Zooglobble

Is releasing a kids' music album in November like releasing a movie in January? Because December 31st is the deadline for having your movie considered for the upcoming Oscars, it's implied that studios dump all their really bad movies in January. So, if you just miss the October 31st deadline for Fids & Kamily, does that mean it's a bad kids music album?

Well, no, not at all, but curse Chicago's ScribbleMonster for making Fids & Kamily voters struggle over their ballots. Their new album, Songs With No Character, was officially released this week on November 4, but has been available informally since late October. Is it a 2008 album or a 2009 album? And, yes, people have been asking that question, which is one indication of this disk's quality.

I've mentioned in the past my mixed feelings about the cartoon voices that have appeared on past ScribbleMonster albums, and so from my perspective, the (almost-entirely) cartoon-free voices on this disk ("Songs with no character," get it?) already served as a selling point. And, really, a lot of the songs work just as well (though perhaps not necessarily any better) sung in a regular voice. ScribbleMonster and its chief songwriter Jim Dague has always been willing to impart wisdom via song -- the difference between them and a lot of artists who do similar things is that these songs are so insanely catchy that you don't mind the directness of message. I mean, "Doing The Right Thing Isn't Always Easy, Doing The Easy Thing Isn't Always Right" is about as straightforward as the title itself. It's also a groovy song, graced with horns. "It Could Have Been Worse," co-written with Monty Harper, has a silly, breezy tone that will capture both the young and old. And "With A Smile" can make even the most grizzled parent appreciate the value of smiling more.

Which isn't too say it's all sweetness and light and kindergartners only. "I'm A Utility Pole" is a totally dorky (and, therefore, winning) song about a totally dorky dance move. "Spare The Rock, Spoil The Child" is, hands-down, the best theme song for a kids radio show ever, though it rocks harder than your 4-year-old will. There's even a little weary cynicism in "No Good Can Ever Come Of A Sleepover" ("empty promises" isn't a lyrical turn of phrase you often hear in this genre). That's offset, though, by "The Song of LIFE," which, though going over the heads of the kids ("what's this 'LIFE' game?") will appeal sentimentally to their parents who remember the classic board game.

It's really a "family" album, which means that different songs will appeal to different family members, but I think kids ages 4 through 10 will most appreciate the songs here. You can hear some of the tunes at the band's Radio page, Myspace page, or CD Baby album page.

So, yeah, I liked this album. Whether it's the first really good album of 2009, or the last really good album of 2008 isn't really the point. It's a really good album. Definitely recommended.

Posted by SAShepherd at 09:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

You've probably noticed that I don't review a lot of "educational" CDs. There are a couple reasons for that -- first, I don't have much of a clue as to their pedagogical soundness. Second, and perhaps more importantly for the purposes of this site, the music usually just doesn't move me. We are about entertainment and community around here -- if your kids happen to learn something found in a textbook, too, well, that's just a bonus.

So let me describe Musiplication With Kat Vellos this way -- I don't envision myself listening to this on my own or after my kids have mastered the times table. But that doesn't mean it isn't good listening. Kat Vellos is a former teacher as well as a spoken word poet and with her first CD Musiplication has put together a sweet little collection of times tables set to music.

Yeah, you heard me -- "times tables set to music." Vellos breaks through the pedagogical boredom barrier that phrase implies in two ways. One, each times table (especially as you make your way into the higher digits) is presented as a story of sorts -- giving each multiple of 6, for example, a distinct family personality type in "6 Family Reunion" or crazy stories in "7's Tall Tales." You're still hearing the same basic repetition of the tables, but at least it's presented with verve; Vellos' spoken word poetry experience gives the stories shape. Second, Vellos' words are underlaid with some laid-back beats courtesy of the producer Batsauce. Layered with old-school funk and soul, it gives the whole CD a deliciously organic feel.

While younger kids might enjoy the stories here, the target audience is clearly slightly older kids, ages 7 through 10. You can listen to samples at the album's CDBaby page. Because it's trying hard to teach times tables, it doesn't quite reach the "listen anytime" nature of something like TMBG's Here Come the 123s -- if you know the times tables, you probably won't spin this too much. But it does its job with as musically pleasant a background as you'll care to hear. It's about as good an "educational" CD as they come.

Posted by SAShepherd at 03:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

With the release today of their One Day Soon EP, San Francisco's The Sippy Cups have followed the lead of other, more adult-oriented bands, who consider EPs an integral part of their musical release pattern. The five songs here were recorded as part of the band's sessions for their upcoming 2009 release, and is the first new album from the band since October 2006.

So are the songs worth the wait? Well, mostly yes. "One Day Soon" kicks off the album, a mid-tempo number about growing up (or at least older) that would have fit perfectly on the generally more rocking Electric Storyland. So would have "Ladybug Beat," at least if it had been plugged in (it's acoustic here). I've already talked a little bit about "The Day After Halloween,", which is a bit of departure from the Sippys' normal metaphor-filled and fanciful songwriting. Its melancholy nature is a perfect fit for fall -- it's a Halloween song that isn't just for Halloween, and is my favorite track here. "Listen With Your Eyes" is a sweet lullaby (though there's a bit too much going on for it to be effectively used an actual lullaby). The only false step is "Effervescing Elephant." Ironically for a band which started out primarily playing covers of '60s era psychedelic songs, this Syd Barrett cover falls flat. It's supposedly a live staple of the band, but this off-the-cuff version just doesn't have any oomph.

The album will appeal mostly to kids ages 4 through 10. The album is about 14 minutes long and, perhaps most interestingly, is available only as an iTunes download. At $3.99 for the whole album, it's pretty cheap. It's a small but decent collection of tracks which can only serve to heighten anticipation for their upcoming full-length. Newcomers to the band can probably wait (or go back to Electric Storyland forthwith), but fans will definitely enjoy this, too. Recommended.

Posted by SAShepherd at 09:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

With their latest album, Massachusetts' The Nields joins the company of the Foo Fighters and Pearl Jam.

Really.

That's right, because on their new 2-CD family album, Rock All Day, Rock All Night, the Nields sisters join those two alternative rock heavyweights in putting out an album with both an uptempo and a downtempo disk. (Those two albums, in case you're wondering -- the Foo Fighters' In Your Honor and Pearl Jam's best-of rearviewmirror.) Now, I can't say that the Nields rock quite as hard as those bands do, but I'm also not sure there's anything quite as giddy on those disks as on the sisters' banter on the brass-band-accented "Muffin Man." (Did you know there was a whole neighborhood on Drury Lane? Well, you do now.)

The first disk is a mixture of folk songs and originals (some old, some new). The sisters have run a HooteNanny program for families with young kids, and many of the songs sound like they are come from that program. Unlike a lot of CD collections from kids and family music programs, however, the collection actually holds together as a decent listening experience even if you've never taken a class with them. It's probably mostly due to the fact that there are some really good songs here. The traditional "Going To Boston" kicks off the disk, and like many of the tracks, there's a life to the recording that encourages you to sing along. The brass band sounds great on "When The Saints Go Marching In," as it does on "Muffin Man" (as noted above). The new tracks are no slouches either, with "Who Are You Not To Shine" -- a shimmery folk-rock song and worthy successor to "Anna Kick A Hole in the Sky" from the last disk -- and "Superhero Soup," actually one of the oldest songs in the Nields' songbook, but re-purposed here. Not all of the tracks are great, but, like I said, as a whole, it holds together well.

