Zooglobble

"Well, then, pick up your CDs, dear."

On the eve of Gustafer Yellowgold's and Robbert Bobbert's CMJ-related appearance at Joe's Pub on Saturday, I thought I'd note that their new label, Little Monster Records, has put together quite the diverse lineup of kids' releases. A Beatles tribute album, All Together Now, featuring members of the Bangles, Grandaddy, among others, will be released next week. A Medeski, Martin & Wood kids' album will be released next year along with Soulville, a collection of R&B and soul tunes that includes a kids chorus. (And then there are releases from Gustafer and Robbert Bobbert.) I can't imagine many families buying all 5 releases, but unless they're all awful, I can't imagine many families not finding something appealing in at least one of them.

I've often thought that there was room for kids-focused boutique labels. Frankly, even with Little Monster's creation (along with a re-energized Kid Rhino and ever-expanding Rounder Records), I think there's room for even more. Maybe not labels in the traditional sense (in which the labels often own the recordings), but labels as management companies, serving as filters and helping with distribution, production, and promotion.

Posted by SAShepherd at 01:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Halloween does not rank high on my list of holidays I enjoy, which probably goes a long way toward explain why I'm half-heartedly putting this list together the night before Halloween. Perhaps next year I'll get an earlier start.

(Devon has a lot more suggestions, including this list of songs.)

First, 3 CDs that might be appropriate (if a little late to order) for the season:
-- Sue Schnitzer's Boo, Cackle, Trick or Treat is a fairly tame (read: appropriate for preschoolers) celebration of the holiday that matches Schnitzer's folk-pop songs (and some traditional songs) with Halloween themes. If Halloween is more about the candy in your household than the scary, this is for you. (The album is also available on iTunes.)
-- Katherine Dines' Hunk-Ta-Bunk-Ta Spooky! is for older kids (ages 6 and up). It's a little scarier, though many of the songs and stories (they're about evenly split) have a purpose -- overcoming fears. The song arrangements are a little more electronic, but it's still most folk/pop. (This album is available on iTunes as well, though it'll come without the excellent liner notes, which include all the lyrics and stories, plus other stuff.)
-- Magic Maestro Music's The Sorcerer's Apprentice is for kids of all ages. It plays Paul Dukas' famous "Sorcerer's Apprentice" (you know, Mickey and the nightmare of the ever-multiplying broomsticks in Fantasia) both with and without narration. There are plenty of versions available, of course, but this one does provide some context for kids to help them enjoy the piece.

Next, a couple podcasts:
-- Mr. David recorded a new Halloween podcast recently, including a new song, "The Winchester Festival," which continues the story-paintings of his Great Adventures of Mr. David CD. You can hear (and see) the podcast here.
-- Monty Harper also put out a Halloween podcast recently; check it out here.

Finally, a list of other songs:
-- "Skin and Bones" -- countless recordings (Raffi, Sam Hinton, the Hunk-Ta-Bunk-Ta Spooky disk above)
-- "Dia de los Muertos," Uncle Rock -- off his Plays Well With Others disk
-- "A Skeleton Bang," Rasputina -- off the Colours Are Brighter

I'm sure I'm missing some songs... care to help add to the list?

Posted by SAShepherd at 08:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I can't say that my initial expectations for Colours Are Brighter, the kids' music compilation put together by Belle & Sebastian trumpeter/bassist Mick Cooke, were very high. Franz Ferdinand doing kids' music, along with a whole bunch of other bands, only a few of which were familiar to these American ears? The whole thing sounded nothing more than a quickie album thrown together to cash in on the sudden popularity of music for kids. (OK, a quickie album designed to raise money for Save The Children's "Rewrite the Future" campaign, but still.)

Fear and misinformation are poor bases for making decisions on many things, and kids and family music albums are no different, my friends.

To begin with, Cooke has been putting together the compilation for a couple years, so it's not like Cooke read the Billboard charts in March and thought, hey, I can do that. More importantly, the music's pretty good.

Franz Ferdinand might just do the best job on the entire disk of putting together a kids' song that's in the spirit of the adult band. With its tinkling piano and scuffling drums, "Jackie Jackson" has enough of the more muscular sound of their music for adults, but the song's chief attribute is singer Alex Kapranos' spirited vocal turn on the story of greedy boy who likes to eat too many cakes. (The boy meets an unsavory, Roald Dahl-like ending.) Another band familiar to some are Snow Patrol, who resurrect an old song, "I Am An Astronaut," which seems like a picture book come to life (or sound), using swirly Snow Patrol sounds. (And, yes, "The Monkeys Are Breaking Out the Zoo" returns Belle and Sebastian to their more twee-pop sounds.)

The less-familiar artists sound good here, too -- Rasputina sounds a bit like Bjork on the funky, angular "A Skeleton Bang" while The Barcelona Pavilion (who hail from Canada, I believe) turn in a post-punk "Tidy Up Tidy Up" that sounds They Might Be Giants-ian echoes. My favorite tracks? Four Tet (featuring Princess Watermelon) doing the dance-track "Go Go Ninja Dinosaur" and the Ivor Cutler Trio singing "Mud," a track that sounds like it was recorded 80 years ago, but was in fact recorded only 40 years ago.

Not everything works great -- The Kooks' "The King and I" would sound good on their recent debut album, but if there was something that distinguished the song here from the rest of their work, I couldn't hear it. And the Flaming Lips' track, "The Big Ol' Bug Is The New Baby Now" is a half-sung, half-spoken word track on which, unfortunately the spoken words are too difficult to understand.

There's nothing age-inappropriate here, but I'm guessing kids ages 3 through 9 are more likely to appreciate the music. If you want to hear the tracks, visit either the album's website or its Myspace page. The album is available as an import here Stateside, or you may want to go directly to Amazon.co.uk or CD-Wow.

Colours Are Brighter is subtitled "Songs for children and grown ups too," which isn't a bad description. The songs stretch across the spectrum from being targeted right at the younguns to being pretty much "starter songs" for the bands' adult work. It's not a perfect compilation and there's not much of a unifying theme, but there are enough decent songs that it's worth exploring, particularly if you're interested in hearing a cross-section of mostly British, mostly current, pop-rockers. Recommended.

Posted by SAShepherd at 07:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I begin here by noting my tremendous affinity for Chicago's Old Town School of Folk Music, or at the very least, for the Wiggleworms CDs they've released -- longtime readers will know I'm a big fan. That doesn't even get to the School itself, which for fifty years has provided countless hours of musical instruction and performance for Chicago-area residents, old and young alike. Jealous? Me? Living hundreds of miles away? Just a little. (OK, a lot.)

