| Here Comes Science | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | September 1, 2009 | |||
| Recorded | 2000 ("What is a Shooting Star?"), 2004 ("The Bloodmobile"), 2007 ("How Many Planets?"), Mid-2008 – February 2009 | |||
| Studio | Kampo Studios, Manhattan, New York County, New York, United States, Collyer Brothers Studio, Brooklyn, Kings County, New York, United States, The Governor's Bluff, Sullivan County, United States, Coyote Studio, Brooklyn, Kings County, New York, United States | |||
| Genre | Children's, educational | |||
| Length | 39:46 | |||
| Label | Idlewild/Disney | |||
| Producer | They Might Be Giants, Pat Dillett | |||
| They Might Be Giants chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | (66/100) |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| About.com |  |
| Allmusic |  |
| The A.V. Club | B+ |
| Billboard | (favorable) |
| PopMatters | |
| Robert Christgau |  |
| Uncut | |
| Under the Radar | |
| Wired | (favorable) |
| Zooglobble | (favorable) |
Here Comes Science is the fourth children's album and fourteenth studio album by American alternative rock band, They Might Be Giants, packaged as a CD/DVD set. The album is (as the title suggests) science-themed, and is the third in their line of educational albums, following 2005's Here Come the ABCs and 2008's Here Come the 123s. It was nominated for the "Best Musical Album For Children" Grammy.
Background
The band began hinting that the next children's album would be science-themed via interviews around the release of 123s, but the actual title of the album was not confirmed until an August 2008 interview with John Flansburgh for Blogcritics Magazine. The album had been in production since at least late 2007, as a very short sample clip of the music video for the song "How Many Planets" was posted in January 2008 to Colourmovie's website. The band also hired a scientific consultant for this project because, as Flansburgh admitted, "frankly, I was a terrible science student in high school. My last memory of the periodic table was right before I lost consciousness."
Here Comes Science features the songs "I Am a Paleontologist" and "Speed and Velocity", on which bass guitarist Danny Weinkauf and drummer Marty Beller sing their own compositions (respectively). This idea has been a common theme for the band's children's albums, but has never been put in place on any of their adult-oriented albums. "I Am a Paleontologist" features spoken appearances from Weinkauf's two children, Lena and Kai.
"I Am a Paleontologist" was featured in a Payless ShoeSource commercial featuring kids inside a dinosaur museum.
Track listing
The CD track listing is the same as the DVD track listing, with the exception of the bonus track "Waves", which is absent from the DVD.
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Science Is Real" | They Might Be Giants | 1:54 |
| 2. | "Meet the Elements" | They Might Be Giants | 3:19 |
| 3. | "I Am a Paleontologist" | Danny Weinkauf | 2:32 |
| 4. | "The Bloodmobile" | They Might Be Giants | 2:21 |
| 5. | "Electric Car" (with Robin Goldwasser) | They Might Be Giants | 3:22 |
| 6. | "My Brother the Ape" | They Might Be Giants | 3:06 |
| 7. | "What Is a Shooting Star?" | Louis Singer, Hy Zaret | 1:38 |
| 8. | "How Many Planets?" | They Might Be Giants | 1:56 |
| 9. | "Why Does the Sun Shine?" | Singer, Zaret | 2:36 |
| 10. | "Why Does the Sun Really Shine?" | They Might Be Giants | 1:51 |
| 11. | "Roy G. Biv" | They Might Be Giants | 2:07 |
| 12. | "Put It to the Test" | They Might Be Giants | 1:41 |
| 13. | "Photosynthesis" | They Might Be Giants | 1:59 |
| 14. | "Cells" | They Might Be Giants | 2:41 |
| 15. | "Speed and Velocity" | Marty Beller | 1:48 |
| 16. | "Computer Assisted Design" | They Might Be Giants | 0:54 |
| 17. | "Solid Liquid Gas" | They Might Be Giants | 1:28 |
| 18. | "Here Comes Science" | They Might Be Giants | 0:16 |
| 19. | "The Ballad of Davy Crockett (in Outer Space)" | Tom W. Blackburn, George Bruns | 2:17 |
| Total length: | 39:46 | ||
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20. | "Waves" | They Might Be Giants | 1:32 |
| Total length: | 41:18 | ||
Personnel
They Might Be Giants
- John Linnell - vocals, keyboard
- John Flansburgh - vocals, guitar
- Marty Beller - drums
- Danny Weinkauf - bass
- Dan Miller - guitar
Additional musicians
- Robin Goldwasser - additional vocals on "How Many Planets?", "Electric Car", "The Bloodmobile", "Photosynthesis"
- Hannah & Niffer Levine - additional vocals on "Computer Assisted Design"
- Lena & Kai Weinkauf - additional vocals on "I Am A Paleontologist"
- Dan Levine - trombone, bass trombone, arrangement, alto horn, euphonium
- Stan Harrison - tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, flute
- Curt Ramm - trumpet, flugelhorn, trumpet solo
- Michael Leonhart - trumpet, flugelhorn, mellophone
- Jonathan Levine - piccolo, alto flute, alto saxophone, bass clarinet
References
External links
- Here Comes Science at This Might Be A Wiki
- Here Comes Science at Metacritic