Itty-Bitty Review: Banjo To Beatbox - Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer (with Christylez Bacon)

I hesitate to call the DC-area-based duo Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer elder statesmen of the kids music genre because they're neither, you know, elderly nor male. But they've been doing the family music thing for about 25 years now. Which is why it's pretty great that their collaborator on their latest album Banjo to Beatbox is, well, not even 25 years old. Christylez Bacon is a DC-area hip hop artist; here, he adds his beatboxing and rhyming skills to Cathy & Marcy's banjo and folk stylings. On the album's best tracks, like the resetting of the traditional "Soup, Soup," the combination thrills, pointing the way to a 21st century folk music sound. That song, along with with "Hip Hop Humpty Dumpty," takes full advantage of the collaborators' strengths. The other songs here are enjoyable (I also quite like their take on "New River Train"), but those two are the standouts. You can listen to clips of the album (best probably for kids ages 4 through 9) here. (They're calling it an EP, but at 30 minutes, who knows what "EP" means any more.) I've always liked Fink and Marxer's wilingness to collaborate outside what somebody else might perceive to be their genre -- their collaboration with Texas polka group Brave Combo All Wound Up! is an excellent album. I don't think Banjo to Beatbox reaches those heights -- it seems a little more stylistically limited to me -- but I hope that Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer continue to make music every now and then with Christylez Bacon because there are parts of this album that are pretty exhilerating. Recommended.

Review: John and Mark's Children's Record - John Upchurch and Mark Greenberg

At the risk of over-simplification, I think there are five kinds of kids music albums: 1. Explicitly educational music (for the most part, left undiscussed here), 2. Renditions of traditional kids songs (e.g., Raffi, early Laurie Berkner), 3. Rock/pop/folk songs with kid-focused lyrics (Ralph's World, Justin Roberts, later Laurie Berkner, tons more), 4. Music geared at the whole family simultaneously (Dan Zanes, Elizabeth Mitchell). 5.... Well, the fifth type looks a bit askew at the kids music genre. If it doesn't quite subvert the genre, it doesn't quite buy into it, either. They Might Be Giants, who could easily fit into the rock/pop/folk category above, fit here, as do albums from folks like Duplex and the Quiet Two. You can also lump in every album that attempts to fit the kids song peg into an adult hole (traditional kids songs... done in electronica!) or the adult peg into the kids music hole (ahem, I'm looking at you, Rockabye Baby). I wouldn't want a kids music library consisting of nothing but albums from this category, but their quirkiness is a welcome change, even from nothing but excellent albums in the other categories. For those of you looking for an album in that fifth category, I can't commend John and Mark's Children's Record to you highly enough. The album is the creation of John Upchurch and Mark Greenberg, who played together in the Coctails many years ago and now find themselves each father to three kids. The album was inspired, of course, by life with their kids, but the result sounds like little else you will hear this year. "The Lawnmower" kicks off the album with a kid's lament that he might be trapped inside the house all summer long since the grass has grown so high before chugging into a country-folk tune which will have you humming "the lawnmower goes off / and the lawnmower goes on" and the killer couplet "I can rest well assured / of a lawn well-manicured." It's the kids music album equivalent of "you had me at 'hello'." From there the album moves into "A Counting Error," which beyond its lyrical subversion (to tell you more would ruin the surprise) has funky "Mahna Mahna"-style vocalizing, whistling, and sax interspersed. I can't think of a more striking kids song all year. "Pat, the Alligator Lady" is an odd little song about a lady who, Greenberg says, ran a rescue shelter for odd animals in an 80-year-old Victorian house. "The Elephant Leads the Way" is a poppy banjo-accented number followed up by "People Have Good Reasons," which sounds like it lost its way from another album made just for adults -- the spoken-word carousel tune is amusing, but it's the album's one false step as kids'll probably be mystified ("It is very VERY important / So precautions that they've taken are all warranted / And accepted / as a rule of law"). And on it goes. I have no idea what the titular shoes are of "Honey Boots," and the lyrics consist primarily of "I've got my honey boots on," but that's one of the joys of this collection -- not everything is spelled out. "Colors" is about, yes, colors, but it's as if Shel Silverstein wrote a poem about colors and asked Sufjan Stevens to write song to along with it. The album mellows as it draws to a close, ending with a lullaby ("Until the Dawn") and a slow instrumental ("In My Blue House"). The album is about 35 minutes long and most appropriate for kids ages 2 through 7; you can download a couple tracks -- including the sublime "A Counting Error" -- here. You can download the entire album from iTunes or eMusic. But I should mention the album packaging (designed by former Coctail member Archer Prewitt) is beautiful and well worth the additional shipping cost (the album costs the same in physical format as through iTunes). As you can tell by now, I think this album is fabulous. It is a bit odd perhaps, but I've figured out over time that what separates the great "odd" albums from the annoying ones is love -- that people love the genre and the kids in their lives and they're making music borne out of their own musical and personal experiences. John and Mark's Children's Record reflects that love in spades. It's one of my favorite albums of the year. Highly recommended.