So with great enthusiasm that I gave their Old Town School of Folk Music Songbook Volume One, released by Bloodshot Records (another Chicago institution, though not quite as old), a spin and held my breath -- could it somehow meet my expectations? And the answer is, well, yes. Over the course of 23 songs in 77 minutes, the album puts together songs well-known and not, from artists well-known and not. There's so much here to listen to that singling out a few songs seems unfair to the album, but life's not fair, which is itself a lesson that's heard on a few songs here. So then, three songs:

"Take This Hammer" -- Jon Langford gives an exuberant reading of this folksong, first collected in 1915, his raspy voice accompanied by his guitar and Rick Sherry's jug and percussion. It's an old song, but it sounds tailor-made for the 21st century.

"Drunken Sailor" -- Dan Zanes shows up with his band in full "Sea Music" mode, giving a idiosyncratic mid-tempo version of the song. It's not the full-tempo, punk-pirate version one commonly hears, but the band's musicianship and their voices -- I love that band's set of pipes -- actually help you hear the lyrics and appreciate them.

"Salty Dog Blues" -- If "Drunken Sailor" is the song you're not sure you should be playing for your 5-year-old but you do anyway, Rick Sherry's rendition of "Salty Dog Blues" is not safe for the younguns, lest you be asked to explain what it means to be someone's "salty dog." (I, on the other hand, as a fully-capable adult, think the cut is great.)

There are some songs that seemed too reverent for my tastes, but that's a personal thing, and all the tracks are well-done. People more familiar with the folk canon may have different views, but I also think the album really begins to pick up speed in the second half where the songs are more familiar -- "St. James Infirmary," "Down in the Valley," an excellent "Wayfaring Stranger" from John Stirratt.

Even setting aside "Salty Dog Blues," there's little here lyrically that would engage younger kids, so I think it's probably most appropriate for kids ages 8 and up. (Not saying that there aren't tracks appropriate for younger kids, such as Erin Flynn's reading of "Amazing Grace," just that this probably isn't your first choice.) You can download a couple tracks from the CD at Bloodshot's page for the album. (And here's my own suggestion, free of charge, for the School -- a bound, printed version of the Songbook, with chords and lyrics, would rock.)

Old Town School of Folk Music Songbook Volume 1 is a solid collection of folksong recordings that reflect not only the strength of America's musical heritage but also of the School itself. Families with older kids should definitely check it out. The name "Volume 1" implies that more are on the way, and for that, I can't wait. Recommended.

Posted by SAShepherd at 03:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Your Tigers may have lost to the St. Louis Cardinals, but you still have The Family Hootenanny.

Heck, everybody's got the The Family Hootenanny. Check out the review. Just $10, people!

Oh, and the cliche "Just wait 'til next year!" applies here, too -- a volume 2 is in the works.

Posted by SAShepherd at 09:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The first thing you need to know about Elizabeth Street is that it's a band, not a person, consisting of two people: Connecticut-based singer-songwriter Susan Kolbenheyer and guitarist Gregory Pearce. The next thing you need to know is that their debut album Different (2006) is pretty good.

In kids' and family music, there are many albums with decent music but with lyrics that are just too... obvious. It is possible, however, to write lyrics that are direct enough for kids that aren't so obvious as to make the parental eyes roll, and it's that fine line that Kolbenheyer walks on the album.

Take, for example, the power-poppy "Fair," with a chorus of "Life isn't always fair / Sometimes things don't work out like you plan / But we make the best with what we can / and hey it may be grand." If the whole song was as obvious as the chorus, it would get tiring very quickly. Luckily, the stories in the verses (for example, how the narrator's dad ate the "Chubby Hubby" ice cream she thought she'd hidden in the back of the freezer) are laced with humor and the song ends with a bunch of nonsensical wordplay. Kolbenheyer says she's trying to open up an avenue of dialogue between parents and kids with the songs, and even includes the gentle and bluesy "You Can Tell Me" to expressly encourage dialogue, though even here the verses aren't always direct ("Did you disagree with your imaginary friend? / You can tell me, you can tell me / Did he hurt your feelings even though he is pretend? / You can tell me anything")

If there's a dominant musical approach, it's gentle folk-guitar-pop, but there's definitely enough variety musically to keep things interesting. "Really Gross" is the best song about nose-picking that Jack Johnson never wrote, while "Dragon For Dinner" and "The Eyeball People" are punk tunes. "We're All Friends Here" is a catchy power-pop tune. Kolbenheyer has an appealing voice and Pearce's instrumental work is strong, though sometimes the productions seems to leave the vocals less clear than I'd like on kids' CDs. (Besides the music itself, I'd also commend the lovely album art of Pamela Zagarenski.)

Given the topics of the songs, the album would be most appropriate for kids 5 through 9. You can hear long-ish samples of several tracks at the album's CDBaby page.

Elizabeth Street sounds a bit to me like a more-amplified Frances England, or maybe a less-lyrically-direct Milkshake. But like most good albums, Different stands on its own terms, in this case melding a skewed-enough approach to kids-related topics with parent-accessible music. Recommended.

Posted by SAShepherd at 08:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

When the children’s thing came knocking at the door, it was a light I hadn’t seen before. Children: they’re honesty, they’re excitement, they’re real human hearts, right in front of you. My first gig with the kids changed everything. It suddenly gave me this focus I hadn’t experienced before.

**********

My earliest memories of listening to music: I’m standing in my sister’s room at about 6 years-old, and I’m listening to The Cars, Duran Duran, The Cure, Joy Division . . . Hm, some other girly stuff I can’t remember. I do remember her room was full of colorful, little knick-knacks you get from the mall, little clippings of cute 80’s musicians on the floor, pink Good ‘n Plenty candy boxes on the bed -- I didn’t feel very hardcore in there.

I have older brothers too. My oldest brother, Paul, was a Deadhead at the age of fifteen, so all I heard from his room was “Terrapin Station” and “Shake Down Street.” (1985: my brother is burning incants and designing airports for fun -- Paul was a very smart kid.) My other brother, Yorgo, was into The Police and U2 (the early stuff, which I think is the best). Let’s see what else . . . oh, Bob Marley, The Beatles (The White Album), Peter Gabriel, Steve Miller, Pink Floyd, Midnight Oil, The Stones -- Yorgo had more music because he had more money than anyone else, and he was still a teenager. He was really good at holding jobs.

The first record I ever put on by myself was “Eye of the Tiger.” How funny is that? Life is full of strange stuff. I didn’t really play a lot of music until high school. This guy Jake was playing “Come As You Are” at lunchtime. It looked so simple and so cool. I wanted to become the song. I went home that day, found my Mom’s old guitar in the closet, and played Kurt’s opening riff for hours. It took a while before I was able to play and sing. I thought you had to be like God in order to do that. In fact, I’m still learning how to do that.

I still play that same guitar every once in a while, It’s a 1965 Karl Hauser, hand-crafted in West Germany. My Mom played it at Willow Glen High School in 1966. I graduated from the same school 31 years later. She says the guitar sounds better today. I used that guitar in spots in “Sea Song” (The Great Adventures of Mr. David) I also used it in “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad” in my first album for sentimental reasons.

