Review: Hey, Everybody! - Hullabaloo

One of the advantages of having listened to and reviewed kids and family music for a decent period of time is that you get to see bands and artists grow over time. Take, for instance, the San Diego-based band Hullabaloo. Here's what I said about their first album for kids, Sing Along With Sam: "The downside of the album is that although band members Steve Denyes and Brendan Kremer are talented musicians, it's hard to generate a lot of musical variety with just two musicians, so there's not much to interest the listener on weaker tracks such as 'Mary Ann.'" I said other, nicer stuff, too, but I was definitely thought there was room for improvement. Enter their latest album, the recently-released Hey, Everybody!, which in addition to Denyes and Kremer features some guest musicians providing some backup in the way of bass, electric guitar, banjo, and dobro. All of a sudden, the two-person band sounds like, well, a band. (And a good one. I mean, they were good before, but it was just the two of 'em. It sounds, at points, miles better.) The songs haven't changed so much. You still have songs in a country-tinged folk vein, but a song like the leadoff title track, a country rocker, sounds more... complete. The band couldn't have pulled it off before just as a duo. (The original instrumental "Lucy MacLean" also shows off the band's skills.) Another fun song is "Blah, Blah, Blah," which so completely nails the experience of being a kid and not caring about what the adults are rambling on about that the adults are likely to have flashbacks and possibly feel a little guilty. Denyes, who wrote 8 of the 12 tracks here (the other four are traditional tunes), has a full, distinctive voice that I personally think works better on some songs than others. The two sea-related songs, the amusing original "Polite Pete" and the traditional "John Kanaka," are great fits; other songs, such as "La Bamba," are less so. But, as always, my vocal preferences may not match yours... The songs here are probably most appropriate for kids ages 3 through 7 again. You can hear samples of the 29-minute album at the band's Music page or at the album's CDBaby page. Also, I just want to say that the packaging is a textbook example of how to make inexpensive album packaging look very good. It's a fairly simple cardboard case with lyrics printed inside and the few credits on the back. It's possible to do something more expensive that's nicer, of course, but the band clearly took a little time and effort into making the packaging look good, and it shows. This album isn't perfect, but it's got enough good songs to make it worth further exploration. It's the sound of a band slowly finding their musical niche and using their strengths. I fully expect the next album to be even better, but for now Hey, Everybody! will do fine. Recommended.

Review: Everybody Plays Air Guitar - Joe McDermott

With all apologies due to Spinal Tap, there's a fine line between sweet and schmaltzy in children's music. Topics that in one musician's hands produce a moment of "A-ha! That's how life is!" in another's hands produce a moment of "Duh. Of course that's how life is." Frankly, the same track can produce those two moments in two different families. On his very recently released fourth CD for kids, Everybody Plays Air Guitar, Austin-based Joe McDermott very carefully walks that fine line. How you feel about the CD depends on how sweet you and your family like your music. Let me start out with the album's strengths, which I found to be the simpler tracks in concept (if not necessarily execution). The leadoff title track (bolstered by its simple but catchy chorus) basically just talks about how great it is to "air guitar" (yes, that's a verb). On the closing track, "Anything Is Possible," McDermott channels a little mid-career James Taylor in a sweet ode to possibility. And the album's strongest cut, the poppy "Dolphins," is a trifle of an idea with far-ranging lyrical flights of fancy (Hemingway, AFLAC insurance). "Ride, Ride, Ride," a live cut, while out of place mixed in with its more polished companions, shows off McDermott's sense of humor. There are other tracks, however, that a number of listeners will probably tune out, "Sport Comes to the Rescue" and "Our Family Car Is A Helicopter" are a little goofy, but there's something about the humor that doesn't pack much of a punch. (They're not as sharp as McDermott's earlier, classic track, "Baby Kangaroo," which worked so well on so many different levels.) It's not that the songs are bad or arranged poorly -- in fact, McDermott's attention to detail is well-appreciated (check out the string quartet on "Momma's Gonna Have a Baby"). But some listeners -- and you know who you are -- will just find those tracks a hard slog. The songs on the 36-minute album are most appropriate for kids ages 3 through 7. You can hear samples from the CD at its CD Baby page or previous cuts (including "Baby Kangaroo") here for his last album, with links to other albums, too.) In the end, if I sound a little conflicted in this review, it's because I am to some extent. There are some great songs here, and there are some that, while, expertly done, just don't have much "pop." So while I'm recommending the CD, it's really a combination of the people who will find this album absolutely wonderful and of the people who will find it, well, just a bit too safe. But, overall, recommended.

