Here Come the ABCs [CD/DVD Combo]

I really needed to point out that only 1 out of 100 reviewers is as lame as... "C. Kirkpatrick" for giving only two stars and really not liking this. I would not send my daughter over to your house for a play date for sure. The musical is creative and whimsical! One of my all-time favorite memories was driving home with wife after dinner, daughter strapped in back with ABC's playing. She was about 18 months and recited all of the tree names pretty clearly in "C is for conifers". We both have many priceless memories from this CD.

My 3 1/2 year old loves this CD. I didn't realize when I bought it that it also came w/ a DVD. It was a pleasant surprise. The content is engaging for young and old alike, which is nice since my son likes to watch it over and over again.

My first introduction to They Might BE Giants was when their videos for Istanbul and Particle Man first aired on Tiny Toon Adventures. I've been listening to their music since. I studied music for a long time and studied many different kinds of music and taken an interest in many artists, but for some reason They Might Be Giants winds up being at the top of my listening list again, over and over. I recently purchased both the ABC's and 123's and watch the cintained dvd with my 1-year-old daughter. These two dvds are the only content we really ever let her watch, and they are the only videos that have ever kept her attention long enough - she listens and watches avidly, dances, claps. I love and sing along to all the songs and sit with her through each viewing of the videos; it's an activity that we both enjoy very much, and she seems genuinely interested in the content of the songs.
So a big thanks to John and John for these 2 cd/dvd combos, and thanks to Amazon for selling them, and a big recommendation for any fellow Giants fans with little Giants fans on board.

TMBG's excellent first kids album "No!" was practically the return of the days of "Flood" and "Lincoln". But on this album, too many songs seem to only appeal to kids. The songs have the variety that TMBG fans have grown to love. Many songs have the great TMBG lyrics. What could go wrong?

Many songs get so elementary that they tend to lose adults. "Letter/Not a Letter" and "The Vowel Family" are good examples. When I thought I would write off the album, I got something like "Can You Find It" or "Alphabet Lost and Found", which have all the heart a TMBG song could have.

There is a problem with TMBG that many fans don't admit. They write and create 100 songs a year, but some of them are just thrown together to make a quota. Thus, you get songs like "Q U", "LMNO" and especially "Goodnight My Friends", which have a quality much less than their fans are used to.

At one point Robin Goldwasser gets thrown in, which is usually a mixed bag. "Who Put the Alphabet in Alphabetical Order" has her sounding like an opera hack; on key but just trying too hard. Talk about the waste of a great song title.

One last thing: Why two versions of "Fake-Believe"? Strange.

Again, there are little bits of good TMBG here and there, and kids can learn and have fun. But if I want to listen to something at work, I'll grab "The Else". So this is a 4 star kids album and a 2 star adult album, so it averages to 3 stars, but that's probably covered on "Here come the 123's".

This is a wonderful CD/DVD! A must for a family with small children. It is so neat to hear our toddler singing about "go, go , go for G" and other silly ABC tunes. Worth every penny.