I remember another enlightening experience I had with music was in 8th grade. It was during P.E., and we were walking the track because we were lazy skaters, with a typical 13 year-old bad attitude. My friend Sean takes off his head phones and says, “listen to this. . . . “GOOD DAY SUN SHINE, GOOD DAY SUN SHINE, GOOD DAY SUN SHINE, I NEED TO LAUGH AND WHEN THE SUN IS OUT . . . “ Oh, that got me running. End of story.

You have some background as an actor -- How did you decide that you wanted to play and record kids' music?

Auditions were getting old. You drive up to San Francisco to audition for something, get judged and go home feeling like, “What did I do with my life today?” It was cool when I got work, but it wasn’t really me. I wasn’t supposed to be placed in the background. I have too much to give. I didn’t feel like I was using the part of the brain that needed to be expressed. Student films were the best. I didn’t get paid, but man they were fun. We have some pretty funny little shorts around the house.

When the children’s thing came knocking at the door, it was a light I hadn’t seen before. Children: they’re honesty, they’re excitement, they’re real human hearts, right in front of you. My first gig with the kids changed everything. It suddenly gave me this focus I hadn’t experienced before. I knew I had focus in me, but it wasn’t tuned in until I started playing for the brats (I mean the kids!) I started writing more songs. They were flowing more honestly. I felt like the kids were constantly looking forward to another Mr. David song. It made me want to keep bringing them to the table. I didn’t ever ask an adult if this song worked. I’d play it for the kids a day or two after writing it, and they’d always let me know if the song was worth putting on the album.

I wrote a song the other day called, “Jump in the Jumpy House.” I can’t wait to record it for the next album. I’m playing it live now, and the response is awesome. (It has a James Brown vibe.) Anyway, the kids thing just took off, felt right and so I went with it.

Were any of the songs on "The Great Adventures" inspired by adventures of your own?

Yes, most were adventures through my mind. But, all of the sea and beach songs like, “In the Storm, Fighting the Octopus,” “Surf’s Up All Around the World,” “Dream Away; Sail Away” and “Sea Song,” were all pretty much influenced by driving over Hwy 17 to Santa Cruz in the early morning. I always find the morning is one of the best times for lyrics. The morning is a good time to go fishing for songs. Even Mick Jagger said so in his documentary “Being Mick.” It almost sounds too simple, but that’s the way I work. I always find it interesting to record or just remember the date and time when a song comes. There’s a different feel to a song, depending on the environment and time of day.

I visited San Miguel, Mexico on my honeymoon, and it was a lot of fun. I did more writing in my journal than actual songs. Here’s a funny story how “La Cucaracha” was born. We had dinner at one of the best “slow food” restaurants in Mexico. We’re feeling good, and walked out of the restaurant to head back to our house. My wife is standing in a farm of cockroaches. She jumps and screams, I look down, and it’s gross. These creatures are running around, dancing around her feet. She steps on one and it cracks! But, it still runs away like you gave it fuel. We keep walking and she says: “You should write a song called ‘La Cucaracha,’ and have the kids jump every time they see one.” We wrote the song that night out on a cobblestone street.

People walked by and thought we were crazy, between the two of us jumping up and down and yelling “La Cucaracha!” Mexico was fun, man. We had a lot of good food and everything and all of a sudden there was a “LA CUCARACHA!!” It works! Let’s put it on the album.

"Pearl" is a song that’s close to my heart. I played baseball when I was young. I didn’t play in high school, because I was too busy growing out my hair, and trying to be a Beatle. Funny thing is, I still have this connection to baseball in a more sentimental way. There’s something old and haunting about it. I think about families on their way to a ball game. I think about the way a child feels at the game and how their perspective is about dreams, and all the good stuff in life. I think about my baseball card collection and how a Ricky Henderson rookie card meant more to me then a warm meal. One day I thought about a kid catching a homerun ball, catching a dream, or a pearl, and giving it back to Dad. It just made sense while I wrote it. And I got all teary eyed.

I wrote “Backyard” in my backyard. Didn’t have to go too far to find that one.

Some of my elementary students helped me write “Rock n Roll” (the Lizard one). We were all sitting around one day, every one was chill and I thought, “Hey let’s write a song.” We did it in 30 minutes, lyrics and music. These kids get it. Kids are just cool like that.

The album has a very relaxed and loose feel -- was that just carefully planned recording, or did you intentionally seek out that sound?

The relaxed and loose feel just happened that way. I didn’t plan that.

Some of the songs, particularly the instrumentals, have a very "painting with sound" feel to them. How well do those go over in concert compared to more straightforward songs like "I'm A Fish"?

I must admit the straightforward tunes like “I’m a Fish,” “Rock ‘n Roll,” and “Come to the Plaza” are good dance tunes for concerts. That’s the kind of solid playing you need at shows. I find people are more interested in up beat tunes, especially at 1 in the afternoon. It’s always good to stick with tunes that make fans move. They don’t want to sleep at that time. I try to keep my shows UP. I don’t want to lose people with a dreamy octopus song.

I also think “Dream Away; Sail Away” works better for the album then in concert. Those songs could work better while driving with the family on a trip, or an hour before bedtime while things are winding down.

It’s interesting you mention a “painted feel.” I love to paint. A painted sound is much looser. It could be some form of meditation. I like to get lost in the song. It’s all a part of the trippy experience.

Which are your favorite songs to play?

Sea Song
I’m a Fish
Come to the Plaza
La Cucaracha
Rock n Roll
Pearl

Tell me a bit more about your band, The Buckwild.

I was in a band called “Scapegrace” We broke up a couple mouths ago, but The Buckwild (our children’s project) has basically the same members as Scapegrace.

Mr. David: guitar/lead vocals
Richard Ajlouny :guitar/vocals/mandolin
Ryan Westphal : Bass
Adam Aharon: Drums

Our first big show was September 17, 2005 at Bonfante Gardens It’s still going strong. We just came back from a pretty cool show in Thousand Oaks (LA). We were doing both Scapegrace and The Buckwild thing for a while. The other members saw The Buckwild as something more promising. Adult music for us meant playing in a bar for 13 people. It just looked bad so we dropped it. Scapegrace did influence our Buckwild sound for sure.

I think that’s what’s unique about me. I don’t change my music for the kids. It’s basically the same stuff I’d be playing for adults. And, the same is true for my bandmates. Good music is good music. Scapegrace affected The Buckwild’s project in that the adult back beat and rhythms were moved over for the children, and I think that’s why parents can enjoy the show too. But, of course, we use kid friendly lyrics.

The children’s music helps the adult music in that it lightens it up. I like to keep things simple, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have deep meaning or are not well thought out. So whether I’m doing children’s music or adult, I still apply a lot of the same methods.

