No! [ENHANCED]

They Might Be Giants

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 11, 2002)
• Original Release Date: 2002
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced
• Label: Rounder / Umgd
• ASIN: B000068C97
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (173 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,828 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Hitch up your I-Pods, egg-headed hipsters of the future: They Might Be Giants, the out-there band that files its sound under the banner of "Can't We All Just Get Along" is speaking your language. What they're saying is No!, but in a way that's weirdly welcoming, especially to anybody who's over 3 and has a hard drive. No!'s computer enhancements (animation, games, and a sing-along scroll bar) don't assign the strictly audio experience to the so-what pile, but at certain moments they seem necessary--how else are you supposed to decipher a song ("Violin") whose only words are "violin," "hippo," and the ticking off of fractional segments of George Washington's head? Of course, to try to make sense of the 17 tunes contained here may be to miss the point. While TMBG's lyrical and vocal hijinks can be off-putting to grownups prone to self-consciousness about not getting the joke, the generation No! takes aim at needs nothing in the way of validation. Thus the brilliance of baggage-free ditties like "Fibber Island," where the natives strum rubber guitars and sew buttons on cars, "John Lee Supertaster," a rock & roll fantasy following a hero with heightened senses of sweet and sour, and "I Am a Grocery Bag," detailing what's bumping around in brown paper after a trip to the market. With their triumph over the tube (TMBG took home a Grammy for the theme to Malcolm in the Middle and perform and wrote the intro to The Daily Show with Jon Stewart), frontmen John Linnell and John Flansburgh have already infiltrated the family market, sort of. No! finds the band bending to a level lots of other giants might overlook, but without cramping up. Given the right reach, They Could Be Kiddie Icons. -Tammy La Gorce

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

181 of 188 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dont cross the street In The middle of NO!, June 18, 2002

A Kid's Review

No! is a great kids album. I have all their cds, and even though i'm 11, this is still a great album. They don't have to be Raffi with songs about cute whales, but they have to be Johns, with songs about grocery bags and hippos.Great animations also!

1.FIBBER ISLAND
A good opening. Almost like a folk song.One of the best kids songs about imagination. One of the best flash games also on the
CD.

2. FOUR OF TWO
Another good {yet older} song. TMBG can sing about loving girls and dating, while still making it appropiate {and a bit confusing when they sing about bugs and flying cars} for kids. Great song.

3. ROBOT PARADE
On the "Working Undercover For The Man" they had an hard rock, fast version of this song. On No! it's softer, and more understandable, even though the game gets boring.

4. NO!
The title track. You get to change No blocks to Yes blocks! A good use of electric guitars.{!}

5. WHERE DO THEY MAKE BALLOONS?
One of the best. Sung by their drummer, I think, this song teaches about other countries and their products while asking the age-old question, "Where DO they make balloons?"

6.IN THE MIDDLE, IN THE MIDDLE, IN THE MIDDLE
An old cheesy 60's song, I think. Sorta dull.

7.VIOLIN
Even though the songs consists of the words "Violin-lin-lin","Hippo", "Mop!" and "Speck of dus-dus-dust" and a fraction lesson using George Washington's head {You'll get a presidential surprise!}, it is one of the best songs on the album.

8.JOHN LEE SUPERTASTER
My personal favorite. A rocking tune about a guy that is a supertaster. Has a hilarious intro by John Flansburgh.

9.EDISON MUSEUM
Originally on "Long Tall Weekend", this is still a great, spooky, educational song.The flash thing has the ghost of Thomas Alva telling you about phonographs and stuff.

10.HOUSE AT THE TOP OF THE TREE
My 2nd favorite, and the best game, where you try to save a treehouse by feeding a disturbing,fat mouse thats eating the house. If you dont feed him, the house falls down. The creepy little guy still pops his head out the window and waves at you.

The next four songs are all under one minute long, and, in my opinion, the worst. Anyway, CLAP YOUR HANDS makes you want to dance, I AM NOT YOUR BROOM is about what happens when your broom runs away, while the WAKE UP CALL song is a bit boring because the only words are Bo Bo Do Bo Bo. I AM A GROCERY BAG is about half a minute long, but you get to play with food in the interactive thing.

The last three songs are about sleeping and lullabies. LAZYHEAD AND SLEEPYBONES is a rather beautiful song that can actually somehom make you fall asleep. BED BED BED is a fast, energetic Beastles-esque type song about...you guessed it, BED!
And SLEEPWALKERS is a med-tempo song about people who roam across the nation while they sleep.

In all, this is a good album and I recommend it to everyone.
{Try to find the bonus song on the CD-ROM!!}

-Thomas Neufeld

70 of 70 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Actual kids LOVE this, and the whole family will be dancing!, August 20, 2002

By	bensmomma "bensmomma" (Ann Arbor, Michigan) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

TMBG's sense of whimsy suits kids music perfectly, although from reading some of the earlier reviews it seems grown-up TMBG fans may be disturbed by the lack of irony. These songs sound just like kids talk, they are tuneful and easy-to-sing-along-with; kids will take them at face value and love them, they don't need the irony.

The computer animations in the enhanced CD are kid-level and fun from a kid's perspective (like if you click on the groceries in the song "I'm a Grocery Bag," they all spill on the ground. And what kid doesn't like to spill things?)

Here are our current favs:
1) Fibber Island - "Here on Fibber Island, we strum rubber guitars, our friends live on Mars, we sew buttons on our cars ". The exact same kind of imagination your 5-year-old has.

2) [Don't Cross the Street] In the Middle In the Middle In the Middle. So catchy you will find yourself singing it to yourself alone in your office (whether you want to or not, so beware). And, extra credit, the message is a good one for kids to hear. If you listen to this one on your computer, little cars drive around the screen and you can make them stop and go if you click on the stoplights!

3) Bed, Bed, Bed - After a mere 24 hours, our new family theme song for the evening hour. TMBD cleverly put this and two other sleepy-time songs at the end of the album, in sequence. Play the album through and past these 3 songs and presto, dozing children.

If you are the kind of grown-up who can't stomach another earnest Raffi album, you will still have the satisfaction of TMBG's customary irreverence and, yes, silliness. Also, it will MAKE THE WHOLE FAMILY DANCE.

29 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I'm not in the target audience, but I still love it, June 13, 2002

By	Nathan M DeHoff (Absurd City) - See all my reviews

I'm not a child, nor do I have any children, or really know any children, or have any idea what they like these days. Therefore, I don't know whether your kids will like They Might Be Giants' first children's album. I DO know, however, that this is a great album, and despite (or maybe even because of)being geared toward children, it contains some of their best work. Songs like "Fibber Island," "Robot Parade," "Bed Bed Bed," and "Sleepwalkers" have a lot of the typical TMBG spirit in both the music and lyrics. There are excellent guest vocals provided by Robin Goldwasser (John Flansburgh's wife), Danny Weinkauf (the band's bass player), and Nick Hill (a WFMU disc jockey). There was obviously a lot of effort put into making an album that both kids and adults could enjoy. What's more, this is an enchanced CD, with cute interactive cartoon videos for most of the songs. Try to stop a giant mouse from eating a tree, play with food from a grocery bag with moving eyes, learn about Thomas Edison in fun facts that come out of his haunted mansion, and watch the planet Mars sing. This CD is well worth getting for TMBG fans both young and old.