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
Source	Rating
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). 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.

All songs by They Might Be Giants unless otherwise noted.

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

...
Wikipedia