I Wanna Be Sedated. Or Burped.

[Suggested alternate, overused headline: "Rock 'N' Roll Preshool."]

I know I'm late with the news on these two releases, but enough time has passed with at least one to make another post worthwhile...

Baby Rock Records made a splash with news of their Roackabye Baby! series of lullaby renditions of hit songs from such well-known kids artists as Barney Radiohead and Metallica. Baby Rock has continued the series, with a Nirvana collection released last week. I've got my eye on the Pixies collection that's coming out Jan. 2nd. (They won't have to change "Wave of Mutilation" at all!)

Taking a different tack, you have Go-Kart Records, who on Nov. 21 are releasing Brats on the Beat, a 12-track collection of classic Ramones tracks with kids singing on the choruses and Actual Punk Musicians (from Pennywise, the Donnas and Queens of the Stone Age, among others) singing lead.

Of the two concepts, the lullaby album series intrigues me more because there are some great melodies, not just on the Pixies CD, but on just about every CD in the series. It doesn't interest me so much as a parent but as a fan of the music. A great re-interpretation (see the Easy Star All-Stars' reggae version of Radiohead's "Karma Police", for example) is just another way to appreciate a classic song. The Ramones album could be pretty good, but it essentially appears to be a Kidz Bop Punk album, albeit with higher street cred.