Then: The Earlier Years

Then: The Earlier Years
Compilation album by They Might Be Giants
Released	March 25, 1997
Recorded	1985–1991
Genre	Alternative rock
Label	Restless (U.S., UK) Rykodisc (UK)
Producer	Bill Krauss, Matthew Hill, They Might Be Giants
They Might Be Giants chronology
Factory Showroom (1996) Then: The Earlier Years (1997) Severe Tire Damage (1998)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
The A.V. Club	(average) [2]
Entertainment Weekly	B+ [3]
Pitchfork Media	9.5/10 [4]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[5]

Then: The Earlier Years is a double album compilation by the band They Might Be Giants, released in 1997. Then contains the album Lincoln in its entirety, the albums They Might Be Giants and Miscellaneous T which are each missing one track, a few otherwise unreleased songs from their 1985 Demo Tape and other songs previously unreleased. The song missing from Miscellaneous T is "(She Was a) Hotel Detective (Single Mix)" and the song missing from They Might Be Giants is the album version of "Don't Let's Start", as it was replaced in its appropriate place in the track listing by the single version of the same song from Miscellaneous T.

The They Might Be Giants Online Store also sells the non They Might Be Giants and Lincoln tracks separately, in two parts titled Giants Jubilee and Mightathon. These albums were once sold separately, but the full album is typically available for sale digitally.

The compilation Best of the Early Years is a heavily condensed version of this release (a single disc and only 10 tracks).

The two discs of this compilation were released separately in 2013 by Australian indie label Breakaway Recordings, with the They Might Be Giants disc having the original "Don't Let's Start" mix and the single mix of "(She Was A) Hotel Detective" added, as well as having "Untitled" moved from track 23 to track 38 and "'85 Radio Special Thank You" having 20 seconds of silence appended.

The cover art is by Tony Millionaire.