The second, slower disk is, unsurprisingly, less focused on singalongs and more focused on great, slower songs. I hesitate to call it a classic lullaby disk as there isn't quite a hush-ness that I associate with lullaby disks. Instead, it's more like a warm nook on a cold day, encouraging you to stay put and contemplate the day and maybe drift off for a tiny nap. (Or, if you're a kid, play with your Legos or read a book.) One of my all-time favorite ballads, "Wild Mountain Thyme," makes an appearance, with the Nields' dad, John Nields singing along (as on the first album, he sings on several tracks). The Nields also engage in some re-purposing here, as "Easy People," one of their most famous songs, gets a simple treatment. I think I like this disk slightly better than the "day" disk, but that's just a personal preference for the more classic songs.

The first disk is probably most appropriate for kids ages 2 through 7; the second disk is essentially all-ages. Right now, the disk only available through the Nields themselves (go here to order), though national distribution will start shortly). For samples, you're best off checking out the YouTube clips I've compiled here.

The Nields continue to make vital family folk music with humor and tenderness. Rock All Day, Rock All Night is an all-purpose collection of songs that will serve your family well in times both of play and rest. Definitely recommended.

Posted by SAShepherd at 09:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Like many people, I first became interested in kids music when I first had kids. Which meant that my first exposure to the genre (as a parent) was to lullaby CDs, or to rendition of classics sung by families for years and years.

It was not to songs about the produce aisle's remarkable similarity to junior high, the inventor of concrete, or elbows.

So I guess what I'm saying is that the first kids album from Central Services and their not-so-mild-mannered alter ego The Board of Education isn't for those parents whose kids are just learning to walk. Heck, it's really not even for those parents whose kids are just learning to read.

But if your family's got one of those kids who've blown past those learning-to-read barrier with flying colors a long time ago, Central Services Presents... The Board of Education might be their new favorite CD.

From the pop bliss of the opening track, "Rise and Shine," the album is pitched right at that 9- to 12-year-old kid who's probably the smartest kid in class. School is the central part of their life, learning something so freakin' cool, even if the rest of the day doesn't quite measure up. (Unsurprisingly, one of the band's main songwriters, Kevin Emerson, used to teach elementary school science, and now has a book series, Oliver Nocturne, for kids ages 9-12.) The second track, "Beverly the Village Misfit," about a young girl who looks up at the skies and realizes the planet is in grave danger even though nobody believes her, includes the lines "Maybe you've had occasion to feel like this / When something you're so sure of / Is dismissed by all your friends / Despite the overwhelming facts you have to prove that / You are very right."

I mean, if that isn't a description of a brainy but perhaps socially awkward tween, I'm not sure what is. And that's not the only song that captures that feeling. "It's awkward in the produce aisle / The salad bags they don't smile / Anymore / The mushroom looks the other way / The cucumber bristles," goes one of the lines in "The Lonely Tomato," which has been one of my favorite songs period for the 18 months I've been listening to it. In telling the story of a tomato, which is unsure of his position in the grocery store -- "Oh, where do I fit in?," as the chorus goes -- the song not only captures perfectly life as a tween, it loads every bit of production into it, with horns, pop hooks, and silly voices (yes, the cucumber has a speaking part).

On it goes, combining great pop hooks (or pop pastiches) with obscure subjects like the invention of pavement ("Know Your Inventors"), punctuation ("The Many Uses, and Dangers, of Commas"), and volcanoes ("Volcanoes and You"). If this all sounds like a modern Schoolhouse Rock, you'd be right. There's even a song called "8 Is A Number." If there's any difference between that classic series and the songs here it's that Schoolhouse Rock would often take a more minimalist approach, while the band piles everything on here. It's unlikely the dripping-with-sarcasm-but-totally-peppy "Ice Ages Are Fun!" would ever make the cut on Schoolhouse Rock. Humor is common in kids entertainment; sarcasm, however, isn't, but if you're 12 years old, yeah, you're OK with it.

Sometimes it's too much, actually, "Volcanoes and You," for example, mixes funk with a faux educational film, and while it sounds kinda cool, it's too baroque to actually to be more than a trifle. And lest you think the band can't show some restraint, the last track (save for the hidden track) is a gorgeous lullaby "August Lullaby" that's lovely and sweet. Another simpler track or two like that interspersed among the wilder, goofier parts would have served it well.

While younger kids might bop along to the hooks, kids are really going to have to be at minimum 7 years old to get into the lyrics. You can hear songs at the band's Myspace page or samples at its CDBaby page. For the moment, it's only available as a digital download (at CDBaby, Amazon and iTunes, but will be released in physical format later this year.

Long-time readers of this website won't find my enthusiasm for this album too surprising, because I've been talking about a number of these songs for a long time. After settling down with Central Services Presents... The Board of Education for many listens, I can hear why it's not an absolutely perfect album -- there are going to be some families it doesn't move. But for some families, this is gonna be one of those albums they listen to over and over, and, like Beverly the Village Misfit, they'll tell everyone who'll listen about it. That this album rocks. And they'd be right. Definitely recommended.

Posted by SAShepherd at 01:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

When you receive as much kids music for review as I do, you have to guard against certain biases. Given the glut of material, what tends to get reviewed is either stuff that's in the traditional folk/pop/rock vein, but very good (see: Justin Roberts, Ralph's World, Laurie Berkner, Recess Monkey, etc.); not in that folk/pop/rock vein (see: hip-hop, country, jazz); and stuff that's just so out there that you have to tell someone about it if only to show what risks people are taking these days. (And then you have Dan Zanes, who in the Venn diagram of those 3 categories is the only one who intersects all three.) With the last category especially, there's some risk that the uniqueness of the material is outweighing, you know, the actual interest to the kids.

So let me be clear, The Thin King, the debut CD from the San Francisco band Me 3 falls squarely in that 3 category. I mean, sure, it's got songs that would definitely be considered rock ("I Don't Know," perhaps, or "Apple," which is an appealingly crunchy and lo-fi mid-tempo rocker). But the more familiar-sounding styles are melded with subjects very focused on the natural world (hence "Apple," or "Tulip," and "Cows"), not in an educational way (which would be pretty conventional), but pretty much in an observational manner. (In this case it sounds a lot like Mr. David, or maybe a little bit like if World Party did a kids CD.) There are lots and lots of questions on the album -- "I Don't Know," for example, or "Cows." What is the album title, after all, if not a play on the word "thinking."

Beyond that, you have odd little spoken-word interludes; the goofy trilogy of "Short Song," "Shorter Song," and "Shortest Song" (which, yes, is pretty much what the titles promise); and Pachelbel's Canon borrowed for "When It All Began." Oh, and just as you begin to think that band mastermind Jason Kleinberg is maybe a little self-serious, "Next Song" interrupts some mock serious banter with a request to "play the next song!," which results in Kleinberg mis-hearing and not playing the "necks song." In other words, the goofy 7-year-old humor fits in nicely among the more serious "thinking" songs.

