Review: Peggy's Pie Parlor - Ralph's World

When I've contemplated how I would put together the inevitable Ralph's World musical -- what, you haven't? -- I've tended towarded organizing the songs somewhat chronologically. This leaves me with no other choice than to start with the bang-up song "Cavemen!," off Ralph Covert's fourth Ralph's World album, Peggy's Pie Parlor (2003). The song, a mock Broadway revue number, keeps me in stitches (what other kids' song would refer to Modigliani?), while the chorus, "Cavemen! We are Cavemen!," is pitched perfectly at the 1st graders out there. The presence of a Broadway number on the CD isn't out-of-place, because more than any other Ralph's World album, Peggy's Pie Parlor is willing to reach way back into the 20th century for musical styles -- the vigorous polka of the title track, the zippity ragtime of Walt Kelly's manic "Go Go Pogo," the I-had-to-double-check-it-was-a-Covert-original "I Never See Maggie Alone," which could've easily been written 80 years ago. (Covert also does his best to make "Yon Yonson" sound appealing for its 2-minute run time, but runs out about halfway through.) Having said that, my favorite tracks are the more modern-sounding tracks. "All I Wanna Do Is Play" is a sweet slice of Hammond organ-spiced garage rock, while the pop-rock leadoff track "The Mighty Worm," has a simple yet ear-wormy melody and chorus ("Everybody does what they do best / the best"). And "Tango Dancing Bear" concludes with a Dave Mathews Band-esque waltz coda. Kids age 4 through 8 will appreciate the 37-minute album the most. You can hear samples here or at other online merchants. I've come to consider Peggy's Pie Parlor as a transitional Ralph's World CD, moving from the least essential CD in his collection (Happy Lemons) to his two most recent and cohesive albums, where his songwriting for elementary school kids really took off, marrying a kid-centric perspective with great melodic hooks. Although Peggy's Pie Parlor doesn't quite reach the heights of the two later CDs, everybody should find at least a few songs they and their kids will enjoy. Recommended.

Review: See You on the Moon! - Various Artists

You know what's refreshing about See You on the Moon!: Songs for Kids of All Ages, the 2006 compilation from Canada's Paper Bag Records label? It's a compilation album of kids' music from adult rock artists that isn't for charity. Bless 'em -- every other compilation of this type seems to be a fundraiser for one worthy group or another, but this one? Pure commerce! Why should you care? Well, for one thing, rather than wondering whether or not the cause behind an album is worth your $15, you can just wonder whether or not the music itself is worth your $15. In this case, it's a mixed bag. The best track by far is Great Lake Swimmers' title track, a winning mid-tempo indie-rocker all about different careers kids can aspire to -- carpenter or singer, for example. It combines a fabulous hook with clear, direct lyrics and occasional fun stuff for the kids to latch on to (the tap-tap-tap of a hammer during the sung phrase "tap-tap-tap"). It's sunny, but not overwhelming, a song for kids of all ages (truth in advertising in this regard, anyway). Unfortunately no other song hits the heights of the title track, though there are a few worth listening to -- I particularly liked the Apostle of Hustle featuring The Husky's' "24 Robbers," which marries kids' playground chanting to drum and sound loops (think a kids' track from Beck). And Detective Kalita's "Baby Brother," is, unlike most of the tracks, very clear vocally and sweet (almost too much so). Sufjan Stevens' Christmas carol "The Friendly Beasts," off one of his homemade Christmas EPs (which'll be released in late 2006), has a pleasant basement recording studio feel, but sounds somewhat out of place amidst the other tracks. The tracks that don't work are the ones that don't provide things kids can latch onto -- clear lyrics, accessible subject matter, or catchy melodies. Alan Sparhawk's "Be Nice to People with Lice" comes off more mean than a plea for tolerance, while Hot Chip's "I Can't Wake Up" will put most listeners to sleep. And the other big artist, Broken Social Scene, turns in a very hazy and very dull "Puff the Magic Dragon." Whether or not the artists thought about how to communicate their songs to a younger audience than they normally play for, the results don't always reflect it. For the most part, this is an album that kids ages 4 to 7 might enjoy. You can hear samples wherever the album's sold online OR you can go to Paper Bag's newly redesigned website and stream every one of their albums (I don't like to deep-link too much, so just go here and pick out this album. Or another one. Magneta Lane, maybe. Be adventurous.) See You on the Moon! is an uneven album, filled with some great tracks and some considerably less-than-great. While you may enjoy the diversity of indie-rock tracks and bands on the disk, your kids are likely to pick out just a few tracks and ask you to skip the rest.

