No! Reviews

• Dont cross the street In The middle of NO!

  
  By on 2002-06-18
  No! is a great kids album. I have all their cds, and even though i'm 11, this is still a great album. They don't have to be Raffi with songs about cute whales, but they have to be Johns, with songs about grocery bags and hippos.Great animations also!

  1.FIBBER ISLAND
  A good opening. Almost like a folk song.One of the best kids songs about imagination. One of the best flash games also on the
  CD.

  2. FOUR OF TWO
  Another good {yet older} song. TMBG can sing about loving girls and dating, while still making it appropiate {and a bit confusing when they sing about bugs and flying cars} for kids. Great song.

  3. ROBOT PARADE
  On the "Working Undercover For The Man" they had an hard rock, fast version of this song. On No! it's softer, and more understandable, even though the game gets boring.

  4. NO!
  The title track. You get to change No blocks to Yes blocks! A good use of electric guitars.{!}

  5. WHERE DO THEY MAKE BALLOONS?
  One of the best. Sung by their drummer, I think, this song teaches about other countries and their products while asking the age-old question, "Where DO they make balloons?"

  6.IN THE MIDDLE, IN THE MIDDLE, IN THE MIDDLE
  An old cheesy 60's song, I think. Sorta dull.

  7.VIOLIN
  Even though the songs consists of the words "Violin-lin-lin","Hippo", "Mop!" and "Speck of dus-dus-dust" and a fraction lesson using George Washington's head {You'll get a presidential surprise!}, it is one of the best songs on the album.

  8.JOHN LEE SUPERTASTER
  My personal favorite. A rocking tune about a guy that is a supertaster. Has a hilarious intro by John Flansburgh.

  9.EDISON MUSEUM
  Originally on "Long Tall Weekend", this is still a great, spooky, educational song.The flash thing has the ghost of Thomas Alva telling you about phonographs and stuff.

  10.HOUSE AT THE TOP OF THE TREE
  My 2nd favorite, and the best game, where you try to save a treehouse by feeding a disturbing,fat mouse thats eating the house. If you dont feed him, the house falls down. The creepy little guy still pops his head out the window and waves at you.

  The next four songs are all under one minute long, and, in my opinion, the worst. Anyway, CLAP YOUR HANDS makes you want to dance, I AM NOT YOUR BROOM is about what happens when your broom runs away, while the WAKE UP CALL song is a bit boring because the only words are Bo Bo Do Bo Bo. I AM A GROCERY BAG is about half a minute long, but you get to play with food in the interactive thing.

  The last three songs are about sleeping and lullabies. LAZYHEAD AND SLEEPYBONES is a rather beautiful song that can actually somehom make you fall asleep. BED BED BED is a fast, energetic Beastles-esque type song about...you guessed it, BED!
  And SLEEPWALKERS is a med-tempo song about people who roam across the nation while they sleep.

  In all, this is a good album and I recommend it to everyone.
  {Try to find the bonus song on the CD-ROM!!}

  -Thomas Neufeld
  
  

• Actual kids LOVE this, and the whole family will be dancing!

  
  By A3QVI57VT1VGRO on 2002-08-21
  TMBG's sense of whimsy suits kids music perfectly, although from reading some of the earlier reviews it seems grown-up TMBG fans may be disturbed by the lack of irony. These songs sound just like kids talk, they are tuneful and easy-to-sing-along-with; kids will take them at face value and love them, they don't need the irony.

  The computer animations in the enhanced CD are kid-level and fun from a kid's perspective (like if you click on the groceries in the song "I'm a Grocery Bag," they all spill on the ground. And what kid doesn't like to spill things?)

  Here are our current favs:
  1) Fibber Island - "Here on Fibber Island, we strum rubber guitars, our friends live on Mars, we sew buttons on our cars ". The exact same kind of imagination your 5-year-old has.

  2) [Don't Cross the Street] In the Middle In the Middle In the Middle. So catchy you will find yourself singing it to yourself alone in your office (whether you want to or not, so beware). And, extra credit, the message is a good one for kids to hear. If you listen to this one on your computer, little cars drive around the screen and you can make them stop and go if you click on the stoplights!

  3) Bed, Bed, Bed - After a mere 24 hours, our new family theme song for the evening hour. TMBD cleverly put this and two other sleepy-time songs at the end of the album, in sequence. Play the album through and past these 3 songs and presto, dozing children.

  If you are the kind of grown-up who can't stomach another earnest Raffi album, you will still have the satisfaction of TMBG's customary irreverence and, yes, silliness. Also, it will MAKE THE WHOLE FAMILY DANCE.
  