So, yeah, the 41-minute album's geared mostly for kids ages 6 through 10. You can hear some songs both at the band's website and their Myspace page, and samples of all the songs at the album's CDBaby page.

The Thin King is one of the more unusual-sounding kids music albums of the year. It also happens to be a lot of fun. While it's not the most conventional of CDs, with its imagery and musical melding of styles, it'll certainly capture the imagination of some families. Recommended.

Posted by SAShepherd at 02:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Let me start this review by suggesting that, for all its sins real or imagined, Disney Music purveys more original music for kids and families than any other label. It is possible to avoid a fair amount of that if you don't actually watch cable TV on a regular basis, but they put out a lot of music on a regular basis, and for all age ranges. Not to mention a back catalog the envy of just about anybody. How much you actually enjoy it all depends in part on your age, but I've got three recent Disney releases here, and at least one of them is worth your time.

I admit it. I'm old. Not, like, Social Security old, but old enough that if I use the phrase "OMG" I mean it ironically. I am old enough, however, to have a kid who, though she isn't quite out of the "kids music" phase yet, will start listening to music I haven't introduced her to.

So I understand quite clearly that the soundtrack to Camp Rock, the latest Disney Channel original movie, premiering on a gazillion different channels this week, is Not For Me. It is for kids just a little older than my daughter. They'll spend their own allowances on it, or maybe their parents will get it for them. And what they'll get is an attempt to duplicate the High School Musical magic, except this time in a slightly more rock-oriented retelling of Cinderella. The album features some tracks with Joe Jonas solo (he's got a leading role in the movie) as well as a Jonas Brothers track. There are some songs by 16-year-old Demi Lovato, who has the lead female role and seems to be Disney's leading contender for a Miley Cyrus with a less pop and more rock edge.

The songs are fine enough, and most of the songs won't drive you to change the station if you hear them on Radio Disney (OK, maybe "Hasta La Vista," ugh), but you're not going to remember them 15 minutes after they're over. There's nothing as memorable as "Breaking Free" or "Fabulous" or "You Are the Music In Me," all of which are decent pop songs. In the end, it's not really for me, but it never really was.

Continue reading "Review: OMG or LOL? Three Disney Disks" »

Posted by SAShepherd at 09:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's not like we weren't prepared for the possibility of a Lisa Loeb kids' music album -- after all, she (relatively) famously joined with her old Brown University singing partner Elizabeth Mitchell to produce Catch the Moon in 2004. But it certainly took Loeb a while to get around to a kids' album of her own, and it's not quite what we might have expected.

Loeb released her new album, Camp Lisa, last week, and it's a considerably different album from Catch the Moon. Whereas that album was definitely targeted to the preschool set (it was packaged with a small picture book, after all), Loeb's album is a concept album that celebrates summer camps.

I mean this in the best possible way -- Camp Lisa is an winningly dorky album. By that I mean it expertly blends earnest and original "camp life" songs with earnestly sung renditions of traditional songs and chants. I mean, the album leads off with the cheeky "Ready For The Summer," the theme from the movie Meatballs. While perhaps there's a small wink and nudge in Loeb's and Letters to Cleo's Kay Hanley's vocals, the group of kids singing along do so with gusto and without any irony. It's summer camp -- the more you through yourself into it, the more fun you'll have.

The original tunes here, including "Best Friend," "When It Rains," and "It's Not Goodbye" (which features a nifty segue into the camp chestnut "Make New Friends"), have an appealingly laid-back, '70s AM-radio vibe whose sounds will appeal to the parents of kids going off to summer camp and whose lyrics, should the kids settle down long enough to pay attention, might actually frame their camp experience. (The whole album is well-sequenced, working from heading off to camp to leaving it.) The traditionals -- "Woodchuck," "Peanut Butter & Jelly," and "Father Abraham" -- wouldn't be strong enough to merit a whole album on their own, but integrated into the other songs, they provide a nice contrast.

Loeb pulls in a whole bunch of help here, from Jill Sobule (on the dreamy "Cookie Jar Song") to Veruca Salt's Nina Gordon on the ukulele-accompanied "Linger." Kudos, too, to Loeb for a) getting Steve Martin to appear on her album, and b) asking him just to play banjo (which he does well on "The Disappointing Pancake").

Given that these are songs about going to camp, I'll put the age range here at ages 7 and up, though certainly a lot of the traditional tunes will appeal to the younger set, too. For the moment, the 39-minute album is only available at Barnes & Noble -- you can hear samples and buy the album here. (I should also note that in conjunction with the album's release, Loeb has also launched the Camp Lisa Foundation, a non-profit that will raise funds to help send underprivileged kids to summer camp.)

Camp Lisa does a very good job of evoking -- both prosaically as well as emotionally -- the summer camp experience, and I think that any family who's gone through that (or is going to go through that) will find this a very worthy album. But even if you're doing the summer camp thing, there are enough good songs here that you'll probably linger a little while with it. Recommended.

Posted by SAShepherd at 02:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Imagine if Kanye West decided his next album would be a bluegrass album. Or if Metallica felt they had a polka album in them. How would their fans react? How would the bluegrass or polka purists react? Most importantly, would the music be any good?

I'm thinking about those questions after having listened to Nueva York!, the latest album from Dan Zanes. The album, released yesterday, is Zanes' eighth "age-desgregated" album, the follow-up to his 2006 Grammy-winning album Catch That Train!. And, after slowly building up his rep as the godfather of family-friendly music for American families, Zanes has chosen to release an album songs from Latin America and Mexico recorded 99% in Spanish.

Zanes has released less obviously kid-oriented albums in the past -- an album of seafaring songs (Sea Songs) and an album of songs from Carl Sandburg's Songbag -- but those were released when Zanes had a little lower profile than he does now. So while Zanes probably couldn't act like Beck did early in his career, and release his higher-profile stuff with Geffen while releasing other, more challenging albums on small labels, he should still get credit of some sort for embracing this new album as the full-fledged follow-up to Catch That Train!

But back to the original question -- is the music any good? Yeah, it's good. The album starts out with insistent drums and the driving "El Pescador," which rocks as hard anything in Zanes' kid-ography, helped out by Marc Ribot on guitar. "Colas" mixes tuba into a a Mexican son joracho recorded with the Villa-Lobos brothers. "Pollito Chicken" is the closest thing to a "kids' song" here, with a kids' chorus helping out the children's rhyme.

On it goes -- through Daphne Rubin-Vega's turn on the beautiful la-la-las of "Alba Mananera," the Villa-Lobos brothers' forceful string playing on "El Pijul," and long-time DZ compatriots Rubi Theatre Company on the multilingual "El Canario." I certainly can't speak with any knowledge of how "authentic" the renditions are, but these mostly traditional songs probably don't sound like this today in their "home" countries, either. These renditions here are vibrant, full of life, with solid musical performances. More so on perhaps his other CDs, Zanes takes a little bit more of a backseat to his fellow musicians -- it's a more collaborative album than any of his previous efforts, which befits the learning and immersive nature of this project.

As good as the music is here, I can't say this is the perfect DZ album. At over an hour in length, it goes on for too long. Kids who have grown up on Zanes' albums may miss the absence of Father Goose and his silliness especially. And it's going to be hard for a lot of English-speaking families to fully "get into" the album when it's virtually entirely in Spanish. None of which the album bad as an entity unto itself, but for those families who stumbled recently onto Zanes via a Playhouse Disney video and haven't been listening for five years, it's likely to be a little bit confusing, at least.

