Review Two-Fer: "Rock & Roll Playground" / "Jazz Playground" - Various Artists (Putumayo)

Ah, Putumayo Kids, you compiler and purveyor of music from around the world, you must be running out of themes, right? Rock & Roll Playground? Isn't there another region of the world you need to unearth some musical treasures from? What's next - Pop Playground? Hip-Hop Playground? (Actually, please get on that, stat.) Most regular readers have heard many of these tracks (or at least the artists), but credit Putumayo for having the sense to string 'em together in a happy-happy pop-rock mixtape with few if any duds. For example, Taj Mahal -> Dan Zanes -> Charity and the JAMband = win. (Or, Rhythm Child -> Rosie Flores -> Uncle Rock = win.) Best for kids ages 3 through 8 (samples here), you could probably put together your own 34-minute playlist, but why bother when they've already done the work for you? Recommended.

Having said all that, Jazz Playground is my favorite of all the Putumayo "Playground" series disks, and that's saying something. The nature of jazz is such that it covers lots of styles and permits fresh interpretations of songs we've heard dozens if not hundreds of times before, and as a result, there's a nice mix of new and old, providing new perspectives -- and isn't that one of the major points of the Putumayo concept anyway? The album deftly navigates the line between over-reliance on English language voices (which you can get anywhere) and non-English language songs (which can be hard for English speakers to fully appreciate, no matter how funky the liner notes are). Beyond that, it's just plain fun through and through, from Zooglobble favorite Lewis Franco & the Missing Cats doing his swing original "Stomp, Stomp" to Chris McKhool's fiddle-based take on "Spider-Man" to the Latin jazz of Jose Conde's "Cumbamba." And on down the line. Best for kids ages 2 through 8, the 31-minute album (again, samples here) goes onto my shortlist of essential jazz-for-kids albums. Definitely recommended.

Itty-Bitty Review: "The Best of The Laurie Berkner Band" - The Laurie Berkner Band

Why such a tiny review for such a big superstar as Laurie Berkner? Because it's a greatest hits disk, the future of which is somewhat in doubt in the mp3 era. After all, if your family are superfans, you'll get it just for the three new-to-CD tracks, including rerecordings of "Pig on Her Head" and "Moon Moon Moon," both previously seen on video, and the new track "Open Your Heart." (There's a deluxe edition as well, featuring four videos, including a previously-unreleased one for "Mouse in My Toolbox," which is similar in scope to Berkner's other Nick videos. You superfans will probably want that version.) The rest of you? You might just download the extra tracks from the album you don't have (there are no more than four from any particular album). But that obscures just how important a songwriter and performer Berkner is for the pre-K set. As a whole, it's a solidly constructed disk, with no major omissions -- I personally would've included more tracks from her debut Whaddaya Think of That?, but all the big tracks are here. And over the roughly 15 years or so Berkner's been performing for kids she's compiled a catalog of songs that would be the envy of just about any kids' musician. "We Are the Dinosaurs" is a stone-cold kids' classic, for example, one that works equally well performed live by a band and performed by your preschooler's teacher. "Moon Moon Moon" is the only lullaby written in the past hundred years that I actually sing to my kids. And "Victor Vito" is cheesy, dorky, and stuck in your brain for the next week now that I've mentioned it. And so on. While other artists slowly slide up to the 4-to-8-year-old age range, Berkner's continued to make music -- darn good music -- for preschoolers. So while I'm not sure many regular readers actually need The Best of The Laure Berkner Band! given the relative lack of new songs, as a collection of some of the best original music for preschoolers of the past twenty years, it's highly recommended. (Disclosure: I was provided a copy of the regular edition of the album for possible review.)

Review: DVDs for Road Trips

I saw "for road trips" not because these are travel-themed but because there are seven of them. Seven seems like enough to get through at least a day or two of your drive across or through the country. Let's get to it, then.

I don't think the guys in Seattle's Recess Monkey actually sleep. They already release more CDs than just about anybody else, and now they're cranking out a DVD a year, too. Like their first volume, Field Trips with Recess Monkey Episodes 5-8 features a combination of band "field trips" (Sirius-XM studios, Ella Childs at Spare the Rock, illustrator Jarrett Krosoczka), live shows, and their stellar videos. The videos are the highlight of the DVD ("The Teens" and "Sack Lunch" in particular) -- should episodes 9 through 12 be in the works (knowing the trio, they probably are), the band should consider creating a menu that'll allow viewers to just access the videos. Recommended.

The Nields' Organic Farm DVD is, as you'd expect, an appealingly low-fi (dare I say "organic") affair. It's mostly a collection of tunes recorded in front of a live audience, and features the Nields singing a number of hits from their two family albums. As they were on record, the Nields sisters are joined by their father on a few songs. Among the non-live tracks are a couple songs showing how a parent or teacher might use a song as a simple teaching tool. It's a nice little bonus treat. Recommended.