What would you like to see in Mr David's future?

We’ve always had a vision of Mr. David as something larger than just the music. I’d hope that someday, we would be able produce some of our ideas for different kinds of content for kids—music, books, programs—with the music as the linchpin for it all. My wife is a writer and designer; I’m a writer, illustrator, musician and painter. We’ve got great ideas for books and programs. We just need to find the right partners to help us get there.

My hope is that we can go national, even international, and win enough of an audience to start branching out and doing other things (with music always being at the center of it all.)

Also, I’m really proud to say that I’m putting out a kind of children’s music that really is different, and I hope that my music will help to change how people think about music for their children. I see the change happening in a larger sense in this genre, with artists like Dan Zanes and They Might Be Giants, and I want to be a part of that, in a big way.

Mr. David

Posted by SAShepherd at 08:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Or, rather, a new Land of Nod Nodcast Podcast, this time with Dan Zanes. The 20-minute podcast includes a new podcast theme song (Bill, why stop at They Might Be Giants?), Dan's vote for "Best Barbara Brousal Song" and "Best Instrument To Start A Family Band With," and sound effects galore.

Posted by SAShepherd at 08:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Detroit is not afraid of you and will beat your... OK, this is a family website, but it's true. The Detroit Tigers are back in the World Series and if The Family Hootenanny is any indication, they can turn out kid-rock with the best of 'em. (Well, they can turn out Kid Rock, too, but that's for another set of music blogs altogether.)

Released earlier this year, the album is inspired by years of occasional Family Hootenanny concerts in which Detroit rockers let their hair down (or, as the promo materials put it, "pulled it from their faces") for family-oriented shows. While the word "hootenanny" implies a folk-centric approach, the CD collects artists from across the musical spectrum, from the punk of all-mom bands The Mydols ("Run Crazy Baby") and CandyBand (the previously released but totally awesome "Get Up Already") to the faithful cover of Schoolhouse Rock's "Interjections" by the Katzenjammer Kids.

I wouldn't have expected it, but the crazy melding of styles works, mostly because the songs are each great in their own way. The Go! (Jack White's old band) puts together the closest thing to a lead single with "Knock Knock Banana," which sounds like an incredibly skewed Saturday morning theme song from 1975. That song is followed by "Stuck in the Playpen (Again)" by Old Man Miller (Dan John Miller of Blanche), a country-blues with the lines "I wonder if my momma even loves me / In the pen you don't get nothin' to eat / Just some plastic blocks / Some dirty old socks / A bunch of books that I'm too young to read." (As Homer Simpson would say, it's funny 'cause it's true.) The two songs have no business being on the same disk except they're both fabulous songs.

And so on through punk, country, pop, Americana. For the most part, the songs are originals, but even the traditional songs are given vigorous new readings. Loretta Lucas (and the Larkspurs) turn in some great harmonies on "Down By the Bay" while the Saltminers' uptempo (and whoo-whoo-enhanced) "Freight Train" is energetic and, well, fun.

Kids between the ages of 3 and 9 will most appreciate the album. (Heck, Chloe Crawford -- age 5 -- sings on "A Peacock Day" with her two younger sisters.) You can hear 4 full tracks at the compilation's Myspace page or samples of every track at CDBaby.

Most of the tracks here will engage the kids (and on a few tracks, if not the kids, their parents). If you particularly liked the Bloodshot classic The Bottle Let Me Down, you will certainly like this. But I think the album's appeal is broad and will reach many families. The Family Hootenanny is the kids and family music compilation of the year. Highly recommended.

Posted by SAShepherd at 08:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Ginger Hendrix is a very funny fellow woman, right!

Like Bill Cosby, there are a number of male kids' music artists with a broad sense of humor -- Trout Fishing in America, Robbie Schaefer, Daddy-A-Go-Go, the list goes on. The number of female kids' music artists whose broad sense of humor is apparent in their songs is much smaller. In fact, Laurie Berkner might be the only name that comes to mind, and one name isn't really a list. But with her debut, Macaroni Boy Eats at Chez Shooby Doo (2006), Ginger Hendrix is here to make it a list.

Not that you'll really be thinking about the sociological effects of the CD. You (and your kids) will be smiling. Songs about stinky things (the bluesy "Stinky Trash"), the alphabet ("L is for Llama"), or ponies (the mellow "Riding My Pony") will keep your 4-year-olds interested. Songs about made-up words such as "schnoikee-day footka" ("Funny Word Dictionary") will amuse slightly older kids. And the title track is a mostly spoken-word track that will amuse the parents greatly.

Hendrix, who lives on California's central coast, is not goofy all the time. One of the best tracks on the disk is a sprightly tune called "How the Days Go By," on which Hendrix is an acute observer of how many days pass by for preschool-aged families ("Sometimes we go shopping in the afternoon / take a nice big loop around Target / chew some gum, drink a lemonade / maybe go home with all new socks.") The songs themselves are almost entirely Hendrix accompanying herself on guitar, playing folk-pop melodies. (The mellower tunes have a bit of a Jack Johnson vibe to them.) Over an entire album, the relative sameness of the musical structures would get old fast were it not for the great lyrical wordplay and the sheer enthusiasm of Hendrix. (The enthusiasm is best heard on the final four tracks, recorded live at Hendrix's preschool. I've never attended "Teacher Mary School," but I love the song Hendrix created for it.)

The album will be most enjoyed by kids ages 3 through 7 and those whose sense of humor have not been surgically removed or otherwise altered. You can hear sound clips at this page, and I'd recommend just tooling around Hendrix's website, which is even more appealingly goofy than the album itself.

Macaroni Boy Eats at Chez Shooby Doo is a fun album, good for relaxing around the house in between trips to Target or picking up the older sibling at the bus stop. Ginger Hendrix strikes just the right balance of insight and immaturity (in the best sense) here. Recommended.

Posted by SAShepherd at 08:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Want to rock out on "Little Liza Jane," just like Elizabeth Mitchell did with Daniel and Storey on You Are My LIttle Bird? (Handclaps optional.)

Well now you can -- sort of -- as Mitchell has put together chords and lyrics for 9 of the tracks off that stellar CD and matched them with lovely drawings from Ida Pearle (who did the artwork for the album).

Get the songbook here. Songbooks for the other Mitchell CDs (and perhaps more songs off this CD) are in the works.

Posted by SAShepherd at 01:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I don't know whether Robert Schneider's kids' music album to be released by Little Monster Records in early 2007 under his Robbert Bobbert alter ego will be any good.

But if the tunes on his Myspace page are any indication of what'll be on the album, it'll be one of the oddest albums to come down the pike in some time.

"I Love the Animals" is a catchy New Wave/Beach Boys, Casio-accompanied tune which would be somewhat odd in its own right were it not accompanied by "Fee Fi Fo," which I can only describe as "The Chipmunks meets 50 Cent." It's a rap song from a mouse.

