Review in Brief: Dog Train - Sandra Boynton

For those of you who adore Sandra Boynton's comically plaintive drawings of pets and her whimsical sense of humor, but found the Broadway show stylings of Philadelphia Chickens a little too, well, Broadway show-stylish, her 2005 album/book Dog Train really brings the rock. Or, well, as much as any album that features three separate episodes entitled "Cow Planet" can bring said rock. Boynton and her musical collaborator Michael Ford have recruited a... diverse collection of musical performers to perform their (mostly) humorous songs -- Alison Krauss, Hootie and the Blowfish, and Blues Traveler, among others. As is often the case with albums where a collection of performers tackle the work of another artist, the best work is done by the least expected -- the Screaming Trees' Mark Lanegan bringing his Tom Waits-esque voice to "Sneakers," or the energetic "Pots and Pans" built up to a percussive crescendo by the Bacon Brothers and Mickey Hart. The best song on the CD may be the most familiar -- the wonderful "I Need A Nap," which pairs "Weird Al" Yankovic with Kate Winslet ("this is Ms. Winslet and Mr. Yankovic's first duet together," the liner notes wryly comment). It takes a Titanic-worthy overwrought ballad and applies it to the overwrought words of a cranky kid. It's very meta, and very funny. Less successful, though, are the fairly straight songs (Alison Krauss sounds wonderful on "Evermore," but she'd sound wonderful singing the "Weekly Clipper") and the "Cow Planet" interludes. The album will probably be most appreciated by kids ages 4 through 8 and people of a certain age remembering the soundtrack to their high school and/or college years. (Hey, I liked the Hooters. And the Spin Doctors CD. And the Hootie CD. I'm just sayin'.) You can hear clips from all of Boynton's CDs here. Oh, and if you don't want the book/CD compilation, the CD by itself is scheduled to be released on August 8. Fans of Boynton's work won't be disappointed by Dog Train; newcomers may be surprised at the breadth of collaborators here and amused by the whimsy.

Review in Brief: The Pet Project - Campfire Kev & Mary Lafleur

The 2006 Cooperative Summer Library Program may be winding down, but here's another pet-themed CD in case librarians reading here are looking for a CD to tide them over these last few days of summer. (I'm guessing throwing up one's hands and feeding the kids animal crackers is an insufficient response.) Kids' music artists Campfire Kev and Mary Lafleur have teamed up to record The Pet Project (2005), an album with more than 20 original songs, all about pets and animals in general. The songs generally fit in the children's pop mold, with a large cast of musicians backing up the two leads, who trade vocals (and songwriting credits). With 20+ songs about the same subject, I gravitated toward the songs that stood out musically and lyrically -- the country-rock on Kev's outstanding "The Cow Who Can't Say 'Moo'", the gentle AM pop of Lafleur's "Teddy's Bear" (weaving a story about Teddy Roosevelt's pets), or the dueling vocals on "Queen of the House," a clever "cat vs. dog" song that would be great in a kids' musical. The disk is best for kids age 4 through 9 and you can hear clips at the CD's CDBaby page. (And if you like Campfire Kev's more rocking songs on this disk, you might want to check out his first CD, The Campfire Kev Show and Other Radio Favorites.) We don't have pets in the house at the moment, so I'm not the first person you should read looking for "oh, they have so described my pet" comments. I can only hear so many songs about how wonderful pets are or the wacky things they do before I go a little crazy. Kinda like reading one too many mommy- or daddy-blogs. But in selective doses, there are some good tracks on The Pet Project.

Review in Brief: Children are the Sunshine

Trinidad-born and Bay Area-based, Asheba released his third kids music album, Children Are the Sunshine (2006), earlier this month. Asheba's music draws on his Caribbean heritage, employing reggae and calypso styles on kids' standards and his originals. The strong points of the CD? There are some tracks I enjoyed -- the reggae-fied version of "All Around the Kitchen," for example, or an original version of an alphabet song ("ABC (Alphabet Story)"). But his CD fails to draw enough attention to Asheba's reported strengths as an improvisational artist or storyteller. There isn't always enough musical variety within a song to merit the 4- to 5-minute track lengths of many song, and sweet story songs like "Picoplat Calypso" were more the exception than the rule. And I was disappointed that the album didn't include a single song with steel drum, which Asheba can play. Asheba is reputedly very popular in the Bay Area, and is working on a Putumayo Kids recording. I hope that that next album, especially with the backing of Putumayo, allows Asheba to use a broader array of instruments and larger number of musicians, thereby drawing out more of the qualities fans see in his live shows. Children Are the Sunshine isn't a bad album, it just doesn't do enough to showcase Asheba.

