By They Might Be Giants, 1993

Learned from a 1959 children's educational record, the title track of the four-song Why Does The Sun Shine?is a little science lesson that's (literally) textbook TMBG--half ridiculously geeky, half ridiculously tuneful, and a longtime favorite of their live sets in a much more rocked-up version. It's backed up by well-intentioned but fairly pointless covers of the Allman Brothers' archetypal Southern-rock instrumental "Jessica" and the Meat Puppets' "Whirlpool" (arranged around twin saxes), and an original called "Spy" that the band claims is its "homage to secret agent themes and free improvisation," but has more to do with the onstage mayhem it provides, with John Linnell "conducting" the whole band in single-note blasts.

--Douglas Wolk

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