Review in Brief: Family Photograph - The Dreyer Family Band

Giving Family Photograph, the first album from the bi-coastal Dreyer Family Band, a brief review is hard, because you're not likely to hear a kids music album more stuffed with so many feelings this year. The product of the families of Matt and Craig Dreyer, the album gives voice to all of the good times and bad times most families go through. In many ways, it's completely typical family music territory -- lots of songs about love and creativity and animals playing music ("Totem Party," the closest thing the album has to a traditional folk song on its collection of 17 originals). But a few other songs serve as counterweight to the lovey-dovey stuff, and make those songs' emotions feel earned. When was the last time you heard a song (from a kids' point of view) talk about wanting to hit someone, especially a sibling or a friend, but that's exactly what the Johnny Cash-styled "Mad" covers. Or the '60s soul of "You Get What You Get," which adds music to all those things parents say (or want to say) to their child on those highly-stressed days ("It's a get what I got hope you like it day / If you don't just keep it to yourself today"). The music covers a wide range of styles, but has its locus in funky soul music. It's like a long-lost kids album from 35 years ago. It felt a little long for my tastes, though if you asked me exactly which 4 songs I'd drop to make it a trim 33 minutes rather than the 43 minutes it actually is, I'd be at a loss to do so. The album will probably be most appreciated by kids ages 3 through 8, though the real target audience is those kids' parents -- if the kids like it, that's a bonus. You can hear some tracks at the band's website (click on "listen") or samples at the album's CD Baby page. Listening to Family Photograph feels a little bit like looking through a family album of highly personal photos; sometimes the photos are fuzzy or seem to have meaning that escapes the casual listener, but at times these snapshots have captured something magical. Recommended.

Review: Family Time - Ziggy Marley

I'll start this review of Family Time, the first kids music album from Ziggy Marley, by saying that I'm not a big reggae fan. So, when I put my review copy into the CD player my expectations were low. Saying that the album exceeded my expectations, then, would be somewhat like damning with faint praise. So let me put it this way: Family Time is a lot of fun, regardless of what music your family likes. Unsurprisingly, there's a pleasant, laid-back vibe to the album which is one of its greatest strengths. "I Love You Too," for example, with Marley's mom Rita and his sister Cedella, won't change the world but its simple groove will probably put a smile on your face. "Take Me To Jamaica" features a fun duet between Marley and reggae legend Toots Hibbert. And my favorite moment on whole CD might just be when Marley's daughter joins in on the singing on the title track. It certainly isn't polished, but it's exactly that feeling of recording amongst friends and family that takes this album so far. As for the rest of the guest stars, some of it works, some of it doesn't so much. Generally, I liked the female singers -- it's hard to go wrong with two of the best voices in the kids music genre, and Elizabeth Mitchell and Laurie Berkner don't disappoint on their tracks. The male guest stars, not so much -- it's not that Willie Nelson and Paul Simon are bad, just that they don't really add much to the track. And the placement of not one but two Jamie Lee Curtis narrations (one Marley's, one hers) back-to-back at the end of the disk is just plain odd. (Interspersed earlier in the disk, and it might have worked...) The 45-minute album might be targeted to kids ages 3 through 7, but I think a lot of adult fans will find the album eminently listenable as well. You can find samples throughout the internet, the title track on his Myspace page. Ziggy Marley has said that he hoped to make Family Time an album which could be passed down from generation to generation. And while I don't know if it's a timeless classic, there's no doubt that it's worthy of some repeat play. Definitely recommended.