Review: Dark Side of the Moon Bounce - Rocknoceros

After listening to hundreds of kids and family CDs over the past years, I've developed some resistance to the charms of a cutesy album title. A classic album title twisted into a kiddie pun does not a good album make. So I was well prepared to remain unmoved by Dark Side of the Moon Bounce, the recently-released second album by the Virginia-based band Rocknoceros. That resistance lasted about, oh, three, four songs, tops. The album is a giddy collection of preschooler-accessible topics set to catchy melodies with a handful of space-related songs thrown in. Although there are no noticeable Pink Floyd references here, the three-member band has a healthy appreciation for music from the '60s and '70s, with calypso ("No Bananas on the Boat"), zippy '20s songs ("Brush Your Teeth"), and Beck ("Gravity") thrown in for good measure. One of the best tracks, "Apollo," tells the story of Apollo 11, the first manned mission to the moon, accompanied by a very uptempo British Invasion-sounding tune. "Pluto" succinctly describes that ex-planet's fall from planetary grace ("But poor Pluto lacks the girth") along with a sad but sweet melody. In their marriage of smart lyrics, sly humor, and primarily but not exclusively rock-pop melodies, Rocknoceros reminded me most of another trio all the way across the country, Recess Monkey. While Recess Monkey tends to a slightly older audience, Rocknoceros is more preschooler-focused and, as a result, more apt to "teach" via song. ("Wee Go Potty" is a great song about recognizing the need to go to the bathroom. But it's a song 8-year-olds probably don't need to hear.) Another good comparison, at least when it comes to the rock side of their songs, is Ernie & Neal. Given the topics, the 42-minute album is probably most appropriate for kids ages 3 through 7, though the most direct space-related songs here would be fine for slightly older kids, too. You can listen to a few songs at Rocknoceros' music page or samples from the whole album at its CD Baby page. Dark Side of the Moon Bounce is a fine collection of kids' music, with several outstanding tracks. This is kids' music expertly done, with good humor and respect for interests of preschoolers and young grade schoolers. It more than earns its album title pun. Definitely recommended.

Review: The Rock 'N' Roll Coochicoo Revue - Various Artists

Another week, another collection of kids' songs from artists whose regular gigs usually occur well after the target audience for these compilations have gone to bed. It's easy to believe that some of these compilations are rushed to cash in on the current fad for kids' rock'n'roll, but in the case of the recently-released Rock 'N' Roll Coochicoo Revue, that's not the case. Four years in the planning by Tanya Donnelly (Breeders, Belly) and Chris Toppin (Fuzzy), it's filled with original tracks from Boston-area musicians and friends, some of whom might be familiar if you listened to your local alternative rock station in the '90s (you know, before it went all nu-metal). With the title of the CD, you might expect the CD to rock hard, but the heavy rockers are more the exception than the rule. The outstanding track here is the power-poppy "What Do You Like More?," which provides the listener with a bunch of kid-friendly choices ("lions... or tigers?... sneakers... or shoes?") set to a great hook and layered sounds. Toppin turns in a slightly-fuzzed-out "Ball, Ball, Ball, Ball" that's fun, too. Most of the tracks are gentler in nature. Donnelly lends her distinctive voice to the dreamlike (literally) "Laluna the Loon" while Buffalo Tom's Bill Janovitz turns in a very goofy "The Farm Where Everyone Does What They Want To Do." Kay Hanley, who once sang for Letters to Cleo, turns in the slightly nonsensical "Baby, Baby." In fact, I kept writing "silly" or "goofy" in my notes for many of these songs. They're gently goofy, not "Weird Al" goofy, but their tone prevails as opposed slightly more serious songs (the happy-yet-a-little-bit-sad "Funny Face," about a kid who hasn't smiled so much lately). Most of the songs are targeted at the kids, though Warren Zanes (part of a family who knows a thing or two about the kids and family music genre) sings very much from the parent's point of view in "In Need You, Knock! Knock!" There aren't any bad songs here, but some of them just sort of pass by in a way that makes me think kids would be less than enthused. Some of the songs skew a little younger, but it's most for kids ages four through eight. You can hear four of the tracks at the album's Myspace page, or samples from all of the tracks at its CDBaby page. Some of the album's proceeds will go towards Mark Sandman’s (the late Morphine singer-songwriter) Music Education Fund. One interesting thing for listeners of my generation is how a number of the alt-rock artists from our college days have settled down and are trying to fit their rock peg into the kids' music hole, if only on a one-time basis. The Rock 'N' Roll Coochicoo Revue isn't the first album that does so, but it's the one that puts the trend in sharpest relief. If it doesn't quite reach the kids-comp goldmine of the DeSoto Play! compilation or Bloodshot Records' The Bottle Let Me Down, no matter, there's enough good stuff here to please a whole host of families. Recommended.