All I can say is, go listen for yourself.

Posted by SAShepherd at 08:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I don't think I'm the only person who, when they saw the cover to the latest Ralph's World album, Welcome To Ralph's World when I say that my first thought upon seeing the album cover was, "Where's Giselle Potter?" She drew all six album covers for Ralph's World, and her replacement by illustrator Jim Paillot for this, Ralph Covert's first album with Disney, is akin to the Wiggles deciding that they wanted to wear black, brown, white, and green shirts or the Yankees abandoning the pinstripes deciding to trot out solid blue uniforms.

It's unlikely, however, that people would like (or dislike) the Wiggles or Yankees based on their choice of clothing -- it's their actions or songs that give them such cultural cachet. In the world of kids' music (the Wiggles aside), Ralph Covert is about as big as they get. There's not another kids' artist who in the past decade has recorded more great songs. Some artists might have a better album or two but don't have the breadth (They Might Be Giants' 2 kids' CDs, for example) while other artists aren't quite aiming for the "kids' music" target (Dan Zanes). But the world of independently-created kids' music has been, up to now, somewhat isolated from the broad American culture, and Disney, by adding Ralph's World to its lineup, is attempting to branch out.

So I realize now that Welcome To Ralph's World is less a "greatest hits" album for his current fans as much as it an introduction to literally millions of families who don't already know his playful brand of kids'-themed (mostly) pop and rock. It does follow the greatest hits template, of course -- collect a number of good songs off each of his albums while adding one new track for the diehards -- but especially since Covert has not had videos on Noggin, the notion of "greatest hits" is somewhat odd. Does the 37-minute album collect his best stuff? For the most part, yes, including the garage rock of "Fee Fi Fo Fum" and "All I Want To Do Is Play" or the gleeful pop-rock of "Dance Around." It's too bad, though, that more songs from Covert's two most recent -- and best -- albums, Green Gorilla, Monster & Me and The Amazing Adventures of Kid Astro, didn't make the cut. "We Are Ants" or "I Don't Wanna" should be on the track listing. Beyond the track selections, the new song "With A Friend (The Pooh Song)" should dispel fears that Disney will completely change Covert's style. It's a retro-sounding pop/show tune that, while not an instant classic, is certainly a worthy addition to the Ralph's World canon. The videos on the accompanying 15-minute DVD, however, will probably only please those who have seen them repeatedly on the Disney Channel. They're not bad, and the kids joking around in the audience (including Covert's daughter Fiona) are having a good time, but aside from the backgrounds -- in the style of, yes, the album illustrator Jim Paillot -- they don't have much to recommend them, visually.

Ralph's World music, particularly on this CD, which omits some of the tracks appealing to slightly older kids, will appeal mostly to kids ages 3 through 7. You can hear clips from a whole host of Ralph's World tracks at his music page.

In the end, there are really three audiences for this review. The diehard Ralph-heads pre-ordered this album weeks ago -- this review is too late for them and wouldn't have affected their decision in any case. Casual fans who some of his albums in their collection can safely skip this collection without feeling like they're missing much. And for those of you out there discovering Ralph's World for the first time, this collection is recommended as a very good (and bargain-priced) introduction to one of kids' music finest songcrafters.

Posted by SAShepherd at 08:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

If you're here because of the nice article in the Sunday Morning Call, welcome. Thanks for stopping by -- we love guests. There's a whole bunch of stuff accessible from the links on the right (plus a search box there on the upper right-hand side), but here are some direct links to articles here on:

Ralph's World
Laurie Berkner
Dan Zanes (includes full-length interview)
Milkshake
Brady Rymer
They Might Be Giants
Trout Fishing in America

To read more about Frances England, go here -- to go directly to a review of her fine Fascinating Creatures CD, go here.

Want to find out more about the "Fids and Kamily" poll? Go directly to its website.

And, finally, here are links to the other kids' music sites mentioned in article -- Kids Music That Rocks, (Sm)all Ages, and The Lovely Mrs. Davis Tells You What To Think. More kids' music-related sites are there on the right -- I'd point out Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child, a Massachusetts-based radio program with weekly podcasts on which you can hear a lot kids and kids-friendly tunes.

And if you're a long-time reader here, the YAKMA (Yet Another Kids' Music Article) is worth your time for the breadth of quotations and news -- the next They Might Be Giants kids' CD, Here Come The 1-2-3s, for example, is now slotted for a Fall 2007 release.

Posted by SAShepherd at 11:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Based in New York City and led by mother of two Audra Tsanos, AudraRox strikes a punk pose -- a leather-jacketed, hair-streaked elementary school student poses on the cover of their debut album I Can Do It By Myself!, released earlier this month. But make no mistake, their music is more pop than punk.

Which is by no means a put-down when the pop is as finely tuned as it is here. One of the stand-out tracks is a 2-minute slice of power-pop goodness called "Tired," which sounds a bit like the Replacements (if the Replacements had three women doing vocals). On the New Wave-styled titled track, Tsanos channels the Missing Persons' Dale Bozzio. The band also runs through other styles -- country ("I Hope My Mama Says YES!"), funky blues ("Where's My Shoes Blues"), disco, etc -- and sounds great doing 'em all. And not only does the band sound great, they all have assorted songwriting credits on the album.

Lyrically, the album tackles typical 6-year-old concerns -- the effects of rough-housing ("All My Toys Are Broken") or begging for a little extra parental indulgence ("I Hope My Mama Says YES!"). The songs are mostly written in the first person, so the young listeners will grasp on easily, but there are enough sly bits to hook the parents. I was particularly amused by how the band turned the plaintive phrase "everybody's havin' more fun than we are" into a whole song that ever so gently chides the child that uses it. And the only thing better than a 7-minute song about procrastination ("I'm gonna button my coat so I don't catch a cold / I'll do it in a minute, but first, I'll sing the chorus" -- how very meta) is a good 7-minute song about procrastination.

Given the lyrical focus, it's targeted right at kids ages 4 through 8. You can hear samples at the CDBaby page for the album.

In its willingness to explore a whole bunch of pop and rock styles, I Can Do It By Myself reminds me -- in a good way -- of Ralph's World albums. It's energetic and lots of fun, speaking to kids without ignoring the parents in the back of the room. Recommended.

Posted by SAShepherd at 08:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

No, not on record, but the one and only Ralph Covert of Ralph's World spoke with Eric Herman recently. Go here to hear the interview, which includes Covert's thoughts on songwriting, concert venues, and what he wants to be when he grows up. (He also has a made-for-the-Tonight-Show anecdote maybe 8-10 minutes into the interview worth the time just by itself.)