Review: Thank You For Joining the Happy Club - Billy Kelly

Here's a sign of how oddball a CD is: when you cover a Talking Heads song on your kids' album, and it might just be the least weird song on there. Thank You For Joining the Happy Club is an oddball CD, and I mean that as a high form of praise. It's the debut kids' CD from central Pennsylvania's Billy Kelly, and it's totally winning in its goofiness. How goofy? Try this, a snippet of animation for "People Really Like Milk":

And it goes on like that ("People really like drinking / From a really big thing that goes moo"), getting sillier all the while. It is a novelty song, perhaps, but it is a perfectly-constructed and produced one, possibly my favorite song of the year. The rest of the CD follows that pop-rock template, if not quite reaching those giddy heights. The title track invites you to "tell your dog the join the happy club" (with a perfectly timed woof) while having the background singers provide the "doo-doo-doos" after Kelly sings that "there aren't any dues." While the hyper (and genre-jumping) "I Don't Know!" sounds like early They Might Be Giants, most have the tracks have a warmer, usually joyous Barenaked Ladies vibe, particularly on songs like "Springtime: It's My Favorite" and "(Let Me Tell You) What I Like About You." And, yes, there's a Talking Heads chestnut, "Don't Worry About the Government," which in its straightforward reading is OK for kids, if a bit mystifying for them. (Hey, at least it's not "Stay Up Late.") Kelly and his band, the Blah Blah Blahs, make an appealing sound together; I particularly enjoyed the guitar work, which reminded me a bit of Adrian Belew in spots. Now, there's no good reason to have two self-referential songs about song construction -- one is plenty for a kids' album (one is probably plenty for any album). And Kelly has a tendency to resort to spelling in his lyrics. (I'll admit, though, that the song title "S-N-O-W-M-A-N (Snowman!)" is pretty funny.) You take the good with the overdone good, I suppose. The album will be most appreciated by kids ages 6 through 10. You can hear several songs from the 32-minute album at Kelly's Myspace page. For now you can purchase the album here. Thank You for Joining the Happy Club is an album for slightly older kids, those who enjoy snappy wordplay and goofy imagery. I could see younger kids being puzzled by the hullabaloo and it's a bit too cute by half at points, but I think there are going to be some families who absolutely love love love this disk. Join the Happy Club? Sure, I did -- I might even run for president. Definitely recommended.

Review: My Name Is Chicken Joe (Book/CD Set) - Trout Fishing in America

With about 30 years of recording behind them, Trout Fishing in America have a back catalog that is plenty large enough with which to start doing some interesting things. To wit, My Name Is Chicken Joe, the first book collaboration the duo of Keith Grimwood and Ezra Idlet have done with The Secret Mountain publishing company. The collection is out this week and it essentially is a "best of" collection of some of Trout's wordier, folkier tracks. The "star," so to speak, of the 11-track collection is "Chicken Joe," which gets its lyrics (about animals with non-sensical names like the cat named "Chicken Joe") illustrated over a couple dozen pages. The illustrations by Stephane Jorisch remind me of gonzo illustrator Ralph Steadman with about 90% less gonzo. (There is no other way to describe them than "cute.") Lyrics to the other ten tracks each get a couple pages of illustration as well. But we're mostly about the music here. The 11 tracks -- all previously-released -- include a number of excellent Trout Fishing tracks, not just the title track, but also "My Best Day," "It's A Puzzle," and "Fill It Up." For the most part, the selections tend toward the folkier (notwithstanding the rocking "I Can Dance" and the klezmer-touched "Boiled Okra and Spinach"). It's a fine collection, but it by no means is a complete Trout Fishing "Best Of." The collection lacks Trout classics such as "18 Wheels on a Big Rig," "Three Little Ducks," and "The Window," but those are songs that depend upon interaction between Grimwood and Idlet and not so much on the lyrics. Written down on paper, those latter songs wouldn't be so interesting -- it's Trout's classic live stage banter that makes those songs favorites to many listeners. The songs here are songs on which the lyrics themselves take center stage. The songs will be of most interest to kids ages 5 through 9. (The book, maybe a little younger.) You can hear clips of the 33-minute album wherever books/CDs are sold online (or watch this video of the title track). If you're interested, you can also buy the CD just by itself, but with the book barely costing more than the CD, I say go for the book. (I should note that book itself is of high quality -- typically the books in these book/CD arrangements have a pretty cheap feel to them, but not this one.) Longtime Trout Fishing in America fans will likely appreciate the book My Name Is Chicken Joe because it marries some delightful illustrations to a sweet Trout song, though may be disappointed by the lack of even a single new track. I'd recommend it more to newcomers to the band, who may appreciate the book more for that "best of" quality. Here's hoping, though, it leads to a couple more books (and, by extension, a couple more greatest hits volumes).