  

• I'm not in the target audience, but I still love it

  
  By A33G3JYHPB84N0 on 2002-06-13
  I'm not a child, nor do I have any children, or really know any children, or have any idea what they like these days. Therefore, I don't know whether your kids will like They Might Be Giants' first children's album. I DO know, however, that this is a great album, and despite (or maybe even because of)being geared toward children, it contains some of their best work. Songs like "Fibber Island," "Robot Parade," "Bed Bed Bed," and "Sleepwalkers" have a lot of the typical TMBG spirit in both the music and lyrics. There are excellent guest vocals provided by Robin Goldwasser (John Flansburgh's wife), Danny Weinkauf (the band's bass player), and Nick Hill (a WFMU disc jockey). There was obviously a lot of effort put into making an album that both kids and adults could enjoy. What's more, this is an enchanced CD, with cute interactive cartoon videos for most of the songs. Try to stop a giant mouse from eating a tree, play with food from a grocery bag with moving eyes, learn about Thomas Edison in fun facts that come out of his haunted mansion, and watch the planet Mars sing. This CD is well worth getting for TMBG fans both young and old.
  
  

• all sorts of TMBG goodness

  
  By A11676H29TF29V on 2002-06-18
  For those TMBG fans that were disappointed with Mink Car, I'd definitely not give up on they might be giants, but rather, pick up a copy of No! Sure, that'll mean getting over your pride and buying a childrens' album, but I think you can manage. Yes, No! is made for kids to enjoy, too, but that definitely does not mean that it's bad. Quite the opposite, actually. Almost all of these songs could easily go on a regular TMBG album, and everyone would be more than satisfied. I absolutely adore "Bed, Bed, Bed", "John Lee Supertaster", and "Four of Two", but they're really all great. The animations and games are wonderful, too. "The House at the Top of the Tree" is bunches of fun, and "I am Not Your Broom" is hilarious. Another interesting track is "Where Do They Make Balloons?" sung by Danny Weinkauf, the band's bassist. It's surprisingly very good; a nice variation.
  In summation, a very cohesive TMBG album, extremely fun and educational for kids, great songs live, and TMBG goodness all around. I DEFINITELY RECOMMEND BUYING THIS ALBUM. if you're a tmbg fan, you should already have it!
  
  

• Listenable and fun kids music

  
  By A1RXTOO8GG7XTQ on 2005-10-10
  My 2 and a half year old son loves this CD. It is very funny for kids and adults alike. After only about 5 listenings, we have caught him singing several of the songs to himself in his stroller.
  
  
• a genuine kid's album
  By A1W5NA3HAX19QL on 2002-06-20
  When I first heard that the Johns were putting together a children's album, I immediately thought that it was really cute idea--in a weird, frightening sort of way. For starters, the picture of the kids on the CD case was really scary. They look more like bugs than children. And what kind of impact might TMBG's surreal and oftentimes abstract music have on our younger generation's naive, impressionable minds? I mean, I didn't start listening to them until I was nineteen, and look what it did to me! (Ha, ha, okay, all you TMBG fans out there, please don't shoot or maim me, I was only kidding.)

  In all seriousness though, I was more than a little bit curious as to how well the album would be accepted and appreciated by its target audience--namely, four to nine-year-old children. As a college student majoring in elementary education, I have taken numerous child development and phsycology classes, and--according to my professors--the majority of children at that age are mentally unable to grasp abstract concepts--a quality that has always dominated TMBG's previous albums. I honestly began to wonder if this was going to be something more akin to Gary Larson's "There's a Hair in My Dirt!" or Shel Silverstien's "ABZ's"--both of these satires are written in the same format as children's books, but in actuality they are geared towards adults.

  Well, it turns out that the Johns' new album is exactly what they said it was going to be--a children's album. Not quite what you'd expect from a rock and roll band, even a band as unique and daring as They Might be Giants . . . so grown-ups beware, this is not a children's album for adults, but an actual, genuine children's album, complete with songs about crossing the street and going to bed. Listeners who are over twelve years old might find these songs to be rather immature and maybe even downright infantile. After all, this album speaks to kids on their level with the intention to entertain and have fun, not to preach or educate. I guess that's why the children that I tutor and babysit enjoy it so much. In fact, it's the only CD they've wanted to listen to since the day I bought it. On the other hand, NO! is probably my least favorite Giant's album simply because it's too childish for my tastes. It's kind of like watching Sesame Street when I'd rather be watching the Simpsons. Sure, I enjoy watchin Oscar the Grouch as much as the next person, but there comes a point when I want move on to something thats geared towards my own age level.

  The Johns' tounge-in-cheek, subtle sense of humor is still present in NO!, although the lyrics aren't quite as clever as they were on previous albums, and the music in general is much less complicated. In conclusion, the fact that TMBG has been "dumbed down" quite a bit makes this album less appealing to me as an adult, but considering the fact that this was meant to be a children's album, I feel that John and John were completely justified in simiplifying both the instrumentation and the lyrics. And when I see the kids I tutor happily singing in unison, "Electric cars, electric trains, here comes a robot with electric brains!" I can't help but think that TMBG has created something that is truly wonderful. So, just remind yourself that this is a children's album, enjoy the music, sing along, and let the kids have their fun.