Itty-Bitty Review: Funky Fresh and Sugar Free - Sugar Free Allstars

If you're going to title your second kids' CD Funky Fresh and Sugar Free, you better bring at least a modicum of funk, am I right? Luckily, Oklahoma's Sugar Free Allstars meet that test. The heart of the music is still Chris Wiser's Hammond B3 organ and Rob "Dr. Rock" Martin's drums, but they've opened up a little more on this disk, with Wiser occasionally playing sax or bass, and Dr. Rock pulling out the theremin. If there's nothing on the album as instantaneously memorable as "Bathtub Boy" from their debut, this new album is much more consistent -- heck, just better -- overall. "Rock Awesome!" is actually the least funky track on the disk (though kids may get into the call-and-response) and "The Train Beat Song" I think works much better live than it does on the album. But the eight songs in the middle are solid tracks -- I'm particularly fond of "Little Red Wagon" -- and Wiser's sense of humor is evident on the silly "SFA Disco Dance Party" and the stroll-down-memory-lane "6th Grade Band." (Note: not my memory lane. Sixth grade orchestra is muuuuuch less interesting.) With the aspirational exception of "6th Grade Band," kids ages 3 through 7 are most likely to enjoy the songs here. (You can stream the whole album using the player below.) Funky Fresh and Sugar Free is sweet, but your kids may even lose some calories overall dancing to the music. Recommended.

Disclosure: I was provided a copy of the album for possible review.

Review: "The Final Funktier" - Recess Monkey

If you go over the 3 1/2-year archival history regarding Seattle trio Recess Monkey on this website, you'll see a gradual progression from "hey, these guys put out a fun album" to, well, "the heart of kids music today." I said that because the band has worked its way into national exposure through talent, hard work, and a recognition that working together will get them further than going it alone. But it's also because over the past 4+ years, they've released 5 solid albums, the latest of which, The Final Funktier, was released this week. The guys all seem too nice to have sold their soul to the devil for the ability to write and record catchy, danceable, and just plain fun songs, but whatever they've done, they haven't lost their touch one bit on the new record. As you might guess from the title, it's a more danceable album than previous efforts -- "Moon Boots" and "Booster Seat" are just a couple of the songs that will probably get your kids and you up off the floor shaking your, er, boots. The band once drew their inspiration from the Beatles, but now their pop-rock confections are more diverse, source-wise. "The Galax Sea" throws in some strings, "Constellation Conga" is, well, a gentle little conga, and several songs sound like they were recorded by the secret love children of the Go-Go's and Devo. (I'd also note that the band's commitment to the kids music scene is pretty big, with no less than 7 different kids musicians or bands making appearances on the disk.) The album is also -- loosely -- space-based, though the album is less likely to inspire your kid to beg you for a telescope than it will to have them ask you for a stand-up microphone to practice their jokes. The lyric matter is right down the early elementary school alley -- little brothers ("My Brother is a Satellite"), robots ("How Do You Build a Robot?"), and aliens ("Ukulalien"). And everywhere it's leavened by a second-grade sense of humor that will make the kids giggle. (OK, maybe not "One Tiny Light," the sweet album closer.) The 34-minute album is most appropriate for kids ages 5 through 9. You can hear samples at the album's CD Baby page, or full tracks at the band's website. So, yeah, at this point Recess Monkey is a machine. A finely-tuned kids-music-hit-making machine. The Final Funktier is as good as anything they've done, maybe the best. They may not inspire the next generation of astronauts, but they may have a better chance than anyone else to inspire the next generation of kids musicians. Which I think is just as important. Highly recommended. Disclosure: The band provided me a copy of the album for possible review. And I streamed "Constellation Conga" as a world premiere.

Itty-Bitty Review: The Monkey Dance: All the Kids Are Doin' It! - The Sweet Colleens

Based in the Twin Cities, The Sweet Colleens normally play Celtic-flavored roots music for adults, but they've branched out on The Monkey Dance: All the Kids Are Doin' It!, their first album for kids. It's a hodge-podge of styles, from the more rockin' title track and the especially fun Cajun'-tinged "No Beans, No Brownie" (the chorus soon to come to a home near you), to the more traditional "The Terrible Twos Step" and "Who's My Pretty Baby?" (Covering Woody Guthrie will usually earn you bonus points 'round these parts.) Though the Minneapolis Youth Chorus sounds great on a number of the tracks, they also sound a little out of place on the album -- I'd've rather heard the band tear through another traditional roots piece to get the kids dancin'. The album will be most appropriate for kids ages 2 through 7. You can hear a few of the songs from the 41-minute album at the band's new Myspace page. For a first kids' album, The Monkey Dance is pretty decent -- some fun tunes, good musicianship, and a willingness to get playful. I'm recommending this for fans of roots rock. And I think if the band decides to record their second album for families and figures out what they really want to do, look out -- it could be seriously good.