Dial-A-Song: 20 Years of They Might Be Giants
Dial-A-Song: 20 Years Of They Might Be Giants is a 2002 compilation album by They Might Be Giants issued by Rhino Records and compiled by singer, songwriter, and guitarist John Flansburgh. Despite its name, the compilation does not include tracks from the band's "Dial-A-Song" service. It is instead an anthology of various album and live tracks from the band's history, spanning their full career up to the time of its release. It includes tracks from every album starting with 1986's They Might Be Giants up through No!, their first children's album, which was released only three months before this compilation.
| Dial-A-Song: 20 Years of They Might Be Giants | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Compilation album by | ||||
| Released | September 17, 2002 | |||
| Recorded | 1985–2002 | |||
| Genre | Alternative rock | |||
| Length | 150:16 | |||
| Label | Rhino Records | |||
| Producer | Various | |||
| Compiler | John Flansburgh | |||
| They Might Be Giants chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   |
| The Austin Chronicle |  |
| The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | |
| The Village Voice | A[5] |
The first disc focuses mainly on the group's singles and better-known album tracks. Disc two delves into more obscure fan favorites and live cuts.
Song notes
Some of the songs on the album are actually different versions than the original, such as:
- "Older" is the original version that featured on the album Long Tall Weekend and on the ABC show Brave New World.
- "Robot Parade" is the "Adult Version", with a more thrashy sort of sound, as opposed to the version from No!.
- "Boss of Me" is best known as the theme song to Malcolm in the Middle, although the version here is the full version, not the shortened version used on the show
- "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" is a cover, originally performed by The Four Lads
- "The Guitar" is a semi-remake of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight"
- "New York City" is a cover, originally performed by cub
- "Dr. Evil" was written for Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
- "Why Does the Sun Shine (The Sun Is a Mass of Incandescent Gas) (live)" is the live version of the song from Severe Tire Damage and it is a cover, originally recorded by Tom Glazer
- "James K. Polk" is a new unreleased version, although it is not labeled as such. It seems to include the same instrumentation as the version from Factory Showroom, but with different vocals
- "She's Actual Size (live)" is, along with the above "James K. Polk", the only other exclusive, unreleased song on the set
- "Spy (Original Version)" is listed as an exclusive, unreleased live version, but is actually the version of the song from Why Does The Sun Shine? (The Sun Is a Mass of Incandescent Gas)
- "Stormy Pinkness (live in Berlin)" is also listed as an exclusive, but it was previously released through the TMBG Unlimited mp3 service
- "Fingertips" on this album is one track while Apollo 18 had as 21 separate tracks
- This album contains the single remix of "Don't Let's Start" and "(She Was A) Hotel Detective"
Track listing
All songs by They Might Be Giants unless otherwise noted.
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Original Release | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "She's an Angel" | They Might Be Giants | 2:36 | |
| 2. | "How Can I Sing Like a Girl?" | Factory Showroom | 4:28 | |
| 3. | "James K. Polk" | Matthew Hill, They Might Be Giants | Factory Showroom | 3:05 |
| 4. | "Meet James Ensor" | John Henry | 1:33 | |
| 5. | "Mammal" | Apollo 18 | 2:13 | |
| 6. | "Pet Name" | Factory Showroom | 4:02 | |
| 7. | "No!" | No! | 1:29 | |
| 8. | "I Can Hear You" | Factory Showroom | 1:56 | |
| 9. | "Spider" | Apollo 18 | 0:51 | |
| 10. | "I Should Be Allowed to Think" | John Henry | 3:07 | |
| 11. | "Fingertips" | Apollo 18 | 4:33 | |
| 12. | "She's Actual Size (Live)" | Previously unreleased | 7:18 | |
| 13. | "Spy (Original Version)" | Why Does The Sun Shine? (The Sun Is a Mass of Incandescent Gas) EP | 2:31 | |
| 14. | "Stormy Pinkness (Live)" | TMBG Unlimited MP3 service | 2:21 | |
| 15. | "Exquisite Dead Guy" | Factory Showroom | 2:02 | |
| 16. | "Robot Parade (Adult Version)" | Working Undercover for the Man EP | 1:05 | |