  The only REAL gripe I have about this album is the fact that they didn't include 'monsters of mud.' I absolutely love that song, but they have yet to release it on a disk. Oh well, perhaps next time. :)
  
  

• The Johns Have Done It Again!
  By A37BIR9LH3I4JT on 2002-06-12
  Even those making 'Minimum Wage' should make sure this album is at their 'Fingertips.' 'Women and Men' alike should love this latest TMBG offering, whether they wear a 'Hearing Aid' or a 'Lucky Ball and Chain.' "NO!" is pure TMBG 'Hot Cha!' If 'I Wasn't Shy' I'd even pick up a copy for 'My Evil Twin.' Great for listening to in the car or on your 'Dirt Bike.' In short, BUY THIS ALBUM... it's chock full of 'Sapphire Bullets of Pure Love,' and we all know how much fun those can be. If you understood even half of the TMBG references in this review and don't already OWN this CD then you should be ashamed of yourself! See you in 'Istanbul (not Constantinople)!'
  
  
• Fun For The Whole Family
  By A1ZDL3WT7BXD3F on 2002-09-13
  I saw They Might Be Giants ("TMBG" or "They") in concert once. I found it remarkable at the time (this was in the "Flood" days) that something like a fifth of the audience was young adolescents or parents with children.

  This fantastic disc confirms what I learned about They that night: They might come from a punkish scene in New York, but They are a band that can play to any age group. And on this disc, they have.

  As a CD, No is relatively short (some thirty-three minutes). The songs are a mixture of (often didactic) kids' songs (about Thomas Edison, or geography, or about how to cross the street, or about going to bed), classic TMBG fun (John Lee Supertaster, who has super powers of taste), and apparent gibberish (Violin).

  Slot the CD into your computer and some dozen of the eighteen tracks also have little animated videos, with some (limited) interactivity. The gibberish songs are still gibberish, but somehow they're more fun with bright cartoony images of presidents' heads in fractions, or appearing and disappearing hippopotami. (Incidentally, at least with the PC, you don't have to load or install anything onto your hard drive -- just put in the disc and you're ready to go -- very convenient, and also very portable.)

  This is a great CD.
  
  

• Attuned to the mind of a child
  By A1Q4AC42G983X9 on 2004-05-25
  This album captures the triumphant exuberance of childhood in a way that few other children's albums do. Songs such as "Fibber Island" and "Robot Parade" encourage children to exercise imagination and creativity. In "Bed, Bed, Bed," watching TV is but one of many activities in a full day that includes meeting friends, riding bikes, and playing the guitar. Even better, some of the songs are educational ("Where Do They Make Balloons?", "The Edison Museum") with the spirit of play, not lectures. But best of all, the songs have both simplicity and sophistication to their goofiness to appeal to children and older listeners alike. "Violin" and "John Lee Superstar" are good examples of this.

  This album contains no bad language, violence, or encouragement of such, so most parents would not object to the material in this album. While some of the songs ("I Am Not Your Broom") may be interpreted as encouraging rebellion in children, I do not feel they are any more subversive than say, the poetry of Shel Silverstein.

  The whimsical interactive sequences mostly require only that you run your mouse over the images, so children who can't click the buttons can still enjoy them. My one-year-old nephew insisted on going to listen to the CD on the computer first thing in the morning for quite a while. I also bought this album for my TMBG fan friends who were soon to be parents, and they were delighted.
  
  

• Hip childrens music.
  By A3TW2D4ZIOM52T on 2004-10-27
  As a life long TMBG with a toddler at home I was pleasantly surprised to come across this album. It is so far superior to any other children's music I have listened to that it is without compare. My 1 year old loves the music and the enchanced CD rom features. I saw one review who that it was poor childrens music. . .I don't even know how to respond to that. Most childrens music makes me want to put a bullet in my head. Children like repitition so after 10 or 20 playings of most children's music I want to put my head through a wall. This pretty much the same as normal TMBG fair only a little less obscure.
  
  Overall, I cannot recommend this album enough to those with children and if you don't but appreciate TMBG brand of quirkiness you'll stil like this album
  
  
• Disappointing
  By AYOO12C9Y2T95 on 2005-12-02
  The two man band of John Linnell and John Flansburgh had endeared itself to me for their quirky, off-kilter lyrics and shrewd pop sensibilities on tracks like "Birdhouse in Your Soul" and "Your Racist Friend" in the past, so I thought that a children's album by them might be a way to build a bridge between my young son and myself musically. Since they had done songs in the past like "Particle Man" and "Constantinople" that were kid-friendly, I was expecting good things from this. Unfortunately, too often this just doesn't deliver.
  
  It fails primarily because of a lack of solid easy-to-sing hooks..something absolutely essential if you're wanting to appeal to the smaller set (Cases in point: "Fibber Island","I am Not Your Broom","Sleepwalkers"). In some cases they simply wrote "over the heads" of the intended audience ("Four of Two" is an example: it's very clever but a young child isn't going to remember the hook because it changes every time and its Rip Van Winkle premise won't be appreciated if the child hasn't heard the tale yet.)
  
