At an impressionable young age, many of us may have heard our first non-Raffi album. And for some, it was "Flood" by They Might Be Giants, and it was magnificent. They Might Be Giants taught us all sorts of life lessons about Turkish history, pet rocks and how racist jokes are never, ever funny. Everything the seminal band threw at our minds stuck like glue. They Might Be Giants appears fully aware of its youth market, as the band has taken to releasing educational albums and DVDs directed toward preschoolers.
Its latest release, "Here Come the ABCs," is, naturally, dedicated to the alphabet. Specifically, it's dedicated to letter identification, basic phonetics and memorization. It is a little difficult for a college student to assume how a 4-year-old would react to the different songs and vignettes, but, if past experience with "Flood" is any indication, kids will love it. Pop it in for baby-sitting charges or younger siblings and find out.
The DVD revolves around different animated sketches centered on TMBG songs. Since the songs are the foundation of each skit, the music is what makes or breaks every scene. Some of the songs are phenomenal. "Who Put the Alphabet in Alphabetical Order?" is nothing more than a rockin' version of the alphabet song we all know and love, but if kids are going to learn the alphabet, they might as well develop some pop sensibility while they're at it. "C is for Conifers" may be the most heartfelt song ever recorded about pine trees. Did you know there were once more than 500 kinds of pine trees!? "D is for Drums" is an especially infectious song featuring puppets, drum solos and the letter D.
Most of the songs featuring puppets are particularly well done. Whether the decision to have puppets singing all the best songs was intentional or not, it turned out to be great. The puppeteering is exceptional, and the singing TMBG puppets give the songs a surprisingly intimate feel. The puppet vignettes also provide a welcome respite from some of the animation, which just happens to be, well, crappy.
Unfortunately, not all of the songs on the DVD are up to snuff. I expect more from TMBG than songs like "Alphabet of Nations," an "Animaniacs"-style song going through different countries that begin with various letters of the alphabet (Algeria, Bolivia, Cambodia, etc). The song is made even worse by the cop-out made-up country of "West Xylophone," which is supposed to represent the letter X.
Other songs are cute but don't seem to have an ounce of educational value. "D & W" is a great example. The song is about D being an introverted letter while W is a smiling extrovert. At the end of the song, D explains he is too much of a sports fan to really bother with the rest of the alphabet. Huh?
The weaknesses on "Here Come the ABCs" are apparent. Some of the songs are strange, some seem pointless, and the animation leaves a lot to be desired. But viewing the DVD as a whole, it's impossible to ignore how great this video is. It's the kind of educational video that is informative (for toddlers), clever, smart and not condescending in the least. Any tyke would eat this up. To prove this hypothesis, try sending this DVD to anyone with a pair of kids. Considering the impact "Flood" had back in the day, TMBG wants to show they can get kids off to a similarly upbeat start.
