape Team ''The Escape Team'' is the 22nd album by New York City-based alternative rock band They Might Be Giants, released on December 10, 2018 for digital download and pre-order. The digital download and pre-order was released simultaneously with ''My Murd ...
'' was released, having only 11 tracks. It was also the first album to be produced by Pat Dillett, who would go on to work with the band on all subsequent albums. Two years after ''Factory Showrooms release,
John Flansburgh John Conant Flansburgh (born May 6, 1960) is an American musician. He is half of the long-standing Brooklyn, New York-based alternative rock duo They Might Be Giants with John Linnell, for which he writes, sings, and plays rhythm guitar. Commo ...
cited the album as his favorite by the duo. Feeling that
Elektra Records Elektra Records (or Elektra Entertainment) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between th ...
did not do enough to promote the album, among other disputes, They Might Be Giants left the label after its release. ''Factory Showroom'' was released on vinyl for the first time in March 2012 by Asbestos Records.


Song notes

* "I Can Hear You" was recorded at the Edison Laboratory on a
wax cylinder Waxes are a diverse class of organic compounds that are lipophilic, malleable solids near ambient temperatures. They include higher alkanes and lipids, typically with melting points above about 40 °C (104 °F), melting to give low ...
phonograph without the use of electricity. * "New York City" is a cover of a song by the band Cub. * "
James K. Polk James Knox Polk (November 2, 1795 – June 15, 1849) was the 11th president of the United States, serving from 1845 to 1849. He previously was the 13th speaker of the House of Representatives (1835–1839) and ninth governor of Tennessee (18 ...
" is a song about James Knox Polk, the 11th President of the United States. A sparser, drum machine driven version had previously appeared on the ''
Istanbul (Not Constantinople) "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" is a 1953 novelty song, with lyrics by Jimmy Kennedy and music by Nat Simon. It was written on the 500th anniversary of the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans. The lyrics humorously refer to the official re ...
'' EP (1990). It features singing saw by
Julian Koster Julian Koster (born July 26, 1972) is an American multidisciplinary artist. As a musician he is a member of the Elephant 6 Collective, the leader of The Music Tapes, and a member of Neutral Milk Hotel. He is known for writing, directing, and a ...
. * The
hidden track In the field of recorded music, a hidden track (sometimes called a ghost track, secret track or unlisted track) is a song or a piece of audio that has been placed on a CD, audio cassette, LP record, or other recorded medium, in such a way as to ...
(track 0) on the CD entitled "Token Back to Brooklyn" is accessible by rewinding from the beginning of Track 1 ("S-E-X-X-Y"), and is not playable on all CD players. It can, however, also be heard on the rarities compilation '' They Got Lost'' along with the Internet-only album '' Long Tall Weekend''. * A cassette version of the album that claimed to be a "promotional item" from Elektra was leaked by an unknown source. Along with every song from the standard release (including "Token Back to Brooklyn"), this version also included versions of "On the Drag" and "Older" that have not reappeared on an official release, as well as "SenSurround" (the single version), "Counterfeit Faker", "Certain People I Could Name", "Unforgotten", "Reprehensible", "They Got Lost", and "Rat Patrol". All of these tracks were rejects from the Factory Showroom sessions, and were either released on the '' S-E-X-X-Y'' EP, the following album, " Long Tall Weekend", or the 2002 compilation '' They Got Lost''.


Track listing

;Notes *"Token Back to Brooklyn" is a hidden track placed within the
pregap The pregap on a Red Book audio CD is the portion of the audio track that precedes "index 01" for a given track in the table of contents (TOC). The pregap ("index 00") is typically two seconds long and usually, but not always, contains silence. Po ...
of track 1.


Personnel

;They Might Be Giants: *
John Flansburgh John Conant Flansburgh (born May 6, 1960) is an American musician. He is half of the long-standing Brooklyn, New York-based alternative rock duo They Might Be Giants with John Linnell, for which he writes, sings, and plays rhythm guitar. Commo ...
– vocals, backing vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar * John Linnell – vocals, backing vocals, synthesizers, organs, accordion, piano,
Mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which pushes a length of magnetic tape against a capstan, which pulls it across a playback head. ...
, clavinet * Brian Doherty – drums, percussion * Graham Maby – electric and acoustic bass * Eric Schermerhorn – lead electric guitar ;Additional musicians * Amy Allison – vocal sample on track 8 * Steve Calhoon – drums on track 6 *Ron Caswell –
tuba The tuba (; ) is the lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece (brass), mouthpiece. It first appeared in the mid-19th&n ...
on track 12 *Hal Cragin – electric bass on tracks 1, 6, 8 *
Ralph Farris Ralph Farris (born Ralph Howard Farris, Jr., 1970) is an American violist, violinist, composer, arranger, producer and conductor, best known as a founding member and artistic director of the ensemble ETHEL. Farris is an electric string player with ...
viola ; german: Bratsche , alt=Viola shown from the front and the side , image=Bratsche.jpg , caption= , background=string , hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow , range= , related= *Violin family ...
on track 8 *
Yuval Gabay Soul Coughing was an American alternative rock band composed of vocalist/guitarist Mike Doughty (also known as M. Doughty), keyboardist/sampler Mark Degli Antoni, bassist Sebastian Steinberg, and drummer Yuval Gabay. Soul Coughing developed ...
– drums on track −1 *Sue Hadjopoulos – congas and percussion on tracks 1, 11 *Amanda Homi – vocals on track 13 *Gregor Kitzis –
violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...
on track 1 *
Julian Koster Julian Koster (born July 26, 1972) is an American multidisciplinary artist. As a musician he is a member of the Elephant 6 Collective, the leader of The Music Tapes, and a member of Neutral Milk Hotel. He is known for writing, directing, and a ...
singing saw on track 10 *Ron Lawrence – viola on track 1 * Steve Light
vibraphone The vibraphone is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a ''vibraphonist,'' ''vibraharpist, ...
on track 9 *Mo' Funky Element – drum break sample on track 1 *Tim Newman –
trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrat ...
on track 1 *Jim O'Connor –
trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standar ...
on track 1 *Jay Sherman-Godfrey – acoustic and electric slide guitar on track 3 *Krystof Witek – violin on tracks 1, 8 *
Lyle Workman Lyle Dean Workman is an American guitarist, composer, session and touring musician, and music producer. His music has been widely distributed since his debut on the eponymous ''Bourgeois Tagg'' album in 1986, and is known for his work as compose ...
– lead electric guitar on track 6 * Garo Yellin
cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...
on tracks 1, 4, 7, 8 *Kurt Hoffman – string and horn arrangements on track 1


References


External links

*'' Factory Showroom'' at This Might Be A Wiki {{Authority control 1996 albums Elektra Records albums They Might Be Giants albums Albums produced by Pat Dillett