  HIGHLIGHTS:
  The two best tracks come near the start and end of the disc in "Where Do They Make Balloons?" and "Lazyhead and Sleepybones" respectively. In "...Balloons?" guest vocalist Danny Weinkauf tosses off word gems like "Spaghetti is from China but Italians make it best/Ants can make an anthill and monkeys make a mess" while musing about the provenance of that ever-popular inflatable kids toy. It's all set to a somewhat Beatlesque mid-tempo. "Lazyhead" is a lazy (sorry) acoustic number with a clever way of teaching kids synonyms without them getting wise. ("When Lazyhead says somebody's skinny/Sleepybones says thin/When Sleepybones says identical/Lazyhead says twins...") "In the Middle, In the Middle, In the Middle" warns kids about jaywalking ("Don't cross the street in the middle/in the middle/in the middle/in the middle of the block...") in what is probably the most "traditional" kiddy music sounding song here.
  
  LOWS:
  "I am a Grocery Bag" is a litany of items one might find in said sack but they didn't bother to write a hook. ("I am a grocery bag" doesn't count...) "Wake Up Call" is strung together manipulated keyboard samples that resembles an Art of Noise outtake. "Bed Bed Bed" isn't bad in and of itself but it's definitely false advertising. It's described on the jewel case as "specially designed to expedite slumber" but I'm not sure in what universe a psychedelic march replete with squeaky violin noises, traffic sounds, and gobs of other shrill sound effects would qualify as sleep-inducing.
  
  BOTTOM LINE:
  It's not awful but I was hoping for a lot more. Probably more for diehard They Might be Giants fans than future TMBG'ers.
  
  
• Yes!!
  By A3C5K8B0R0F3WR on 2002-06-13
  Hooray!! "No!" has finally arrived! And I must say that I'm quite impressed... The Johns and Dans have done it again! Finally, "Four of Two" has made it onto an album! Pure joy... without a doubt, that track is worth the purchase price alone. "Where Do They Make Balloons," "In the Middle," "Violin," and "Bed Bed Bed" are also outstanding! What am I saying? It's all good! While it may not be the best TMBG album ever, it's without-a-doubt the most fun! I'm even impressed by the enhanced features... the high quality interactive sing-along cartoons are great (stuff I usually avoid, but this content is great). If you're a fan, buying this album is a no-brainer. If you're just getting into TMBG (since this album is a bit atypical of their work) I'd recommend starting out with Lincoln, Flood, Apollo 18, or John Henry. If you've got kids, and you want to discover TMBG together... start here!
  
  
• Kid-tested and highly recommended
  By A1Y1YETHPST5OF on 2002-06-13
  Well, today is the first day I have enough computer time to write a review. My kids have been playing the games on the CD every day. We had been the website and heard the clips, but that wasn't enough. They had to know what happened to the guy on "Four of Two".

  The games are incredibly cute. I Am a Grocery Bag and The House at the Top of the Tree are favorites.

  The music may not be fresh enough for the older "kids" but mine are 6 and 4 and they love every track. TMBG's other songs may not be unsuitable for younger people but most are certainly above their heads or even a little dark.

  All in all, another fantastic effort and one I am glad to share with any and everyone.
  
  

• Great for kids, OK for a longtime TMBG fan
  By AGKJU4CBYSY1Y on 2002-06-21
  My love for TMBG began in high school when a friend let me hear his copy of "Apollo 18," which I immediately purchased. From there, I bought "Flood," then "Lincoln," then the first album, and I have purchased all albums since "Apollo 18" shortly after their release dates. Each time, I smiled and enjoyed the first listen of each album, reading along in the lyrics sheets to learn the words as soon as possible so I could sing along.

  "No!" was a bit different for me. I found myself skipping songs because they were intolerably silly. The best are the hilarious "Four of Two," "Where Do They Make Balloons?", led by a gentle-voiced member of the Band of Dans, the peppy "In the Middle..." and the memory-intensive "The House at the Top of the Tree," which is in the tradition of "There Was an Old Lady" or "Allouette" where you have to remember each previous verse. It also reminded me of "Destination Moon" from "John Henry," which puts a weird twist on the same concept.

  Other than those four songs though, I couldn't get into it at all. However, I will attribute this to the fact that this album was not made for me, and I will trust that the next TMBG album will bring back the same joy I felt from "They Might Be Giants" through "Mink Car."

  Your kids will love this though.
  
  

• SO much fun
  By A303ZKEWBQNPK1 on 2002-11-01
  Long time TMBG fan, mother of a 2 and 3 1/2 year old. The kids thought ALL their cd's were "kid music." Not sure who likes this one best. My older child zips around the cd on the computer and has figured out most of the interactive songs. We need to get another copy for the car. This will be my favorite gift for my nieces/nephews (and their parents) this year. A few songs are a bit much for us, but maybe we'll grow into them. Balloon is amazing; Middle etc., Clap your Hands, Bed, No are all great. We dance, we laugh, we fight for control of the computer mouse, we play them again. Only complaint is the songs are TOO good and too simple and are practically impossible to get out of your head.
  