While the album is another all-ages experience, it doesn't have quite the early-years hook some of Zanes' other albums have, so I'm going to put the target age range here at ages 5 and up. You can hear samples of the tracks just about everywhere online, or you can listen to "Colas," "La Piragua," and "El Botellon" right now at Zanes' Myspace page.

With Nueva York!, Zanes has crafted another album of fun, family-friendly community music. Going back to the question I posed earlier -- does it really matter who does a bluegrass album so long as the album is good? While the album is a less-than-perfect introduction to his music, longtime Zanes families will embrace this CD as just another part of his wide-ranging musical explorations. And hopefully it'll introduce Dan Zanes to a whole new set of fans. You'll listen, you'll dance, and -- Zanes hopes -- you just might even sing along. Definitely recommended.

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

It's Memorial Day here in the United States, so I thought this review might be appropriate.

Maine's Josephine Cameron is not an artist that typically would get much coverage on a kids' music website. That's because even though Cameron spends some of her time teaching songwriting to kids, she doesn't spend her time recording songs for kids.

But just as her last album, Close Your Eyes (review) was a mellow CD that could pull double-duty as a lullaby album, so too her latest album, American Songs Vol. 2, could be a good folk song primer for slightly older kids. The album, released in late 2007 and a sequel to the first volume, released in 2002, consists of a number of traditional American folk songs mixed in with a few originals. Cameron puts just enough of her own spin on the more familiar songs to make them fresh without depriving them of the strengths that have made them classics. "Oh Susanna" is dialed-down a notch, emphasizing more of the sadness of the distance between the returning soldier and his love. "This Land Is Your Land" gets all the verses, with Cameron's ebullience at the end showing through.

There is pleasure in the discovery of less-familiar songs, such as the waltz of "Gum Tree Canoe." And on "Evangeline" (co-written by Cameron and co-producer Anthony Walton), Cameron retells Longfellow's tale of Evangeline and Gabriel. I also really liked Cameron's, Walton's and arranger Carter Little's bluesy setting of Sterling A. Brown's poem "Long Track Blues." Cameron's slightly high-pitched voice (think Susanna Hoffs) is set off nicely against the understated guitar and mandolin work.

I would be surprised if young kids enjoy this album much, but older kids, say those 8 and older, might enjoy listening to these songs. You can hear samples and download tracks here or at the 42-minute album's CDBaby page. Also, I highly recommend Cameron's notes on the songs, which are incredibly detailed. It's always nice to hear musicians thinking about how to record traditional folk music in a way that preserves what makes the song a classic but also brings the musician's own sensibilities to the song, thereby making it new once more. With American Songs Vol. 2, Cameron's done that. It's not necessarily a kids' album, but it's a good album.

Posted by SAShepherd at 08:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

High Meadow Songs is a collection of tracks from artists in New York's Hudson Valley to benefit High Meadow Arts, a local non-profit providing arts education for children and families.

When getting a bunch of local musicians together for a benefit album, it doesn't hurt if your definition of "local musicians" includes Elizabeth Mitchell, Dog on Fleas, and Medeski, Martin & Wood. And if the CD just consisted of the tracks from those artists or collaborators, you'd have a pretty nifty 9-track album. Dog on Fleas turn in a very Fleas-ian (and local) "Buffalo Gals" and sound a bit like The Band on "Jenny Jenkins." Mitchell covers Jane Siberry's sweet "When Spring Comes," while MMW offer their reworking of "All Around the Kitchen" (accented with kids' voices) from their upcoming Let's Go Everywhere CD.

Luckily there are a number of other tracks worth it for someone who's not from the area -- for example, Rebecca Coupe Franks & Her Groovemobile offer an original jazzy instrumental, "Ella Skye," and Abby Hollander and a whole bunch of High Meadow students perform Mark Morgenstern's story-in-song "Hudson River Girl." The album isn't so much an album of "kids music" as much as it is an album of kid-friendly folk music, "folk" defined rather broadly, as the album also includes a song from a musical comedy based on Beowulf ("True True Friend") and a couple of tracks from drummers Fode Sissoko and Toby Stover. As with any benefit album, especially a 65-minute one such as this one, the quality (or interest) of the tracks is not uniformly high, but the high points outweigh the rest.

You can hear the first three tracks in their entirety here or listen to samples at the album's CDBaby page. It's probably most appropriate for kids ages 5 and up. High Meadow Songs will appeal most to fans of Dog on Fleas and Elizabeth Mitchell, but I think any listener (or family) who's a fan of folk music will find many pleasures here. It's a testament to one particular community's creative vibrancy. Recommended.

Posted by SAShepherd at 12:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In the comparatively small world of kids music, I'm not sure there's been an album that has shook up the genre recently as much as the Jellydots' debut CD Hey You Kids!. At time it rocked, other times it was gently sweet, but it seemed to resonate with parents who might never have given the genre a second thought.

So how exactly does one follow up such a standout release? You pretty much have two choices -- follow the template exactly, or throw away the mold. For Doug Snyder, chief Jellydot, the answer was more the latter than the former and you can hear the results on Changing Skies, the followup CD currently available in digital formats and available on physical CDs in the not-too-distant future for old fogeys like me.

How is it different? Well, the primary difference is that the subject matter is definitely geared towards older kids. It's not that Hey You Kids! was necessarily a perfect album for a 3-year-old -- it was definitely more for 6-year-olds and older. But songs about dropped cookies and going to camp, and treating each other with respect were definitely for kids. On the new album, though, Snyder often writes songs about 14-year-olds, or even their older siblings. "Remember Me" is a beautiful song which conjures up every memory you never had about a tenth-grade romance with a girl who moved away. "Art School Girl" is a dryly humorous reggae-tinged track about a young woman who moves away from Austin because she thinks life will be more exciting elsewhere and ends up working in Starbucks. Your 3-year-old might bop her head to the tune, but won't really care about the lyrics.

The album isn't totally a missing My So-Called Life soundtrack -- "Big Swingset," for example, is about, well, a swingset and moves briskly in 7/4 time (a meter which, I assure you, is not found on most pop-rock albums), while "Sad Robot" is a slower track about a robot who'd much rather be zooming through space. And for those of you who loved the lullabies at the end of the first CD, Snyder doesn't disappoint here, either -- "When You Were Born" and "Pretty Little Baby" evoke Paul Simon and Elliott Smith in tenderness. So, yeah, there are some songs for the youngsters, but the overall vibe is for kids older than them.

I'm going to peg the primary audience here at ages 9 and up. You can listen to samples and purchase the CD at CDBaby or hear a couple songs at the Jellydots' Myspace page. (Order it at iTunes here.)

In its own way, Changing Skies an experiment in creating a different path for family music, one that attempts to include all family members in the musical journey. Dan Zanes has blazed this trail most successfully, but with this album, deliberately or not, Doug Snyder is seeing whether or not a more rock-based approach might also work. I'm not sure everybody in a family will like all the tracks equally, but I'm pretty sure at least somebody will like each track in turn. And I definitely think the adults who liked Hey You Kids! will like this new one, too. Recommended.