Review: Animal Playground (Putumayo) - Various Artists

I’ve long believed that Putumayo’s strength -- at least in its kids’ music releases -- is compiling good, if not entirely challenging, mix CDs. They’re not trying to compile an anthology -- if they throw in a few good songs you’ve never heard of amidst the familiar ones, then they’ve succeeded in their modest goals. On that count alone, their new Animal Playground disk, released this week, is a typical Putumayo release, mixing some familiar animal-themed songs in with the unfamiliar in a combination that will make it easy for a parent to pop in the CD and for the kids to enjoy. On the familiar side is Asheba’s “No More Monkeys,” which I will admit to loathing. I like some of Asheba’s music, but there’s something about the slightly hyperactive rhythm of this particular track that sets me on edge and my finger for the skip button. I know, the kids love it (so much so, Putumayo’s included a video for the song on the disk), but I don’t. Somewhat less familiar (but more enjoyable to me) is the Wee Hairy Beasties’ “Animal Crackers,” a fun and bouncy leadoff track. I've also thought that Putumayo's popularity (as opposed to their strength) has a lot to do with flattering mostly white middle- to upper-middle class people that they have a funky, global perspective. (Putumayo may just have best CD covers in the record business in that regard.) But just because that might be true doesn't mean that Putumayo's not good at finding fun tracks from around the globe. They are, and this album is no exception. The Be Good Tanyas, a Vancouver band which had never really interested me before, gives the album its best track, a gently bopping song anchored by the chorus’ phrase “The littlest birds / Sing the sweetest songs.” (It’s the “Sheep” of this album, for those of you who recall Putumayo’s last Playground disk, Folk Playground, and its standout Zoe Lewis track.) The foreign-language tracks are fun, though, really, Putumayo could have put these songs on a future collection called, say, Robot Playground or Sports Playground and you or your child would never have known the difference. I doubt many parents will use Putumayo’s liner notes; Ze’ Renato’s swinging “Cantiga do Sapo” is Brazilian tune apparently about a frog, though it could just as well be about a dog, or rapid inflation in South American economies. A couple exceptions -- the 30-year-old track “Nella Vecchia Fattoria” from the Italian group Quartetto Cetra is unmistakably “Old MacDonald Had a Farm.” And Ladysmith Black Mambazo does a peaceful “Mbube,” better known here as “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.” They might be in foreign languages, but even your 3-year-old who’s limited to a 100 words of English will recognize and enjoy those tracks. Given the language barriers on many of these tracks, the 36-minute album is pretty much an all-ages affair, though the English-language tracks make it more of a disk for 2- to 7-year-olds. You can hear samples of the tracks here. Animal Playground is a decent collection of music and one that most families will listen to and find some favorites in. You might be able to make a better mix tape, but it’ll probably be in far fewer languages. That’s not a good reason to get this (or any) album, but it’s not a bad thing, either. Recommended.

Review Two-Fer: Collections from Smithsonian Folkways and Yazoo

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.