Posted by SAShepherd at 01:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

But this one is new. In case you hadn't heard, there's a new poll in town -- Fids and Kamily -- the first of its kind for kids and family music. I, the Lovely Mrs. Davis, and Bill "Spare the Rock" Childs are coordinating the effort, which will have people dealing with kids' music on a daily basis picking their favorites from the past year.

The name is inspired by the Village Voice's "Pazz & Jop" poll -- maybe this year some brave critic in that poll will put a "kids' music" album in their Top 10 (there are a number I could suggest). If we get that far, perhaps this poll won't be necessary. But until then... stay tuned.

Posted by SAShepherd at 09:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

When Bloodshot Records' classic kids and family music compilation The Bottle Let Me Down was released in 2002, it was, well, something of a novelty. Adult artists -- edgy ones, even -- doing kids' music? What was perhaps surprising was just how darn good the collection was.

Now it's 2006 and adult artists doing kids' music, while not yet passe', is certainly not a novelty, not when every rocker with kids underfoot may be thinking that there's an audience out there that's waiting to be served. So it hardly seems necessary to note that the Wee Hairy Beasties, whose debut album Animal Crackers will be released next week, actually consist of musicians with a long history of playing in places far seedier than your local day care center -- Jon Langford and Sally Timms, of the punk band the Mekons; Kelly Hogan; and Devil in a Woodpile.

It also is much less surprising than it would have been four years ago that this album is more fun than a barrel full of monkeys. Or ants. OK, it's way more fun than a barrelful of ants. Barrelfuls of ants are never fun, but the rewrite of the Bo Diddley classic "I'm a M.A.N.," which is turned into "I'm an A.N.T." definitely is. "Housefly Blues" introduces young listeners to the problems of the common housefly. Langford's distinctive and slightly raspy voice is a great fit for the zippy "Ragtime Duck." And so on, through a whole range of country, bluegrass, and swing arrangements. My favorite track on the CD is "Cyril the Karaoke Squirrel," on which Hogan's sly vocal delivery and the '60s-era arrangement draws the listener into a story about intolerance which, as you might expect from Bloodshot Records, doesn't end quite the way you'd expect.

I'm going to put an age range of 3 to 8 for the 33-minute album, thanks to the animal subject matter, which always goes over big with preschoolers. You can download the leadoff track, the ragged-sounding (in a good way) and lots-of-fun "Wee Hairy Beasties" and pre-order the album at its Bloodshot page.

Make no mistake, Animal Crackers is a kids' album. But it's made with love and enthusiasm and will engage kids while making the parents smile. And if you had any affinity for The Bottle Let Me Down, you shouldn't hesitate at all to get this album. Definitely recommended.

Posted by SAShepherd at 08:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Sad about the closure of CBGB's? Have no fear, The Sippy Cups are here with Electric Storyland.

On their first album, 2005's Kids Rock For Peas, the San Francisco-based band took a bunch of '60s and '70s-era tunes (some famous, some less so), tweaked them as necessary to make them kid-friendly, and played them live in front of an appreciative audience of preschoolers, grade-schoolers, and their parents. Making the album and band more than just a one-off joke ("I Wanna Be Elated," get it? Ha!) was the band's energy, enthusiasm, and sense of humor (pitched at both kids and adults). What could have become very old very quickly was given fresh life.

Electric Storyland takes a slightly different approach, eschewing cover songs for a set of 14 original songs. But the album has every bit of the debut's energy, enthusiasm, and humor, with songs that draw inspiration from the '60s and '70s, but are definitely original. Take "Use Your Words," one of very few tracks that have anything remotely resembling a "message," about how articulating feelings rather than simply acting on them is a preferred way of dealing with frustration ("The world will be greater / If you use your words"). It's a fun, uptempo song that has the faintest echoes of, say, Steppenwolf's "Magic Carpet Ride." But most songs are content to paint pictures, such as the Jimi Hendrix-esque sounds of "Drinking From the Sky" or what I'm assuming is an early Floyd tribute (as indicated by the "Money"-esque clinking of change at song's start) in "How To Build A Dog." And lest you think the Cups are stuck in the music of 30 years ago, a couple songs (the excellent "Springtime Fantastic" and "Flower Tower") have hints of the Replacements and the Gin Blossoms and guitar power-pop less than 30 years old.

I can't think of too many downsides. The album did feel a bit long at 51 minutes, but that's a minor quibble -- the songs are all pretty good. I'm one of those people who doesn't like skits with my music, but the characters here (familiar to those who've heard the band's first two CDs, plus a new one, "Major Minor") are amusing and their skits brief.

The album is pitched at a slightly older crowd perhaps than the first CD, think ages 4 through 10. You can listen to sound clips and buy the album at its CDBaby page or at its iTunes page.

Electric Storyland is a strong step forward for The Sippy Cups -- it's a winning album retaining the spirit of music from 30 years ago or more but giving it its own youthful energy. Instead of bemoaning CBGB's demise, listen to the Sippy Cups. Definitely recommended.

Posted by SAShepherd at 08:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Kids, for the most part, haven't yet learned not to laugh at themselves and the world around them. That's a really good and healthy place to be and as a performer and songwriter I feel a responsibility (and desire) to meet them there. Human beings are strange creatures--we should enjoy that.

What are your earliest memories of listening to music? Playing music?
My earliest memories of listening to music are with my grandparents. My grandfather is an accomplished pianist and cellist and he would sit at the piano and play (sometimes with me on his lap) while my grandmother leaned against the piano and sang. Those are very warm memories.

Reportedly, I was an excellent pot and pan musician as a toddler. I'd pull them out of the kitchen cabinets and start banging away. I believe I was particularly proficient on the 14" sauté pan and the 3 qt. boiler. You'd have thought my parents would have figured a few things out and moved the pots and pans to the cabinets above the counter---guess I’m thankful that they didn't.

You have had a long and successful career playing in the band you helped form, Eddie From Ohio. How did you get from that to putting out a kids' album?

I began doing children's music on a lark when my middle son (I have three) entered preschool. The director said she'd heard I was a musician and did I know of anyone that might be able and willing to take over the preschool music director's spot? Without thinking it through, I said, "um . . . I guess I could do that." Well, of course it was more involved than I’d expected, but I ended up teaching music there for four years and really loving it. That led to numerous opportunities doing children's shows elsewhere, and when Eddie From Ohio took an extended break from touring last year, I decided it was time to record my first children's album. It continues to be a wonderful experience.

How does playing in EFO affect your kids' music, if at all? How 'bout the other way -- did recording Songs For Kids Like Us have some effect on what you're doing now with EFO?
I don't know that one has that much to do with the other except in one way . . . Eddie from Ohio has always refused to take itself too seriously. I think we have shown that in our songs, but even more so in our live performances. I have found this to be an essential quality in children's artists as well. Kids, for the most part, haven't yet learned not to laugh at themselves and the world around them. That's a really good and healthy place to be and as a performer and songwriter I feel a responsibility (and desire) to meet them there. Human beings are strange creatures--we should enjoy that.