Posted by SAShepherd at 07:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I have been a fan of Rhode Island-based Keith Munslow since hearing his fun 2005 album Accidentally (on purpose) (review here). But I hadn't heard any of his storytelling until giving his recently-released Dressed Up For the Party a spin.

I should have known his storytelling would be every bit as fun (and funny) as his music. There are just 4 tracks here stretching out over the album's 47-minute runtime, nicely sequenced. The opener, "Five Second Rule," is storytelling with some strutting blues bookending Munslow's observations on the eternal food/floor conundrum. It's an amusing appetizer to the main two stories here. The 18-minute "No Token, No Milk" tells the story of a school-aged Munslow losing the token he needs to get his carton of milk. It's the funniest story here.

It's followed up by "Marfa the Barfa," a more dramatic story (though not without funny points) with no music about a 13-year-old girl whose fondest wish of going out to sea with her fisherman father is thwarted by her throwing up over the side of her father's boat (repeatedly). At nearly 20 minutes long, you might think that it would drag or fail to keep the kids attention, but my kids (especially the 6-year-old) hang on to every word. I could see where both stories were going (or at least the major plot points), but in storytelling it's the details and the execution (listen to the squeak of Martha's brother's tricycle and its use), and Munslow's got those down pat.

The disk wraps up with the title track, an amusing musical number about a kid who doesn't want to, uh, get dressed up for the party. It's a light dessert to the disk. It shows off Munslow's musical chops, along with that of his co-producer, Bill Harley (a talented singer/storyteller in his own right, and a Grammy-winner to boot). With the exception of "Marfa," music is important to the tracks, and even in the comparatively non-musical "No Token," Munslow's use of the African box drum the cajon made my two-year-old dance like crazy.

The stories will be of most interest to kids ages 4 through 10. You can read the liner notes and lyrics at Munslow's page for the album or listen to samples at its CDBaby page.

Dressed Up For the Party is a solid album of storytelling with some sweet musical accompaniment. In pajamas at home, or in school clothes in the car, your kids will enjoy the disk and you will, too. Recommended.

Posted by SAShepherd at 08:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

When the Seattle band Recess Monkey aped (pun somewhat intended) the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover on their 2nd CD, Aminal House, it wasn't a random reference -- they really did sound a bit like the Beatles on that fine CD. So with their Sgt. Pepper's under their belt (and maybe their fun but a little rough-around-the-edges debut Welcome to Monkey Town standing in for Please Please Me), all that's left is to release a double album, right?

Uh, right.

Set to be officially released this weekend, Wonderstuff is the year's most ambitious kids' music album. A double-CD set (a first for the genre as far as I'm aware) telling the story of Everett the Wonderbee, who along with some friends, travel far and face danger as they seek the mysterious Gray which threatens the meadows where Everett and his friends all live. Oh, and the songs and the stories were created (and performed) by the band with the help of a bunch of elementary-school-aged summer campers. (Really. I sat in on the tail-end of one the days of camp as an invited guest of one of the campers.) So, yeah. Ambitious.

Although the band joked this summer that they were making their "Yellow Album," as I listened I thought more of another late '60s double-CD set from another English band -- the Who's Tommy. Though miles away from Pete Townshend's somewhat dark and disturbing storyline, Wonderstuff is, at its heart, also a rock-pop opera. It intersperses its songs with narration and dialogue from the characters which move the story along. These snippets, usually a minute or so in length, are often quite amusing (for both parents and kids, though not always at the same time). The story itself -- a hero quest worthy of Joseph Campbell -- will be of interest to kids. (I must say, though, I actually missed "Mayor Monkey" from the previous CDs, which is one of the first times I've ever actually missed a skit character.)

Of course, the heart of the album are the 20 songs here. There are a fair number of songs that one would describe as Beatlesque ("My Pet Rock" is one such song, featuring the album's best melody), but other styles get their day -- the later Beach Boys sound of "The Pool," the Byrds-ian jangle-pop of "Down Down Down," even the Who get a cut ("Round and Round"). Which isn't to say newer artists get ignored. Some of the tracks on the 2nd CD have to me a more minimalist Spoon vibe, the dour "The Gray" could be a cut from Stephin Merritt's Gothic Archies side project, and the boys give another shout-out to John Vanderslice in the power-pop of "Backpack." Lyrically, the songs are split between those that hew closely to the narrative (e.g., "Magical Meadows") and those whose relationship to the story is tenuous ("Down Down Down" is really about a roller-coaster ride). In other words, take out the overarching story and you'd have a completely different album.

It would also be probably 30 minutes shorter, and when you're talking about 81 minutes worth of entertainment that's currently on the two disks, that's a big difference. In fact, if there's one drawback to the CD, it's the length. It would sound great on a long car ride (the story is interesting enough to keep the attention of the listener), but it may be too long for many listeners.

The album will be most appropriate for listeners ages 5 through 10. You can hear samples at the album's CD Baby page. I also think you'll be able to listen at the album's website, but that function doesn't seem to be up and running just yet.

With Wonderstuff, Recess Monkey have recorded another album bursting with energy and good spirits. Even if you're not interested in the rock-pop opera, there are a bunch of fabulous songs at the heart of this album worth your time. Definitely recommended.

Note: The album's release party is this Saturday, Oct. 20, at the Experience Music Project in Seattle Center. If you can make it, go. I think it'll be ten tons of fun.

Posted by SAShepherd at 08:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Spend 2 minutes and 16 seconds, listening to "Educated Kid," the title track and leadoff single from the Bay Area trio The Hipwaders' latest CD, Educated Kid, and try not to move or sing along in some way. Go ahead, try.

See, can't do it.

It's a great example of a pure power-pop song retrofitted just enough to allow the kids to groove to it, even get something out of it lyrically ("pursue your passion / do what you love / perservere / you'll rise above"), while retaining enough musical flourishes (the "uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh" of the chorus, the handclaps) to make the older power-pop fan smile broadly.

While the rest of the disk doesn't quite reach the sugary heights of the title track, there are a number of other good songs on the CD, which was released this week. "Little Baby Brother" has a snappy "ba-ba-bas," "whooooos" and a dead-on kids-eye view of a child's response to a little brother ("Please don't break my toys / And I'll love you forever"). "Aidan's Train" is a sweet Beatle-esque melody. A lot of the tracks have a very XTC vibe -- "The History of Declan Rae" sounds like something from XTC's later period while the angluar "Art Car" and "Speed of Love" have early XTC influences -- in other words, it sounds like a Futureheads kids CD. Guitarist and songwriter Tito Uquillas continues his fascination with sharing educational facts in some songs. It could drag the disk down but it usually doesn't -- the facts typically come off as "hey, here's this really cool fact!" rather than overly didactic and some songs ("History of Declan Rae," in particular) pull it off rather well.

Kids ages 5 through 10 will most likely appreciate the songs and subject matter on the 39-minute CD. You can hear (and download) four of the tracks at the band's Myspace page or samples of all tracks at the album's CDBaby page.

Educated Kid marks a big step forward for the band. In reviewing their previous, self-titled CD, I said "they're not at a Ralph's World level of polish and songcraft yet, but give The Hipwaders time. They may just get there. " Folks, they're getting pretty close. Definitely recommended.

