Search - They Might Be Giants :: Dial-A-Song: 20 Years of (Dig)

An *Excellent* "Best Of..." Album

subpolka | Washington, DC | 09/20/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"To clarify, what you're looking at is *not* a compilation of rarities, alternate studio cuts, or live performances (so what if the album title references their Dial-a-Song service? it means *nothing*...), but a yay-happy-twentieth-anniversary celebration of some of the Giant's greatest releases, spanning from their very first album through their latest release, the youngsta-oriented "No!" Also included are two previously-available-only-on-soundtrack tracks, the "Malcom in the Middle" [extended] theme, "Boss of Me" and "Dr. Evil" from Austin Powers II. What I love most about this item is that it's not exclusive to the more popular TMBG singles, and includes a few old-school, lesser-known gems like "Nightgown of the Sullen Moon", "Snowball in Hell", and "She Was An Angel" (by my definition, one of the best Giant songs to ever exist). For most TMBG fans, this CD brings few surprises...but that's no reason to shrug it off. As I said earlier, this is a great-great-wonderful collection of songs and, by *far*, one of the better "Best Of" albums that I've ever encountered. My recommendation? Open your wallet in the name of supporting quality music, and buy the li'l darlin."

Among the best of the "Best of" records!

Gail Martin | Houston, TX United States | 02/16/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I bought "Dial a Song" expecting a run-of-the-mill "best of" compilation, hoping to fill in the cracks in my small collection of "Giants" recordings. Well imagine my surprise to find a beautifully assembled compilation of the best of "They Might be Giants"! I mean this in the sense that they didn't just pick out their most popular recordings, but truly the BEST of their recordings. And they didn't stop there! Because instead of simply plopping the songs onto a CD in chronilogical order (as so many do), they arranged them in a sequence that actually makes many of them sound BETTER than they did on the original recordings. The songs flow from one to another with almost eerie smoothness, pulling you into the music and making you bop around the livingroom oozing joy.Really. A great record. You need it now."

The Way Compilations Were Meant to be Made

Devin DiMattia | North Carolina, USA | 10/22/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"For all those They Might Be Giants' fans hoping that "Dial-A-Song" will attract new fans, well, I'm one of those newbies. Before I picked up "Dial-A-Song", I had only heard a tiny amount of TMBG material ("Istanbul", "Particle Man", "Boss of Me", "Dr. Evil") but I loved all those songs. So, I walk into my local music store, pick it up and listen to it and I am duly impressed. Since, I didn't want to purchase a studio album by then, I opted for this instead and it's now in heavy rotation around my house. I couldn't believe I was missing out on such great songs like "Doctor Worm", "New York City" and "Man, It's So Loud in Here". I was also amused by the humorous second disc, which featured some of TMBG's more obscure works like "I Can Hear You" and the three new live tracks. Add a new fan to your tally, folks!"