They Might Be Giants (album)
| They Might Be Giants | ||||
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| Studio album by They Might Be Giants | ||||
| Released | November 4, 1986 | |||
| Recorded | December 1985–August 1986 | |||
| Studio | Studio Pass and Dubway Studios, NYC | |||
| Genre | Alternative rock, new wave | |||
| Length | 38:28 | |||
| Label | Restless/Bar/None | |||
| Producer | Bill Krauss | |||
| They Might Be Giants chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide |  |
| The Village Voice | A |
They Might Be Giants, sometimes called The Pink Album, is the debut album from Brooklyn-based band They Might Be Giants. It was released by Bar/None in 1986. The album generated two singles, "Don't Let's Start" and "(She Was A) Hotel Detective". It is included on Then: The Earlier Years, a compilation of the band's early material, in its entirety, with the exception of "Don't Let's Start", which is replaced with the single mix for the compilation.
"Don't Let's Start", one of the album's two singles, is often cited as a key track in the band's catalogue, and its success contributed positively to the sale of the album. As a result of this prominence, when the band made the move to the major label Elektra Records, "Don't Let's Start" was reissued in Europe with alternative B-sides.
In July 2014, the band released a live version of the album at no charge on NoiseTrade. All the songs were recorded during the band's 2013 tour.
They Might Be Giants was the second album to be released on the fledgling Bar/None label, with They Might Be Giants as the second group signed to the independent label. Many of the songs on the album existed in a demo form on the band's 1985 demo tape, which was also technically self-titled, though many were re-recorded or brought into new mixes for the commercial album. The material from the tape was recorded at Studio PASS in New York City with the assistance of Alex Noyes, who permitted the band to use the studio after it closed each day. Additional recording and mixing was done at Dubway Studios.
Some unconventional recording techniques were used in the production of the album. The music is spare, mostly uptempo synthesizer-and-guitar pop punctuated with odd sound samples and occasionally veering into sparse country- or folk-like arrangements. Drum and bass tracks are almost entirely synthesized, though the album prominently features the accordion. In order to record the guitar solo in "Absolutely Bill's Mood", the band telephoned Eugene Chadbourne in Greensboro, NC from Dubway Studios. Chadbourne played the acoustic solo and it was recorded onto the studio's answering machine, then mixed into the song.
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