Review: Plays Well With Others - Uncle Rock

You don't often get a second chance to make a first impression, the cliche goes, and that's especially true in children's music. A cheesy song is enough to make the parent quickly hit the eject button lest the children get too attached to music that drives the parent absolutely nuts; a poor album cover will doom the CD before it even reaches the player. So it was with Uncle Rock's 2nd CD, Plays Well With Others (2006), released a couple weeks ago. Uncle Rock? Just the name made me a little dubious. The logo? Designed by a child (the artist's son, as it turns out). And the opening song? Starts with the shouted phrase "Are you ready?" I was thisclose to hitting eject and never looking at the CD again, let alone listening to it. And then within the space of about one minute, I was interested. The opening track, a general dancing around song, has a nice groove and includes the lyric "I'm gonna shake my head like the head of a mop." OK, you've got me back -- I'll stick around. Uncle Rock, as it turns out, is New York State-based Robert Burke Warren, who's played with both Wanda Jackson and RuPaul, among others. (I feel fairly certain that puts him in fairly small company.) Joined by a bunch of musicians on various tracks, he brings a loose roots-rock attitude to the CD, giving it a nice, organic feel. (The production is a lot better than the 4-track home recordings on his debut album.) The best cuts are those that are more fully realized instrumentally and lyrically. "Picnic in the Graveyard," for example, is a great kids' song about... er... death. Well, not exactly, but it's about Dia de los Muertos, a day of celebration where people have a picnic in the graveyard. "We're gonna sit in the grass / With people from the past / And we will not be afraid," goes the lyrics. It's got a great chorus backed by a horn section. The amusing "Gettin' Big Blues" is a bluesy number about how difficult it can be for kids to grow older ("I once had a T-shirt / the coolest thing around / but since I can't get it over my head / It's gonna be a hand-me-down" ... "I once had attention / I was an only child / But now there's a baby in the house / So I'm going wild... Pick me up / 'Cause I don't wanna walk") It works for both kids and their parents. The kids on the album generally add, instead of detract, from the mix. Some songs ("Playin' Possum, "Shoe Bandit," "I'm a Pirate") don't work as well for me, they seem a little cheesy. But I give Warren credit for trying different things. He turns in a nice medley of "Magic Carpet Ride/Hey Bo Diddley/Magic Bus." And while the album's best cuts are the midtempo rockers, the closing ballad "Connected" is a sweet song. The CD is most appropriate for kids age 3 through 8. You can hear clips of a few songs at Uncle Rock's MySpace page, though only one song, "Sugar Talkin'," is off the new CD. (Robert, update that page, pronto!) You can also hear samples at the album's CDBaby page. Warren has made big strides in this, his second album. Teaches me to judge a book by its cover. He's got a little bit of Ralph's World and a lot more of Brady Rymer in him. Plays Well With Others is an album with some great cuts of kid-friendly roots-rock. Recommended.

Review: Make Some Noise - The Quiet Two

Unfortunately for New York band The Quiet Two (formerly the Quiet Ones), their 2005 debut Make Some Noise didn't, er, make some noise, or at least not as much as it should have. And while I can't answer the question of how in the name of They Might Be Giants did this album fly under the radar, I can do my best to explain why it shouldn't have. The Quiet Two are Chrstopher Anderson and Andrew Ure, 2/3rds of the band Muckafurgason, which toured with They Might Be Giants and whose final album was produced by John Flansburgh of the band. The They Might Be Giants reference is appropriate here, because the album is filled with lyrical flights of fancy that would not sound out of place on a TMBG album. Take, for example, "Polar Bear," a country-ish tune which starts out with the line "Straight to the point / I wanna be a polar bear," then comes back to the concept later on in the tune with the line "Back to the point of being a polar bear," a meta reference that is likely to amuse the parents within a very kid-friendly song about, well, being a polar bear. Or "Invisible Trousers," in which the narrator talks about how he "Wore them to the dentist & to the pet store / And everyone was pointing / Because they’d never seen invisible trousers before," which is a punchline that will reward the older kids and parents listening. For adults tired of listening to kids' albums with too many lessons, the lessons here are few and far between, with the band typically content to tell stories with subjects of interest to kids, like running ("How Fast Can You Run") and superheroes ("Ultrafoot"). Sonically, the album has a very British vibe, with some songs sound more like British Invasion bands ("Make Some Noise"), some like XTC outtakes (the amusing "My Keyboard"), and some like the Beatles (the lovely "I Remember Purple"). And, gosh, I've somehow managed to not mention my two favorite songs, the power-poppy "You Can't Hide Your Bike" (which is about exactly what the title implies), and the narratively exuberant album closer "Fizzy Milk." Well, kids ages 4 through 9 -- especially slightly silly ones -- will enjoy this album the most. You can hear samples of some songs here or all songs at the album's page at Amazon. You can also see the lyrics and hear karaoke versions of most songs here. Can you tell I liked the album? There are no bad songs here, just songs you'll like more or less than others. At just over the 30-minute mark, the album is short but very sweet. Fans of power pop or XTC or They Might Be Giants should check out the album post haste. Like, yesterday. As for the rest of you, the appealing goofiness and catchy melodies make Make Some Noise also worth your time. Definitely recommended.

Review in Brief: Songs I Heard - Harry Connick, Jr.

We really have Meg Ryan and the diner scene to thank for this. Jazz musician and erstwhile Broadway star Harry Connick, Jr. got his big break when he was asked to record the soundtrack to the movie When Harry Met Sally. The soundtrack was good, but the massive success of the movie was what pushed Connick into the national consciousness. More than ten years later, Connick repaid the favor -- sort of -- with his 2001 album Songs I Heard, on which he reworked Broadway and film showtunes. It's not a traditional kids' album, but when said tunes come from beloved sources such as Mary Poppins, The Sound of Music, and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, there's clearly a kids' music theme to the album. The best tracks are those where Connick lets loose his band and really swings. The opening cut, "Supercalifragilisticexpiadlidocious," is well, that word, on which Connick, Jr., backed by a New Orleans brass band, almost makes us forget Dick Van Dyke. (Connick's voice is smooth as always.) Other uptempo tracks such as "The Lonely Goatherd" and Dixieland stylings on "Spoonful of Sugar" also benefit from Connick's big band and his traditional jazz arrangements. They're definitely a new, jazzier version of the original, but they're not so different from the original that kids won't enjoy them. Less successful are the slower tracks -- I can't see kids recognizing "Maybe" (from the musical Annie) or enjoying the string-backed version here. On the whole, Songs I Heard is a playful album. It's probably too long with some songs too obscure for kids to enjoy the whole thing at one sitting but parents wanting to discover some new showtunes or hear new spins of classics may find this worthwhile and "have what she's having."