But Wait, There’s More... ScribbleMonster at Kidzapalooza, part 2

Last month, Chicago-area kids' musicianScribbleJim was kind enough to report on his (and the rest of the ScribbleGang's) experiences playing at Kidzapalooza. After I posted the report, however, he said that the rest of the story, "must be told." And indeed it must. Vacation and the launch of the new site put a little time between the installments, but it's worth the wait. Be sure to jump past the fold to get to the picture that tells, well, if not a thousand words, well in excess of 600 or 700. Many thanks to Jim for taking the time to write this up. Be on the lookout for the upcoming Kevin Kammeraad's new album A Curious Glimpse of Michigan, with lots of ScribbleMonster-y goodness, due out in October. ***** On Sunday, the Kidzapalooza stage has one surprise after another. The first act is The School of Rock All-Stars – a group of about fifteen kids between the ages of 12 and 18 performing classic rock tunes. These kids are unbelievable. Quite possibly the most talent I see all weekend. There’s a really nice crowd on hand and they are loving these kids. The response is so great, they invite the kids back to perform the final set on the Kidzapalooza stage that afternoon. Want to talk about the potential of kids? Want to get your young musicians inspired? Holy cow! I’ve got to go back to school. Perry Farrell & Peter DiStefano draw a huge crowd and you can tell they are both sincerely excited about Kidzapalooza and doing something for the kids. Tor Hyams reminds the crowd (which is primarily adults) that this stage is for the kids and requests that everyone make way so those with kids can get to the front. His request is met with applause and friendly compliance. Peter DiStefano brings a handful of kids on stage with him, one at a time, to help him play the guitar. He does the string work while the kids strum and they all sound great. It’s a simple little thing, but it brings so much joy to these kids and their families (and Peter).

Interview: Dan Zanes

It is not hyperbole to suggest that Dan Zanes is the godfather of the 21st century family music scene. If there's an article talking about the scene, he's sure to be quoted, and he's been kind in his praise for other kids' music artists, Elizabeth Mitchell and Justin Roberts, to name just two. With five kids' music CDs (the latest being Catch That Train!) and a DVD, plus videos on Playhouse Disney, Zanes has steadily built a devoted following among kids and their associated adults (our family included). Zanes was kind enough to spend some time talking with me last week about a broad range of family music (or, as he's also termed it, "age-desegregated music") topics. Our conversation touched on, among other things, his upcoming tour of Australia, why new parents are great audiences, and the benefit CD he's recently put together. Read on, and enjoy. ********* Zooglobble: Did you have a good summer? You've got a really busy fall coming up, so I hope you got some vacation in. Dan Zanes: I did, yeah. Every summer we go up to Nova Scotia for a week with my mother and brother-in-law (Donald Saaf). We always do a gospel show up there and end up playing songs from the next CD. A lot comes out of it, so it's nice being completely removed from civilization. It must be nice, to not have to deal with the computer and the phone all the time. Yeah, even if I wanted to, I wouldn't be able to, I'm so far removed from things. The lack of communication is very healthy. It's good to have time off. Yeah, I sort of hate it, but I'm really grateful for it. It's really nice to have family time. It's sort of amazing how the years pass by. I know -- my daughter started kindergarten couple week ago, and I'm thinking, "She's starting kindergarten? She can't be starting kindergarten!" [Laughs] Wasn't she born last month? [Laughs] I understand. My daughter's starting seventh grade now, and I can clearly remember seventh grade. It seems like every year it gets faster and faster... the compression of time... That was some of the advice I got. You know how everyone offers advice when you have a baby? The one thing that was really meaningful was people saying to remember to enjoy every day. I try to remember that, even when the kids are frustrating me. "You're gonna miss this when they're ten years older." That's really true. That brings its own joy and satisfaction. I guess fall brings these thoughts into our heads... I can't really remember what fall's like in Arizona. Fall is a season of relief from the unremitting heat so we like fall because we're glad to see the three-digit temperatures go away. It's a nice time -- everybody comes out of hiberation. We go into hibernation, we just do it six months shifted from most of the rest of the country... Is your whole family going to Australia with you [for the Melbourne International Arts Festival]? Yeah, my wife and daughter are going for the first half of that trip -- that's going to be great. We're at a point now where my daughter is actually getting her artist's visa and; that was one way we were able to go. The Festival's paying for her plane ticket and she'll come join us. Her life's dream is not to play music for a living or anything even close to that but she really enjoys the social aspect, which is the most important aspect of it. She's able to play the ukelele... so we can all play together. That sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun, playing there for a week. The whole trip ends up being close to two weeks, really. It's amazing that we're doing it -- it's a really prestigious arts festival. It's a big deal to be a North American family musician getting to travel overseas. It's very rare for any of us to be able to break out of North America, so I'm hoping this is the beginning of a lot more international travel.