Posted by SAShepherd at 08:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Can sequels upstage the original?

The Chicago institution Old Town School of Folk Music released its Songbook Volume 1 last year (review), and the title implied that more was on its way. But could what followed surpass that solid collection?

Yes.

Old Town School of Folk Music Songbook Volume 2 & 3, released last week by Bloodshot Records, is its predecessor's equal in every way, and betters it. Over the 2 hours and 20 minutes on the 2-CD set, the School's instructors and friends breathe fresh life into 42 mostly traditional folk songs. These aren't really kids' songs -- they're folk songs (of many sources, from gospel to sailing to bluegrass), written for general audiences. But with few exceptions they're totally OK for kids and families.

In many cases, the artists take a mostly traditional approach, with a healthy dose of banjo, fiddle, and and/or guitar instrumentation. But others take some risks -- the Zincs turn in a spare, quasi-electronica version of the traditional Shaker tune "Simple Gifts," while Scott Besaw engages in some multi-tracking to make his solo recording of "Nine Pound Hammer" sound very full. As sung by Mary Peterson, "Sportin' Life" could easily be a long-lost track from Patsy Cline.

And some of the tracks are just luminous. Laura Doherty's rendition of Donovan Leitch's "Colours" is simple and sweet. "Lonesome Road," as performed by Back Off the Hammer, would fit right in on a Gillian Welch/David Rawlings disk. Cat Edgerton's "Water is Wide" should find its way onto many a lullaby mixtape. If I had to pick a single track from the bounty here, though, it'd be Jacob Sweet's take on Stephen Foster's "Hard Times." The timeless melody and lyrics, combined with Sweet's voice and the harmonies, are enough to give the listener goosebumps. There are a few tracks I'll skip over because I don't like the vocal style, but those are definitely the exception, not the rule.

Even more so than the original, this collection is appropriate for kids, with very little in the way of subject material parents might object to. Call it appropriate for kids ages 4 on up. You can download Nora O'Connor's excellent recording of "Home on the Range" here, and listen to samples elsewhere on this fabulous thing called the Internet, about which you won't hear a single song here. I'd also note that you can get this album for less than $15 in most places. It's a great deal.

Songbook Vol. 2 & 3 is chock-full of renditions of classic songs that are part of the American song DNA that will please many an ear. If this is how good the sequel is, then Volumes 4 & 5 had darn well better be in the works. Highly recommended.

Posted by SAShepherd at 08:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

In reviewing this CD, let me be clear from the start that ours is not, for the most part, a television-watching household. It's not really a principled stand as much as it is a reflection of our busy lives. We just don't have much time to watch TV if we want to do other things like, you know, bathe and eat.

Having said that, I do wish we had a little more time, because if we did, we might find time to watch Class of 3000, a Cartoon Network show co-created by, executive produced by, and starring Andre 3000 of the hip-hop duo Outkast as musician/teacher Sunny Bridges. Even if the animation was lousy, we'd still have the music to enjoy.

Released earlier this month, Class of 3000: Music Volume 1 features one song from each of the first season's thirteen episodes, plus the show's theme song. That theme song by itself is more adventurous than most kids' music, going from funk to jazz and even picking up a nursery rhyme along the way. (You can download a copy here, courtesy of Sony, or listen to a Windows stream here or a RealPlayer stream here.)

Luckily the rest of the CD is just as creative and funky. "Throwdown" could be a hip-hop hit. "Cool Kitty" sounds like it was written 40 or 50 years ago, with a snappy surfer/girl-group vibe. "Oh Peanut" is a slower track that shows off some more classical instrumental grooves (listen to a Windows stream here and a RealPlayer stream here.) "Life Without Music" is one of the better "educational songs" of recent years. And, hey, how often on a major-label kids' music release do you get the pure instrumental bebop jazz of "My Mentor?" Rarely, oh so rarely.

If there's a drawback to the album as an album, it's that some songs are clearly tied to the visuals. In some cases it's not much of a drawback -- while I might like to see the visuals associated with "Fight the Blob," the drumline march of the tune is so strong, it works fine a song told in music. In other cases, such as "UFO Ninja," I'm clearly missing something. I'm not saying you need to have seen the series, just that I think those who have might enjoy it (and understand the story-driven songs) slightly more. For those of you don't like cartoony voices, well, I'm usually right in that camp, but the vocal characterizations here are pretty strong, and I think you'll enjoy 'em. (I did.)

The songs are probably most appropriate for kids ages 5 through 10, though with the exception perhaps of the darker "We Want Your Soul," everything here is A-OK for youngsters, too. You can hear samples at your standard internet retailers, but I'd also recommend checking out the videos from the show, available at the show's website. You can hear many of the album's tracks there.

In the end, what I find so wonderful about Class of 3000: Music Volume 1 is that a major label gave an exceedingly talented musician the freedom to create an album that takes so many risks. In the jazz interlude of the theme song, one character says, "But, Sunny, radio doesn't play songs without words anymore," and Sunny says wearily, "I know..." It'd be a shame if the public doesn't hear these tunes, be it by radio or some other way. The album is a smartly crafted collection of kid-friendly funk, hip-hop and jazz. Definitely recommended.

Posted by SAShepherd at 09:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Would I be here on the web without Greasy Kid Stuff? Yeah, probably. Would anybody care? Well, I'm not so sure.

Way back in 1995, when Belinda Miller and Hova Najarian started their weekly Saturday-morning "Greasy Kid Stuff" broadcast on WFMU in the New York area, there may have been a number of kids' music shows on the radio, but none were doing what Belinda and Hova did. Sure, they played "kids' music" (cartoon theme songs, the Chipmunks, and a Sesame Street song made their appearance on a randomly-selected playlist from November 1997). But they also re-appropriated kids' songs played byadult artists (Elvis Presley, the Mr. T Experience and Tanya Donnelly/Juliana Hatfield on that same broadcast) and, even more subversively, artists and songs that had never been anywhere near a kids' show. It wasn't just Jonathan Richman -- it was the Phantom Surfers, the Go-Nuts, and Yo La Tengo.

In 2002, Belinda and Hova compiled their first Greasy Kid Stuff collection, filled with their broadcast's most popular songs from 7 years of Saturday-morning radio shows. This collection has a very goofy vibe to it that owes as much of its energy to Dr. Demento as it does 120 Minutes. Finding out from the liner notes that the very odd "There's a New Sound (The Sound of Worms)" was "without a doubt the most-requested song" on the show in the mid-'90s is a bracing tonic in thinking about what kids actually like to hear. Although I think the silly outweighs the rock, even the silly has a lot of rock to it (check out the surf "Ants in My Pants"), and the rock -- exemplified by the Mr. T Experience's cover of "Up and Down" from Schoolhouse Rock and the by-now-immortal "Jockey Monkey" from James Kochalka Superstar.

The sequel, released a couple years later, is more at the 120 Minutes-end of the GKS spectrum. With tracks from Cub, Supernova, and They Might Be Giants, the album has much more of an indie-rock feel. "Dictionary" is another great indie-rock track, done by Muckafurgason (two-thirds of which would later become the kids' band The Quiet Two. But the less-familiar names also turn in enjoyable tracks, most notably the surprisingly sweet (with pointed commentary near the end) "The Dinosaur Song," from Drew Farmer.