  
• Really a parody of children's music... but wonderful!
  By A44JI3MCY7APJ on 2002-11-29
  I'm slowly getting into performing and writing some children's music myself, and so I've been going to every library in my area and devouring the various children's music albums there. Some good stuff- especially Trout Fishing in America, Jack Prelutsky, and even some Raffi... but a lot of it is really stupid and trite and somewhat condescending to kids. I was thrilled to find No! at one library. I've been a TMBG fan through the years, and was already planning to incorporate songs like "Why Does the Sun Shine?" into my kids' music setlist, but I hadn't really kept up on them enough to know that they had released a 'children's music album'.

  Once I heard it, though, I had to really question that label, because what I hear in the album (which I love, by the way) is really more of a very clever and wry parody of children's music than actual children's music, although I've no doubt that children like it for what it is. If you've actually listened to a lot of children's music, particularly in a wide and heavy dose like I have lately, you'll know what I mean. Rather than being totally genuine about it, as many reviews of the album that I've read seem to think, I highly suspect that TMBG firmly had their tongues in their cheeks and were cackling subversively as they made this record. Lazyhead and Sleepybones, for example, is a sly twist on the common idea of many kids' songs that sing about opposites. Where Do They Make Balloons? is a parody of wordplay songs. Fibber Island pokes fun at the many absurdist kids' songs. The Edison Museum is a brilliant and hilarious parody of 'spooky' songs. Clap Your Hands ribs the absolute dearth of children's songs where they're told to clap along, jump up and down, etc. And on and on...

  I suppose that perhaps, if they did really intend it for children, that the songs just came out that way and because they were aimed at children, they tend to fall into some of those usual kids' song categories, but it really seems intentionally parody-like to me, and more intended to poke fun at the 'form'. But regardless, it still works on the different levels, and is probably enjoyed very much by kids nonetheless, which is why it really seems brilliant to me. Kind of along the lines of Zappa's "We're Only in it For the Money", which was a sly parody of the "Sgt. Pepper" album, and yet worked very well on its own.
  
  

• Music is great, but "special features" make the CD unusable
  By on 2004-02-21
  I hate to write a negative review of a CD with such amazing music, but it's absolutely unusable.

  I can play the music, but only song-by-song, using a very annoying flash interface. It does not play correctly in several CD players I've tried (it's not scratched; it takes the CD players multiple minutes to find the tracks and then often can't play tracks 1-3); and on a computer, Winamp, Real Player, and other programs can't find the music to play it directly.

  It's a darn shame. I bet a lot of people would love this CD, but its "special features" make it all but useless.
  
  

• They Might Be Entertaining (for Kids and Parents)
  By A2NBI3WDT76P5K on 2004-09-20
  I do not have children... so why did I buy it? I am a TMBG fan, and frankly this album was to round out my collection. I knew how it was being marketed as a family album and listened to it as objectively as I could on the first pass. I was pleased to hear Edison Museum on an album - since it was only released on the MP3-only album "Long Tall Weekend" - and a few others (Four of Two, The House At The Top Of The Tree, I Am A Grocery Bag) were very much in the style of TMBG. The rest of the songs I figured sounded like standard kids' music fare.
  
  Then I came to the realization that "No!" is not just a TMBG album for kids or the whole family as they state. It is specifically targeted to people who have grown up with TMBG and now have kids of their own. On the surface I find that it is a TMBG album tamed down - without sarcastic references to death or other unpleasant topics - and presented as a family album. A parent who would like to introduce their children to the more intelligent musical world of John and John but aren't ready to subject them to the light-hearted approach to serious topics in TMBG's other songs will pick this up and have a safe way to show the fun side of music.
  
  If you are a TMBG fan with young kids (5 to 10 yrs or so) consider buying this to get your kids away from the 'popular' mindless garbage that's been offered up recently. If you are a TMBG fan but don't have kids, or a parent that's not sure about TMBG, give a listen to the samples here on Amazon, go to giantkid.net and see if you like what they offer. As a TMBG album it's ok, but better if shared with a younger crowd.
  
  
• Fantastic children's album for different ages
  By AMX151QO540X7 on 2005-01-04
  My 7-year-old son and 4-year-old daughter have been diverging in musical interests of late. My son wants cooler, more grown-up sounding stuff, whereas my daughter wants simple, silly tunes. Imagine my excitement to find a CD that they both love, and that doesn't bore me as well! This is a fantastic CD that kids of many ages will love, and the lyrics are "safe" for even the most conservative of parents (except the implication that one spouse is going to leave another for having to do all the cleaning in "I am Not your Broom"). Definitely recommended!
  
