Another oldie worth spotlighting again is They Might Be Giants' 2002 kids' debut, No! Over the course of listening to No!, we find out that "The Edison Museum" is useful as both an historical site and a creepy place to be sent if you're naughty, and that "John Lee Supertaster"'s diet has to be extra bland to accommodate his sensitive tastebuds. The Appalachian acapella story-song is updated with "I Am Not Your Broom", and "Clap Your Hands" is probably the greatest Toddler Time singalong song that Wilson Pickett never made.
The most awesome thing about this album is that the songs can pretty much be interchanged with songs from their best TMBG "adult" albums. A world controlled by kid-created robots, the mystery of balloon manufacturing, making sure to cross the street at the corner: yes, TMBG explore the imagination of a child without insulting the kid or annoying the parent. What other children's album ends with a fist-pumping anthem to the pros of beddybyetime?
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
***They Might Be Giants***
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2 comments:
Good luck on the month of reviews, Warren. I've been following the blog for awhile now and really enjoy it. (Best discovery so far was Agent 23 Skiddoo.)
"No!" is, and has been, one of the most popular CDs in the house for years. I've been a bit fanatical about TMBG since first seeing the "Don't Let's Start" video on MTV so long ago. Like you said, not only is this album great for kids but it has tracks that stack up against their best work from any part of their career.
Yes, this is a glorious little piece of fun. My son and I watched the little animations that came with it over and over.
It was very inspiring at the time because it was almost exactly what I wanted to be doing. In fact, this year I started writing, recording, and posting a "song a week" at mchatton.com and hope to have the resulting cd reviewed here soon.
Thank you for such a fantastic site.
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