Both albums are appropriate for kids of all ages (unless you think kids shouldn't hear the "Mission: Impossible" theme as performed by chickens, then stay away from the original). But I think kids ages 4 through 10 will probably get the most out of the CDs. Samples are available at many fine internet superstores.

It's hard to choose between the two CDs (if, indeed, you have to choose between them), but I think my rough stereotyping above -- Dr. Demento or 120 Minutes is a reasonably fair one. There are some awesome tracks on both CDs and your family will like both, if for perhaps slightly different reasons. With news that a third collection is in the works, Belinda and Hova will get to share their many discoveries with a music world that's, well, finally, sort of, caught up with them. Recommended.

Obligatory conflict-of-interest note, which I forgot to include when originally posting this last night: Belinda and Hova have just started a new Greasy Kid Stuff blog at Offsprung, which is where I post, too. I could've written this review many months ago, long before they even joined the fold, but thought you should know.

Posted by SAShepherd at 08:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I will be upfront and say that although pirate mania seems to be taking over the world, I, thus far, have been immune. No eyepatches, no using pirate lingo, and only on the rarest of occasions do I drop an "Aaarrrrrrgggghhh." (Though that does give me tremendous satisfaction.)

I do, however, make an exception for the charms -- yes, charms -- of Captain Bogg & Salty, which for nearly 10 years has been performing kids and families in their home port of Portland, Oregon and in other parts of the world. They are a pirate band, though I think it's probably more truthful to call them a pop/rock/theatrical band with a very piratical attitude.

This is definitely noticeable on their third album Prelude to Mutiny, which was released in 2006. The album starts out with a more traditional vibe, led off by a rousing version of "Drunken Sailor." The next track, "Bosun Whistle," has a traditional sound, but also sounds a little bit like trip-hop -- call it "ship-hop." And its unsettled lyrics about an uneasy sky lead nicely into the third track, "Mutiny of the Hispaniola," which, as you might expect from the title, is an elaborate story song about a pirate mutiny. Captain Feathersword, this ain't.

The rest of the album, while not totally happy and cheerful, backs off from the darker side explored in those first three tracks. "The Loneliest Sailor" is a love song, believe it or not. "Doldrums," while exploring the not-so-happy occurrence of being trapped in idle waters, is married to a straight-ahead rock melody. "Dead Men Tell No Tales" is the best song AC/DC never wrote. And the good captain's deranged take on "Part of Your World," from Disney's The Little Mermaid is in its own special category of "must-be-heard-to-be-believed."

Darker in tone than its predecessor, the album lyrically is appropriate for a slightly older audience, perhaps kids ages 6 through 10+. Which isn't to say that younger kids wouldn't appreciate some of the tracks here, just that if you've got a three-year-old, I'd probably start out with Pegleg Tango perhaps rather than this. You can hear samples here.

If you hate pirates, then I wouldn't recommend this. (Though I'd ask you, why'd you make it this far in the first place?) If you or someone in your family loves pirates, or even if, like me, they're just fans of well-crafted rock/pop songs and stories in song, then Prelude to Mutiny is worth your time. Recommended.

Posted by SAShepherd at 08:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

There was a time where not every kids’ musician had a Myspace page or was prepping a music video.

I’m talking, of course, about the late 1990s.

In the late 1990s, the only record company that seemed to anticipate the forthcoming resurgence of kids music was Smithsonian Folkways, which in 1998 issued the Smithsonian Folkways Children’s Music Collection, a 26-track CD culled from the venerable institution’s massive collection of children’s music recordings.

How venerable is the collection? Well, you need look no further than the four artists leading off the set -- Woody Guthrie, Ella Jenkins, Pete Seeger, and Lead Belly, who represent the most important kids’ musicians of the first three-quarters of the 20th century, the 1927 Yankees of kids’ music. Their tracks here are representative of the artists’ work -- Jenkins’ take on “Mary Mack,” a song she made her own, includes enthusiastic children’s participation, and while Seeger lends his sweet, clear voice to “All Around the Kitchen.”

There are other tracks here from Guthrie, Jenkins, and Seeger, but there are some other great tracks here from artists you’ve probably never heard, or even heard of. Lord Invader with the Calypso Orchestra turns in a rendition of “Merrily We Roll Along” guaranteed to get your family dancing around (or at least bobbing their heads). The Canadian folksinger Alan Mills has a gentle Animal Alphabet Song from the early 1970s. And “Hey, Coal Miner,” co-written by troubadour Larry Long and a 6th grade class in Alabama, combines both social history and fun chorus (“Hey… coal miner!”) into one infectious mix. While releases from the 1950s predominate, the album covers releases from the ‘60s all the way into the ‘90s.

There are a mix of age ranges here, some songs appropriate for kids as young as 2, with the upper range easily heading into double digits. As is always the case with Smithsonian Folkways releases, the liner notes to the album are an essential component of the release. You can hear samples at many online stores or you can also visit this page and the "Children's Music" program (#16) for another audio introduction to the overall collection.

This isn’t a perfect album to listen to straight through -- it’s more of an anthology than a mix tape, something you’d dip into occasionally, or to find some artist or song you want to explore further. Still, there is relatively little of the sense that you're listening to something "good for you" -- it's much more a sense of "fun for you." And there’s no better overview of 20th century children’s music than this album. Highly recommended.

Readers who find that the number of songs that they and their family enjoy off that album is fairly high may find themselves interested in another release of kids and family music which predates even the music on the Smithsonian Folkways collection. Yazoo Records’ The Story That The Crow Told Me, Vol 1, released in 2000, is a collection of rural American children’s songs recorded in the 1920s and ‘30s. Richard Nevins took 23 recordings from the original 78s and remastered them for the collection.

There are some definite gems collected on the CD. One has to believe that Dan Zanes had listened to Chubby Parker’s version of “King Kong Kitchie Kitchie Ki-me-o” before recording his own take -- Parker’s version has its own swing. Fisher Hendley & His Aristocratic Pigs (yes, that was their name and isn’t it awesome?) do a fun western-style “Hop Along Peter.” And Lew Childre’s “Horsie Keep Your Tail Up” has its own bluesy charms.

To me, the disk as a whole suffers somewhat from a certain sameness in musical approaches -- one song begins to blend into the next over its 67-minute runtime. I think the segment of fans who like the genre of music will really like this disk, maybe even more so than the Smithsonian disk, but it’s not going to be for everyone. I would note that the remastering is every bit Smithsonian's equal, but the liner notes are lacking, with only a few lyrical excerpts.

The album’s appropriate for all ages, but kids ages 3 through 7 will probably appreciate it more than others. You can hear samples here.

As you might gather from what’s already been written, if you’re just dipping your toes into kids music that was recorded, well, to be honest, before you were born, you’re better off starting out with the Smithsonian disk. But for its particular narrow genre, The Story That The Crow Told Me holds its own against the Smithsonian disk. The total audience may much less broad for this CD, but it's got its own charms. Recommended.