  
• YES!
  By A1UTXL8EIJGNL3 on 2005-01-05
  The No! album saved my life! Well, not exactly, but it sure came in handy. We recently traveled 36 hours by car with our 4 year old and (not quite) 2 year old. Not only did they enjoy it so much that they chose it several times over watching a DVD---but Mommy & Daddy liked it too. We never tired of it either, and still to this day the kids drop everything to dance when they hear a song. The BEST is the interactive CD-Rom. Easy to use and will entertain the kids for long periods of time. The CDs got a variety of tempos and musical styles, and it's interesting throughout. My kids faves: Fibber Island, Clap Your Hands, Robot Parade. Mom & Dad's faves: Four of Two, Edison Museum, In the middle.
  
  
• We strum rubber guitars.
  By A2INX8B6VXUVW6 on 2005-05-12
  This was They Might Be Giants first childrens album, and it's a great one. A lot of TMBG's songs already had a lot of appeal to children, since they are short and silly, so this was sort of a natural progression. I believe that some of the songs here are just regular They Might Be Giants songs, which weren't specifically written for children. This is just a fun album that can be enjoyed by children and adults alike. Highly recommended.
  
  
• A big Yes from the whole family.
  By AEECJSOCPNC6I on 2006-04-29
  What a miracle -- a CD that mother and child both like to listen to! My daughter is 2 and is a picky listener. She requests CDs and even individual songs by name -- and this CD is a popular choice. One of her favorites is "Four of Two". She likes the rhythm changes in it -- she will dance fast, then dance slow, then fast again, right along with the song. I was surprised that she had the ability to notice these changes when she was less than 2 years, and it made me realize how many boring plodding children's songs out there are really not giving our kids enough credit.
  
  In addition to requesting "Four of Two", my daughter will jump around the house singing hippo! hippo! mop! mop! (from "Violin"), and swing her arms and sing "Robot Parade! Robot Parade!". And, being two and it being her current favorite word, she giggles at singing along with the word No over and over again in the song of the same name. "The Edison Museum" (a song with the word mausoleum!) and "Where Do They Make Balloons?" are my personal favorites.
  
  I will note that this is definitely not a CD to calm your child down or for relaxing. Most of the songs make my daughter get up and dance.
  
  Though we like some songs more than others, my daughter and I will listen to this CD from start to finish. What a relief not to have to hit the replay button and listen to "Elmo's Song" just one more time!
  
  
• Family values as only TMBG can present them
  By A27BMC4GBF8RF5 on 2007-02-23
  This is a brilliant record in every sense of the word; it may be, next to "Flood", my favorite TMBG album. Getting it for your kids is just a great excuse to buy it, although I can honestly say that you haven't lived until you've heard your 18-month-old singing "Robot Parade" or "Four of Two" or "Fibber Island" - it's just so bloody funny hearing our son deliver lines like "Our dog is two miles wide/And all he talks about is pie". Purchase this immediately.
  
  
• They're geniuses!
  By A33G1SNH8Q5TEC on 2002-06-28
  First, let me say I'm not a kid. I'm 37. I don't have any kids. I don't even really know any kids. But I've thought the Johns were way cool for a really long time, and in the last couple of years I've come to appreciate them as utter geniuses, so I was really happy that this CD was finally released. The first time I listened to it on my CD player, I sat there with a big dopey grin on my face for the entire duration. The songs were all just so happy and cool and clever and just so infectiously catchy! For my second listen I popped it into my computer to watch the flash animation and play the games. A couple hours later, after playing each song at least 3 times, I could only utter the words, "oh my god, this is like the coolest thing ever!" I hope kids realize how lucky they are to be able to listen to such cool music and have all the cool interactive stuff to go along with it. Even if it was only the music, it's just so much fun! When I was a kid, all I had to listen to was the Partridge Family! Eeeeewwww! Kids now have TMBG! They are absolute geniuses! Ever since I got the CD, I've had at least one of the songs stuck in my head at nearly all waking hours, sometimes two or three songs simultaneously, and I think every song on the CD, including the bonus track, has been stuck in my head. There are no bad songs. There are no mediocre songs. They are all great. If you don't have this CD already, what are you waiting for? Buy it already!
  
  
• Juices, muffins, pasta and cheese.
  By A10Y0CLCJ1L4LA on 2002-07-03
  Gosh, I can't even remember what I used to listen to when I was a kid. I know I had a little Fisher-Price record player, a couple of Sesame Street records, and not much else in the way of kids' music. I spent a lot more time playing with stuff and watching tv than I did watching music. However, if an album like They Might Be Giants' No! was in my posession when I was younger, I would've loved it.

  The album touches on all the points that kids songs usually touches on. "Fibber Island," the first song, teaches the joys of imagination, or lying, to be more exact. Flansburgh comes up with off-the-top-of-my-head rhymes like "Here on Fibber Island / No one sings along / We just ride giraffes / And wear bicycles for hats." They cut the last minute off the original version of the song, so that kind of annoys me, but oh well. "Four of Two" is a wackier-sounding version of the old Dial-A-Song favorite. Also, all the morbid stuff about John's dying and his lifeless eyes still staring at that clock were taken out for the kiddies in this version though.

