The Might Be Giants are gearing up for a three-week Friday night residency

stint at New York's Irving Plaza as a build-up to the release of Then: The

Earlier Years, (early Mar.) the 72-song retrospective that ATN previously

reported on last month.

The CD, which compiles tracks from their first

three albums, plus 19 rare and unreleased tracks (some from their Dial-A-Song

phone line), will get the spotlight treatment on the last date, the, natch,

"Then: The Earlier Years" show on Feb. 21, during which they will plow through

a number of the songs from that collection with their considerably beefier

(they started out as a duo) five-piece band.

The first show, on Feb. 7,

will consists mainly of tunes from their most recent album, Factory Showroom

hence its moniker, "The Factory Show," plus a few favorites. And the

second show, on Feb. 14, entitled "Valentines Day New Song Massacre," will, as

you might expect, showcase new and never-before-heard songs with the assistance

of a three-piece horn section.