Posted by SAShepherd at 12:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

There are singers, and there are entertainers. In the former camp, I'd put artists like Elizabeth Mitchell, whose interpreter of songs is rivaled by few in the kids music genre and who have glorious voices.

In the latter camp, I'd like to introduce Ashley Albert, lead singer, songwriter, and mastermind behind the New York-based The Jimmies.

Don't get me wrong, Albert has a nice voice and could be a very adept interpreter of standards, kids-oriented or not. But on her band's recently-released debut album Make Your Own Someday (Silly Songs for the Shorter Set), Albert's strengths are in thinking like a goofy 7-year-old and performing for said kid. (It's not for nothing that Albert's done voice work for cartoons and commercials.)

Watch this completely infectious (pun mostly unintended) for "Do the Elephant," one of the catchiest songs on the album, and tell me that the Nickolodeon/Nick Jr. corporate behemoth shouldn't find some show to feature Albert and the whole band on a regular basis. It did wonders for Laurie Berkner -- it could do the same here.

Kinda like a cross between Gwendolyn and the Good Time Gang and AudraRox, except skewed at a slightly higher age bracket.

The songs themselves sound bright and tackle common kid-themes like clothes (the swinging "What's On Your Shirt" or the rocking "Cool To Be Uncool") and pets (the unusually-sweet-for-the-album "Taddy") with a variety of musical styles. Albert gets the double-word-score for combining a foreign-language song with a song about pets (in "Spanimals," on which I kept expecting Rob Thomas to make an appearance on the Santana-lite melody). And the album's opener, "What's That Sound?," isn't quite a classic name-the-instrument musical piece like "Mama Don't Allow" and "Peter and the Wolf," but it's pretty darn close. The rest of the band -- who, like Albert, have day jobs that indicate serious musical talent -- backs Albert with aplomb. (Whatever "aplomb" is.)

The album's not perfect -- Albert sometimes has a tendency to cram too many words into the lyrics (making them hard to understand) and some songs are just sort of "eh" -- but it's not for lack of talent or imagination. The silliness here will be most appreciated by kids ages 5 through 10, particularly if they have a "Weird Al" Yankovic album in their collection. You can listen to 4 full tracks at the band's Myspace page or samples from the whole album at the album's CD Baby page.

You may as well get Make Your Own Someday now, because eventually these songs are going to end up on some TV show somewhere. Then your kids are going to beg to you play The Jimmies over and over again in the care and rather than investing in some dubious technology that rips audio from a DVD video, you may as well just get the CD and save yourself the hassle. Recommended.

Posted by SAShepherd at 06:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

You know, it's a shame that the ice cream truck industry seems to have withered away. (At least it has in our neighborhood.) Who can resist ice-cream-on-demand? Well, perhaps the industry's demise can be traced to the lack of variety in ice cream songs, with parents and kids rushing indoors at the slightest hint of another overly familiar ice cream truck song.

Friends, Michael Hearst is here to do what he can for the industry with his recently-released Songs for Ice Cream Trucks. Yes, it's 31 minutes (could that have been intentional?) of all-new ice cream music, which sounds just like those ice cream songs of old, only better. Hearst uses a variety of vintage instruments -- glockenspiel, thermin, and a Casiotone -- to create his musical soundscapes, and they sound just like the trucks you know and love.

I preferred the slightly peppier pieces, like the opener "Ice Cream!" or "Tones for Cones," though possibly my favorite flavor, er, song was the slow and oom-pah filled "What's Your Favorite Flavor?" The title scans so well to the opening melody of that song that I wonder if there aren't lyrics to all these songs here. (As it is only the closer, "Before I Drive Away," has vocal accompaniment.) The downside of the album is that the songs begin to melt together -- it's better at creating a mood of happiness and occasional wistfulness than at being a great musical album.

Virtually instrumental in nature, this is truly one of those "all-ages" albums. You can listen to tracks at the album's Myspace page or samples at the album's page. (Order the album here.)

I love ice cream, but even I have a limit, and I think that will be many people's reaction here -- Michael Hearst's songs have an undeniable allure, but taken in one sitting the album will probably be too much for many fans. Still, Songs for Ice Cream Trucks achieves its own little piece of perfection and in small amounts (ie. mix tapes or shuffle play) is quite refreshing.

Posted by SAShepherd at 07:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

There are many types of kids' music albums, but one genre that's been mostly avoided is the very personal kids' music album. Now, there are a number of musicians who feel compelled to record intensely personal lullabye albums upon the arrival of a child into their family, but those generally end in, if not disaster, at least a goopy mess. Is it possible to make an album that draws upon a particular artist's life but speaks to many families?

All Together Singing in the Kitchen, from the Massachusetts based Nields sisters Nerissa and Katryna, shows one way that can be done. In the Nields' case, they've drawn upon their lives growing up listening to and singing these songs, yes, all together in the kitchen. The album is a collection of primarily folk tunes that the Nields learned singing with their father John Nields along with their mother. John has a clear voice with a bit of a warm warble; it reminds me of Dan Zanes compatriot David Jones. His voice makes a nice contrast with the more distinct voice of the Nields sisters. When they sing together, such as on their soulful rendition of "Oh, Mary, Don't You Weep," it's a sweet, joyful noise. An even more joyful noise comes when the Nields sing with a local group of kids on three of the tracks -- the way the kids shout back "YES MA'AM!" in the call-and-response of "John, the Rabbit" makes me smile every time I hear it.

To some extent, I couldn't listen to the album without thinking of other versions of particular songs that I liked slightly better -- say, Dan Zanes' and Father Goose's version of "Hi Ho the Rattlin' Bog." And there are times when the personal nature of the album -- three generations singing "All Together Singing in the Kitchen" is more inspiring perhaps than truly compelling upon repeated listenings. But that's as much me bringing my own personal singing experiences to the table -- there's no reason why someone who wasn't as familiar with some of the tracks here wouldn't latch on to these versions. And the Nields do give back a modern folk classic of their own -- "Anna Kick a Hole in the Sky" is a great song about resilience and life.

In true Dan Zanes age-desegregated style, the album is appropriate for all ages, but let's say you've got to be at least 2 to get a lot out of it. The 43-minute album, which has been available regionally since last year, but is getting a national release next week, is available here or here. No samples available yet, but Bill and Ella had them on last week.

Like many hootenannies, All Together Singing in the Kitchen was probably most fun for the people making the record. It is a credit, however, to the Nields family that they've put together an album that is not only inspiring but also lots of fun to listen to. Definitely recommended.

*****

Note: I'm cooking up something related (in part) to this CD which I hope is ready for prime-time by next week. Stay tuned...

Posted by SAShepherd at 08:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Once upon a time there lived a man with a kids' music website. The website was well-regarded, but even that had its downsides -- he received so many albums and artists worth discussing that to fully discuss them all would far exceed the time the man had available to him for his reviews.

One day his wife, a wise and gracious woman, suggested that he might combine fairly brief reviews of albums with some merit into a small grouping, or "bundle," thereby accomplishing his desire of writing about the albums without overly taxing his time.

And so the man was presented with three albums, all dealing with stories in and with songs.

The first album, Truly Hairy Fairy Tales, from New York musician Doug Waterman, most closely resembled the music the man typically reviewed. With a voice reminiscent of Jim Gill and a folky styl