  Danny Weinkauf brings his bass guitar over to the mic to take a stab at singing "Where Do They Make Balloons?" the song for that age when kids start wondering where everything comes from. "Hungary isn't hungry and french fries aren't from France / Turkeys aren't from Turkey, they can't fly but they can dance / But where do they make balloons?" This one, with Dan's voice especially, sounds like it could've come off a much older record. After this is safety-teaching song for the album, "In The Middle," which is actually an old New York City Transportation Authority song to teach kids where to cross the street. Robin Goldwasser sings it here. Then Linnell teaches kids about how the joys of language with a song of him singing fun to say words like "hippo" and "mop."

  Another oldie, "The Edison Museum" sung by Nicholas Hill, teaches kids about the greatest inventor in history, Thomas Edison. One of my favorites on the record is called "The House At The Top of the Tree," which is one of those classic kids songs like "I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly" where on each verse another line is added to the existing verse, until the whole story becomes clear. Since this is a still They Might Be Giants album, it's some inexplicable story about a dog feeding potato chips to a mouse so he doesn't eat you and your house. "Clap Your Hands" is a funky little song that calls for all the kids to clap, jump and stomp their feet! And it might also be a nod to Bruce Haack who made a bunch of kids' albums with songs telling them to do stuff like this, one of which also had a song called "Clap Your Hands."

  The last three songs, the band warns, are designed to expedite slumber so listeners should not operate machinery while listening to them. "Lazyhead and Sleepybones" is another song that teaches language, this time synonyms and stuff like that. Then comes the rauccous "Bed Bed Bed" and "Sleepwalkers" which used to be an amazing Dial-A-Song song called "What Is Everyone Staring At." Oh, and did I mention that there's also a whole enhanced portion of the CD that you can see on your computer? The Copping Block web design team made different games you can play for most of the tracks! My favorite is the "I Am A Grocery Bag" game where you basically take all the food out and make a mess with it. You get to feed mice, pop balloons, and make human-shaped chicken dolls dance. It's a kick!

  No! is one of those albums that you can just pop in your cd player when you're feeling down and it will instantly make you happy. Everyone could use more kids music in their lives, I think. Buy a copy of this for every little kid you know, and one for yourself, too.
  
  

• A Big No No
  By AUZ6CGJNPF0UX on 2002-08-17
  Have They Might Be Giants suddenly decided to become....BLAND? With the fairly monotonous "Mink Car",and the continual re-issuing of old material and "live" tracks,one begins to wonder what the heck is going on?

  I've been a long time fan,but right about when "Factory Showroom" came out,they started losing my attention. ( I still buy all their releases.....so obviously,I'm not giving up on them just yet. )

  "No!" is supposed to be one of those "listen with the kids" albums,which is fine. But as an adult fan,albeit a childish one,with no children,it's kind of lackluster,even by They Might Be Giants standards.( They've had plenty of other songs,that could be construde as "childrens songs"...such as "Why Does The Sun Shine?" ).This IS a good "kids album",but NOT your classic TMBG album.

  The interactive animations are fun,I enjoyed those. They even give you the directions to find some hidden videos,and where to find the missing song "Oranges".

  I applaud John & John for wanting to make a childrens album. But as an older fan,it leaves a bit to be desired.
  
  

• For diehard TMBG fans ... and ANYONE who has children
  By A2ONZPPQ93TPQ9 on 2003-02-25
  Over the years, They Might Be Giants have sung about death, substance abuse, marital breakdown, insanity, paranoia, senility, paralysis, isolation and general disappointment. In that sense, their 2002 children's album NO! is a bit of a departure; musically, though, it's as hooky and weird as ever.

  Singer-keyboardist John Linnell -- who has a young son -- dominates this project with an unself-conscious gusto that has clearly inspired everyone else involved. "Four of Two" is a comical, polka-flavored rocker about a guy who doesn't realize that the clock has stopped, misses his date, and awakens to a future of "flying cars and gigantic metal bugs." In the rousing title cut and "Bed Bed Bed," Linnell clearly remembers what it's like to be a kid; in the latter, he marvels over the full day he has had before he goes to sleep ("I've had my fun ... there's nothing left to do"), and in the former, he has fun with the most mundane aspects of parent-child antagonism ("'May I stay, can I go' -- 'no no no' ... 'Sit, stay, roll over' -- 'no no no'"). "The House at the Top of the Tree" is a gentle pop tune structured after "I know an old lady who swallowed a fly," albeit with an even more absurd premise (a mouse threatening to eat a house unless a dog brings him some potato chips?). In the a-cappella "I Am Not Your Broom," about a broom rebelling against its owner/master, he performs both sides of the argument, as he does in "No!" ("'What nonsense are you speaking, broom?' ... 'I'm throwing off my chains of servitude'"). The 30-second "I Am a Grocery Bag" could be an epilogue to 1990's "Dead"; dropping all refs to reincarnation, expiration dates and having been a jerk in his previous life, the narrator simply ponders his current physical state! In "Violin," Linnell lingers over words like "hippo," "mop," and "speck of dust" in various goofy voices before lapsing into a brief lesson in fractions centered around George Washington's head (don't ask). The best of the lot has to be "Sleepwalkers," a lovely mid-tempo number that sonically recalls 1996's "Your Own Worst Enemy" and 2001's "My Man," only with a complete lack of heavy themes.