| 17. | "Boat of Car" | They Might Be Giants | 1:14 | |
| 18. | "S-E-X-X-Y" | Hal Cragin, They Might Be Giants | Factory Showroom | 3:52 |
| 19. | "Number Three" | They Might Be Giants | 1:27 | |
| 20. | "The End of the Tour" | John Henry | 3:18 | |
| 21. | "They Might Be Giants" | Flood | 2:45 | |
| 22. | "Hey Mr. DJ, I Thought You Said We Had a Deal" | Purple Toupee EP | 3:48 | |
| 23. | "Nightgown of the Sullen Moon" | They'll Need a Crane EP | 1:59 | |
| 24. | "Snowball in Hell" | Lincoln | 2:31 | |
| 25. | "Purple Toupee" | Lincoln | 2:40 | |
| 26. | "Cowtown" | Lincoln | 2:21 | |
| Total length: | 71:02 | |||
Personnel
Musicians
- John Flansburgh – guitar, keyboards, vocals, compilation
- John Linnell – accordion, keyboards, saxophone, vocals, compilation
- Dan Miller – guitar, synth guitar
- Danny Weinkauf – bass
- Dan Hickey – drums
- Zachary Alford [6] – drums
- Amy Allison – vocals
- Alan Bezozi – tambourine, drums (snare)
- Steve Calhoon – drums
- Laura Cantrell – vocals
- Ron Caswell – tuba
- Hal Cragin – bass
- Mark Feldman – violin
- Robin Goldwasser – vocals
- Sue Hadjopoulas – percussion, conga
- Nicholas Hill – vocals
- Kurt Hoffman – horn, horn arrangements, string arrangements
- Luis Jardim – percussion
- Gregor Kitzis – violin
- Julian Koster – singing saw
- Ron Lawrence – viola
- Dan Levine – trombone
- Frank London – trumpet
- Tony Maimone – bass
- Elma Mayer – vocals
- Tim Newman – trombone
- Jim O'Connor – trumpet
- Mark Pender – trumpet
- Mauro Refosco – percussion
- Erik Sanko – bass
- Eric Schermerhorn – acoustic guitar, guitar
- Adam Schlesinger – keyboards, programming, producer
- Peter Stampfel – banjo, vocals
- Krystof Witek – violin
- Lyle Workman – guitar
- Garo Yellin – cello
Production Crew
- Danny Alonso – engineer
- Susan Anderson – photography
- Paul Angelli – engineer, mixing
- Ben Bailes – engineer
- Mark Bishop – engineer
- Albert Caiati – engineer
- Bruce Calder – assistant
- Bob Clearmountain – mixing
- Paula Court – photography
- Reuben Cox – photography
- Peter Dilg – producer
- Patrick Dillett – producer, engineer, mixing
- TJ Doherty – engineer
- Edward Douglas – engineer
- Tom Durack – producer, mixing
- Sheryl Farber – editorial supervision
- Alan Ford – engineer
- Paul Fox – producer
- Cheryl Fugate – project assistant
- Tony Gillis – engineer
- Barbara Glauber – design
- Matt Gold – engineer
- Michael Halsband – photography
- Cosmo Heidtman – engineer
- Dan Hersch – remastering
- Al Houghton – engineer
- Jim Hughes – compilation
- Bill Inglot – remastering
- Hiro Ishihara – engineer
- Beverly Joel – design
- Julie Kantner – photography
- Bill Krauss – producer, engineer
- Chris Laidlaw – engineer
- Rich Lamb – engineer
- Clive Langer – producer
- Mark Leviton – compilation
- April Milek – project assistant
- Katherine Miller – engineer
- Roger Moutenot – engineer, mixing, whip
- UE Nastasi – assistant
- Alex Noyes – engineer
- Alex Olsson – engineer
- Randy Perry – project assistant
- David Robbins – engineer
- Marc Salata – product manager
- Tim Scanlin – A&R
- Brent Sigmeth – engineer
- Brian Speiser – mixing
- Jason Spittle – engineer
- Mark Stern – photography
- Ed Thacker – engineer, mixing
- They Might Be Giants – producer
- Greg Thompson – engineer
- Sarah Vowell – liner notes
- Jeff White – compilation
- Alan Winstanley – producer, mixing
- Jeremy Wolff – photography
- Steve Woolard – discographical annotation
- Toshikazu Yoshioka – engineer
References
- Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Dial-A-Song: 20 Years of They Might Be Giants - They Might Be Giants". AllMusic. Retrieved 2018-11-30.
- Caligiuri, Jim (2002-12-13). "They Might Be Giants". The Austin Chronicle. Retrieved 2018-11-30.
- Larkin, Colin (2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Omnibus Press. ISBN 9780857125958.
- Brackett, Nathan; Christian Hoard (2004). The Rolling Stone Album Guide. New York City, New York: Simon and Schuster. p. 808. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
- Christgau, Robert (2002-12-24). "Re-make/Re-model". The Village Voice. Retrieved 2018-11-30.
- Discogs - Zachary Alford - (profile & discography)
External links
- Dial-A-Song: 20 Years Of They Might Be Giants at This Might Be A Wiki
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