Which is easier for you -- music or lyrics? Does it matter if you're talking EFO vs. kids' music?
I don't think one is easier than the other for me. I tend to write both at the same time, whether it's efo or kid's music. Sometimes finishing the lyrics--a bridge, or a third verse--can be a challenge, but, especially with kid's songs, I think it's mostly a matter of opening your mind wider and wider and having fun.

What's your favorite song or two on Songs For Kids Like Us? Why?
Probably "Cowboy Bob" and "there's a carp in the tub". Cowboy Bob obviously goes over the head of many of the younger kids in the audience, but I just think it's really really funny. I still laugh at it. I find that parents find it funnier than the kids do, so it's one for all of us. "Carp" is one of my favorites because every bit of it is true--it's from a story my grandmother told me about her childhood growing up in Brooklyn.

"No! No! No!" is also one of my favorites because of the melody. That song actually did begin with the music--it was just a melody before I’d even though of any lyrics. It's catchy and you can dance to it ;-)

Were "No! No! No!" or "Resolution Song" inspired by your kids in particular, or perhaps by memories of your own childhood?
"No! No! No!" was definitely inspired by one of my kids, but I won't say which one. We must protect the guilty. "Resolution Song" is largely fictional with bits of my own life thrown in (the bit about locking the babysitter out of the house? I was the babysitter. Ugh.)

What music do you and your family listen to at home?
We listen to a variety of things. Ironically, now that I’ve finally put out a kid's album, my children are on the older side of my target audience. My eldest son is 12, middle one is 9, and the youngest is 8. But they all sing on the album and sometimes in concert with me as well. We listen to contemporary pop stuff (they love Ben Folds and, of course, Eddie From Ohio), some hip hop, some folk (they were in to Dave Carter and Tracy Grammar a couple of years back). My biggest guilty pleasure? The fact that my 12-year-old likes KISS--I loved KISS when I was 12!!! (I’m sure I’m going to get a call from protective services now).

Do you plan on recording more kids' music?
I don't have any plans to right now, but that's just because I’m currently focused on other projects. At the same time, Songs For Kids Like Us has been really well received--even surprisingly so--and I’m enjoying doing some touring and seeing how far I can carry it. It's a nice change from performing adult music--instead of someone offering to buy you a drink after the show, you get invited to a birthday party. Can't beat that!

Posted by SAShepherd at 09:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

It's safe to say that the fine folks at Putumayo Kids aren't putting together a collection called, say, "Phoenix Playground," or even "Chicago Playground." Phoenix has a decent musical history for a city so young, and Chicago's musical history is tremendous, but New Orleans is probably the only American city with a musical background robust enough to provide so many songs to choose from while offering a distinct-enough sound to make the mix-tape at which Putumayo excels sound good.

While touching on many strains in New Orleans music, New Orleans Playground (to be released on Tuesday) relies most heavily on the side of rhythm and blues. With a number of classic songs on the collection (most notably Lee Dorsey's "Ya Ya" and Fats Domino's "Whole Lotta Lovin'"), the adults may be forgiven for thinking that they've accidentally turned on the radio and "KOOL 97, Classic Oldies!" (See also Dr. John's bouncy-yet-mellow "Row Row Row Your Boat" and Buckwheat Zydeco's massive reworking of "Skip To My Lou" into "Skip To My Blues" for familiar voices.) But there are enough much less familiar artists and songs to make the collection not feel stale. I particularly liked Charmaine Neville's "Second Line," a fun tribute about New Orleans' brass band tradition. Credit goes to Putumayo for not always picking an obvious artist -- it was nice not to hear a more-famous Neville brother on the collection, and they chose the unknown-to-me Hack Bartholomew for a rendition of "When The Saints Go Marching In." It's too bad, however, that the collection mostly ignores New Orleans' strong jazz tradition -- while it's hinted at on some of the more brassy tracks, this collection needed a jazz track from the birthplace of jazz.

If you didn't have the familiar Putumayo illustrations, you wouldn't necessarily know that this collection was targeted at kids (only one or two tracks are really kid-focused), but let's say that kids ages 3 through 9 are most likely to enjoy it. You can hear some samples at Putumayo's album page.

This collection is a gentle if incomplete introduction to New Orleans music. Expertly compiled and arranged, both parents and kids will enjoy it. Recommended.

Posted by SAShepherd at 01:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The one downside to The Terrible Twos' excellent If You Ever See An Owl? You couldn't get it except for at New Amsterdams shows or the occasional Terrible Twos' show. I felt kinda bad telling everyone about it, really.

Well, my guilt (such as it is) is near an end, because the band announced late last month that the album would be released in January 2007 by Kid Rhino / Paquito Records. About time that the rest of the world got a chance to hear these infectious tunes.

And for those of you who've managed to snag a copy and are thinking, so what, the band also announced it'd be recording a couple new songs for a "Christmas EP." Methinks "Caroline," the story of a child who's birthday's just a little too close to Christmas for her taste, would also make an appearance on the EP...

Posted by SAShepherd at 01:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I've received a lot more kids' music this year than I have time to review here on the site. There are many reasons why I don't review something -- it's absolutely awful, it's too far past its expiration date, it's not really kids' music -- all reasons that I'm willing to throw out the window at any time, I should note. But what about those albums that I'm, well, only lukewarm about?

Case in point: this album.

New York-based Mr. "S" (aka Ed Stankewick) recorded for several indie rock labels before becoming a schoolteacher and, eventually, releasing Songs For Family, Friends & Frogs, his 2006 kids' music debut.

I really wanted to like the CD, but being a hopeful person I really want to like just about every CD I listen to. And there are components of the album that I did like, especially the solid musicianship of Stankewick and his Burnt Bottom Cookie Band. When they grab ahold of a good song, like the "everybody's a hero" pop-rocker "Superhero," the resulting energy is fun to listen to, as it is also in the gently insistent "Frankie the French Fry." The bluesy cuts ("Itchy Little Toe," for example) tend to be the strongest songs.

But for the most part the songs just weren't that memorable to me. Some went on too long ("Take Your Medicine"), some were just a little too cheesy ("My Dog Sings the ABC Song"), and some... It's not that the songs were bad -- believe me, I've heard plenty of bad kids' songs, and these weren't it -- but they just left little impression on me, no compelling desire to go back and hear it again (even though I did so several times for the purpose of this review).

The songs have a slightly goofy lyrical sense that would be most appropriate for kids ages 5 through 9. You can hear several cuts at the Mr. "S" website. Which I recommend doing, because maybe I just ate something bad, or I haven't been getting enough sleep, or something. And that's why I will sometimes review albums that just don't speak to me, especially if there's something worthwhile in there that could serve as the core for someone else's serious enjoyment. Whatever the case, while I could appreciate the musicianship on Songs For Family, Friends & Frogs and look forward to hearing what else Mr. "S" comes up with in the future, this album didn't speak to me.