  Linnell's singer-guitarist bandmate John Flansburgh brings a surprising amount of sympathy and enthusiasm to this project, considering that he and his wife, singer Robin Goldwasser, have no children. "Fibber Island," with its folkish arrangement, its surreal lyrics, and a hilarious cameo (or two) by Linnell, is very similar in feel to 1988's "Cowtown"; but instead of obscure lyrics about a cow under the sea, Flansy performs a paean to the joys of making stuff up ("To get to Fibber Island, you just close your eyes, start fibbing in your mind, and see what you can find"). "John Lee Supertaster" is a funky, bluesy rocker about the joys, and peeves, of having a heightened sense of taste ("Can't drink coffee or beer ... he loves ice cream and pie"). Clap Your Hands" is little more than kid-friendly disco, with calls to "jump in the air" and "stomp your feet" instead of "do the Hustle" or "shake your booty." I know that many people vastly prefer the heavy-metal "adult version" of "Robot Parade" (originally released as an EP B-side, also available on 2002's Dial-A-Song anthology), but I still think the new, dreamier arrangement here is better suited to the futuristic-fantasy lyrics. The sweet-voiced Flansburgh also handles the disc's token lullaby, "Lazyhead and Sleepybones," in which he has fun with synonyms ("When Lazyhead says the window is closed, Sleepybones says it's shut ... And even though they should be friends, they can't get along"). It's a beauty, and possibly my second-favorite track.

  Goldwasser herself guests on a cover of "In the Middle," a traffic-safety jingle the Johns remembered from their youth; it could easily have been the most indulgent track (with the sort of instructional lyrics that the Johns tried to avoid in their own compositions), but Robin's sweet delivery makes it go down easier. Nicholas Hill (who sang "I hear the wind blow..." on 1992's "Fingertips") guests on the educational and delightfully silly "Edison Museum" ("the tallest, widest, and most famous haunted mansion in New Jersey"). And Danny Weinkauf, the bassist from the great "band of Dans," is a pleasant surprise as co-writer and lead singer on "Where Do They Make Balloons?", delivering lines like "New York has tall buildings, New Jersey has its malls / Pisa has a leaning tower -- will it ever fall?" in a warm rasp over a gently catchy Beatle-esque melody. (Only "Wake Up Call," a funky little number with lyrics so minimal it should've been an instrumental, is utterly skippable.)

  Bottom line: There's nothing to pick apart here, just a fun pop record that parents can enjoy with their kids, and that diehard TMBG fans may appreciate both as a change of pace and for its familiarity. If you're just getting into the Johns, and you DON'T know anyone who has children, NO! should be one of the last TMBG albums you get.
  
  

• I also don't see this as being a "kids album"
  By A19UV14YXGYW19 on 2003-06-01
  Most of these songs could have been on Apollo 18 (my favorite TMBG album by a landslide), but they would have been the weak titles on the CD.

  I found several of the songs to have jarring, dissonant vibes to them which I'd have to imagine would not appeal to youngsters.

  A favorite was "Where do they make balloons", which sounds a little as if the Monkees were invited to add a track to "Revolver". That is certainly one any child will enjoy and any parent could hum along to .. well, at least a few times.

  I'll come back to my love of Apollo 18. That is a better children's CD than this one... in part because it has dozens of very short songs that are silly and appealing in a Sendak vein (or quickly over). There is not a child's song on "NO!" which compares to "Mammal" or "Dinner Bell" from that collection.
  
  

• Unparalleled Fun
  By A31VGHQQA44V5 on 2003-11-14
  There is no better disk for kids than No! and this adult loves it too. Nearly every song is a flat-out winner played alone & my son has great fun with its interactivity when played on the computer. It is smart, funny and absolutely habit-forming. We have had it since it first came out, and I still hum "Fibber Island" and "Four of Two" in the shower. I buy it as a gift for every kid birthday party, but it's definitely not just for kids. Can't say enough great stuff about No! (Note: Try and catch a live TMBG kids' show with or without your little ones.)
  
  
• Finally, a CD for both parents and kids of all ages!
  By A1PCB9T5ZG5Q6D on 2003-12-10
  We started listening to this CD when my son was only 1 year old. He loved it; we loved it even more! Now he is over two and sings along to most songs. It is the first CD that people of all ages will love. My niece (14) and nephew (10) also love it and are getting it for Christmas. A sure hit! And the computer extras are really fun, too!
  
  

• Here Come the ABCs [CD/DVD Combo]
• For the Kids
• Bed, Bed, Bed (They Might Be Giants)
• Snack Time
• Here Come The 123s [CD/DVD]