Here Come the ABCs

Here Come the ABCs
Studio album by They Might Be Giants
Released February 15, 2005 (CD)
October 25, 2005 (CD/DVD)
Recorded 2004-2005
Genre Children's music
Length 57:57
Label Disney Sound /Idlewild
Producer They Might Be Giants and Pat Dillett
They Might Be Giants chronology
Venue Songs
(2004)		 Here Come the ABCs
(2005)		 A User's Guide to They Might Be Giants
(2005)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic link
Common Sense Media link
Robert Christgau link

Here Come the ABCs is the second children's album by alternative rock band They Might Be Giants, aimed at young children learning the alphabet. The CD and DVD were originally released separately, but since have been released together as a combo. There are 25 songs in the CD and 39 in the DVD.

While it was produced and released by Walt Disney Records, the band was reportedly given complete creative control over the project, which at the time was very unusual for Walt Disney Records, which had until then followed a strict artist control policy. As a result, the DVD features a variety of puppetry, animation and live action supplied by personal friends of the group, including AJ Schnack, who directed the TMBG documentary Gigantic (A Tale of Two Johns). For guest vocals on a few tracks, they turned to family: John Flansburgh's wife Robin Goldwasser, and John Linnell's son, Henry. The music videos that appear on the DVD were also aired (in part or whole) on the Disney Channel's children's programming block, Playhouse Disney.

Here Come the ABCs was a great success for They Might Be Giants, the video being certified Gold (sales over 50,000) in 2005. The album reached #1 on Billboard’s Children’s Music charts, won Parenting Magazine’s Children’s DVD of the Year Award and two National Parenting Publications Awards (NAAPA).[1] In addition, Amazon.com called it "the best Children's Music album of 2005" and the 13th best overall album of 2005. Two follow-ups were released, Here Come the 123s in 2008 and Here Comes Science in 2009.

Although the audio-only release is considered to be They Might Be Giants' 11th studio album, some of the songs make little sense without their visual accompaniment.

Track listing

CD

All songs by They Might Be Giants unless otherwise noted.

  1. "Here Come the ABCs" – 0:11
  2. "Alphabet of Nations" – 1:26
  3. "E Eats Everything" – 2:43
  4. "Flying V" – 1:34
  5. "Q U" – 1:09
  6. "Go for G!" – 1:14
  7. "Pictures of Pandas Painting" – 2:07
  8. "D & W" – 1:37
  9. "Fake-Believe" – 1:51
  10. "Can You Find It?" – 2:55
  11. "The Vowel Family" – 1:59
  12. "Letter/Not a Letter" – 1:08
  13. "Alphabet Lost and Found (Marty Beller) – 2:49
  14. "I C U" – 1:49
  15. "Letter Shapes" – 1:22
  16. "Who Put the Alphabet in Alphabetical Order?" – 1:46
  17. "Rolling O" – 1:26
  18. "L M N O" – 1:43
  19. "C Is for Conifers" – 2:37
  20. "Fake-Believe (Type B)" – 1:56
  21. "D Is for Drums" – 2:21
  22. "Z Y X" – 1:21
  23. "Goodnight My Friends" – 0:25
  24. "Clap Your Hands" – 1:21
    • A bonus track
  25. "Here in Higglytown (Theme to Playhouse Disney's Higglytown Heroes)" (Dan Miller, They Might Be Giants) – 0:58
    • A bonus track

DVD

  1. "Here Come The ABCs" 0:25
  2. "Alphabet Of Nations" 1:26
  3. "E Eats Everything" 2:43
  4. "Flying V" 1:34
  5. "I Am A Robot" 1:29
  6. "Q U" 1:09
  7. "Go For G!" 1:14
  8. "Pictures Of Pandas Painting" 2:07
  9. "D & W" 1:37
  10. "Fake-Believe" 1:51
  11. "Can You Find It?" 2:55
  12. Introducing The Vowel Family 0:11
  13. "The Vowel Family" 1:59
  14. "A To Z" 0:24
  15. "Letter / Not a Letter" 1:08
  16. "Letter Shapes" 1:22
  17. "Alphabet Lost And Found" 2:49
  18. "I C U" 1:49
  19. "I Am A Robot (Type B)" 0:56
  20. John And John Introduce... 0:10
  21. "Who Put The Alphabet In Alphabetical Order?" 1:46
  22. "Rolling O" 1:26
  23. "L M N O" 1:43
  24. Introducing C Is for Conifers 0:12
  25. "C Is For Conifers" 2:37
  26. "Fake-Believe (Type B)" 1:56
  27. "A To Z (Type B)" 0:29
  28. "D Is For Drums" 2:21
  29. "Introducing ZYX" 0:09
  30. "Z Y X" 1:21
  31. "Goodnight My Friends" 0:25
  32. "Here Come The ABCs' 0:11
  33. Introducing The Bonus Tracks 0:14
  34. "Clap Your Hands" 1:21
  35. "Violin" 3:33
  36. "Stalk of Wheat" 1:19
  37. "Robot Parade" 1:22
  38. "Sleepwalkers" 2:40
  39. "Here in Higglytown (Theme to Playhouse Disney's Higglytown Heroes)" 0:58

Exclusive bonus tracks

Special editions with exclusive bonus tracks were produced for various outlets. Bonus tracks include:

In popular culture

"Can You Find It?" was featured on the soundtrack to the movie Wordplay.

"Robot Parade" was featured during the credits to an episode of the animated television series The Simpsons.

References

  1. ↑ tmbg.com fact sheet.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 3/17/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.