Posted by SAShepherd at 08:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

News that Gustafer Yellowgold, or at least his nifty creator Morgan Taylor, has been signed to V2's new kids' imprint Little Monster Records comes amid changes at Gustafer's Myspace page.

That's right, folks, he now has 710 friends, the most important of which seem to be from "Sesame Street," primarily.

Oh, and there are a couple new tracks streaming there for your listening pleasure. "Cooler World" is sort of an introductory song, OK, but nothing special. "Birds," however, is a blast of Beatles-ian (or, if you're younger and/or hipper, XTC-ian) pop confection. ("Rocket Shoes" is also new, but has been streaming on the site for many months now.) Could "Mellow Fever" be the working title for the next DVD or CD following the rerelease of Wide Wild World?

In addition, there's an amusing video promo for Gustafer which includes news that Taylor's working on the next DVD (Have You (N)ever Been Yellow) -- which I think I knew, or maybe that was just a falling-on-cake-inspired reverie -- and an illustrated book (natch) called The Inifinity Sock, which was news to me. (Love that title, in spite of or perhaps because it makes no sense whatsoever.)

But the best part is that the first half of the video is done as if it were a preview for some awful Michael Bay flick.

"Part yellow, part gold... all Gustafer." I'm still chuckling.

Posted by SAShepherd at 12:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Eric Herman's blog has been both consistent and consistently entertaining since its inception. All that's missing is mp3 sound clips.

Oh, wait, now he's taken care of that, too.

Eric's recent post on where ideas for some of his songs came from was a particularly fun read. The music geek in me likes to read about the process of songwriting and being a musician, and the post has that in spades (plus lots of sound clips).

If that weren't enough, the post has, without a doubt, the best Photoshop creation I'm likely to see on a kids' music-related website this year. Go there just to see the picture (and read the whole thing to figure out what it's supposed to be).

If 2005-2006 was the year of the "Wolf" bands, 2007 should be the year of the Sock album. Go for it, Eric.

Posted by SAShepherd at 12:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

There are albums (in all genres) that you can drop in and out of, where your attention can wander without ruining the overall effect. And then there are albums whose enjoyment depend upon a sustained mood, whose parts are greater than the whole.

Peter Himmelman's 2004 album My Fabulous Plum is the latter.

Heard in bits and pieces in the car -- the minivan is the parental 9:30 Club, dontcha know -- the album doesn't come off that great. Elaborately produced rock songs with a hint of Broadway stylings, with vastly different song palettes from track to track, it's hard to pin down. Not that the songs are bad -- "Sherm the Worm" is a fun, driving rock track with horns, but it's squeezed between the mid-tempo Shel Silverstein-esque fable "A World Where You Only Eat Candy" and the Caribbean-tinged self-empowerment ode "Ain't Nothing To It."

But Himmelman, who's been creating music for adults for more than 20 years, is an excellent songrwriter, and it's only once you've listened to the album in full that you appreciate the world Himmelman's created. Your kids will enjoy the silliness in songs like "Herman the Big Oily Moose" and "Cindy and the Octopus," and they might even hear the message in "Ain't Nothing To It," and "I Don't Like To Share." You might even come to enjoy the pure weirdness that is "Waffles," a spoken-word track. In no case does Himmelman ever talk down to his audience.

I think kids ages 4 through 9 will most appreciate the 36-minute album, which is the second of Himmelman's three kids' albums. You can check out samples at Himmelman's website for the album.

My Fabulous Plum has some strong songs, but it will probably take a few spins before you'll get the cumulative effect of the album -- a book of musical short stories and poems for kids. Recommended.

Posted by SAShepherd at 08:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As a parent of five- and one-year-old kids, I'm not quite in the Lemony Snicket core demographic -- my kids are too young to really be reading the books, and I'm way too busy to add another kids' book series to my plate. (I'm sorry, Harry Potter got there first.)

I am considerably closer, however, to the Stephin Merritt demographic and it's he, in the guise of his "Gothic rock-bubblegum pop" band The Gothic Archies, who has composed a song to accompany the audiobooks for each of the Lemony Snicket A Series of Unfortunate Events books. With the release of the thirteenth and final book in the series The End on, appropriately enough, this Friday the 13th, Nonesuch Records is releasing The Tragic Treasury: Songs From A Series of Unfortunate Events tomorrow, collecting tracks from all thirteen audiobooks for the first time on one disc. (How did this partnership occur? Well, Snicket's alter ego, author Daniel Handler, and Merritt go way back -- Handler played accordion on Merritt's breakthrough with the Magnetic Fields, 69 Love Songs.)

As you might expect given the source material, this is not exactly "Up With People." More like "Down With People." The opening track, from the first book in the series, has a pleasant enough melody, but with lyrics such as "You might be thinking what a romp this is / But wait 'til you meet his accomplices" and a chorus that goes "Scream and run away / run / run run run run run run run / or die / die die die die die die die," there's a lyrical darkness that you don't really get on a lot of kids' albums. OK, on virtually no kids' albums.

But having read the first book in the series to prepare for this review, I can assure you that the song totally matches the tone of the book with witty and intricate lyrics that are the equal of Snicket's words. Musically, Merritt singing style recalls one of the pioneers of Goth music, the late Ian Curtis of Joy Division. And the songs themselves, which peppy ("Freakshow") or moodily atmospheric ("Crows"), serve the lyrics, which typically don't tell stories (a la the intricate narratives of the Decemberists) as much as they serve as musical illustrations for the book. They're complementary, in the best way. It's almost a shock, then, to hear the "bonus tracks," the sunny (or at least only partly cloudy) "Walking My Gargoyle" and the almost snappy "We Are the Gothic Archies." The tone still matches that of the books, and "Gargoyle" is an especially fun track, but they do feel a little out of place.

The recommended reading age for the books seems to be about 9 though 12, so I'm guessing that kids 8 and up will enjoy the songs the most. You can hear three excellent tracks at Nonesuch's site for the album or the band's Myspace page.

I don't think families will want to listen to The Tragic Treasury on a regular basis if they have no familiarity with Lemony Snicket or Stephin Merritt. These are excellent songs, but they're for a certain time and place, and you may not be at that time and place yet with your family. If, however, you've got Stephin Merritt or Lemony Snicket fans in your household (be it you or a younger member), this CD is an excellent and darkly humorous romp through the world of Lemony Snicket and is highly recommended for you. (And it might even get you turned on to another great series in kids' literature. After all, I only need to get through one more Harry Potter book, and then I'll be looking for something else...)

Posted by SAShepherd at 10:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

A couple of readers have asked how my singing party for my birthday went, and before it's closer to my next birthday than the one just past and