Laboring To Finish This Post...

It's late, and thanks to a monsoon thunderstorm wreaking havoc with the internet connection, it's later than I wanted this to be, so I'll be brief... First, I have two posts coming up early this week that I'm very excited about. One involves virtually no work on my part (no, that's not why I'm excited about it) and is a sequel of sorts to a prior post. The other involves quite a bit of work on my part and, well, I don't want to spoil it. Just don't miss it. Second, I wanted to make sure I highlighted some stuff around the web I've been meaning to link to... 1. Reader Gwyneth has started a Kids in Atlanta website highlighting kids-related musical events in Atlanta. It's very thorough, and I think it's a great example of what people can do to make it easy for the public to find out about kids' musicians. 2. ~~Reader Suzanne (I thiiiiink)~~ Gwyneth also is now operating a "Live365" radio station entitled "Gooney Bird Radio" , playing some artists familiar to this website, along with the occasional foreign language and poetry. 3. Thanks to The Lovely Mrs. Davis, who mentioned this site to Christopher Noxon, author of Rejuvenile and its associated blog, and thanks to Noxon for noticing. (Go back to the old site, and you can find the reviews for Gwendolyn and the Good Time Gang and Captain Bogg and Salty, both of which draw mention in Noxon's book. They'll get posted here soon, too. Really.) You can read Mrs. Davis' review of the book here. And finally, thanks to both Charity and the JAMband and Joe McDermott, who both linked here recently. McDermott, incidentally, just won the Children's section of the John Lennon Songwriting Contest for "Great Big World" (no, not the Hoodwinked version) and will have a new album coming out soon. OK, and really finally, Milkshake and Rebecca Frezza videos for PBS Kids here. There. That oughta hold ya. Come back soon, though, I promise it'll be worth it.

Review: Hoodwinked Original Motion Picture Soundtrack - Various Artists

When did I know how seriously I'd started to take this whole "kids and family music" thing?When I spent $25 for an out-of-print kids' music CD -- to be specific, the Hoodwinked Original Motion Picture Soundtrack.Now normally I'd just chalk it up to the semi-obsessional nature of being a niche expert, but I'm used to hearing -- and reviewing -- albums that with print runs of just 1,000 copies.What in the name of the Pulp Fiction soundtrack is going on, then, when a soundtrack of a movie produced by the Weinstein Company goes out of print six months after its release? Especially when it's as good as this one. There are three songs on here which are in my top ten kids' songs of the year, two of them in my top ten songs of the year, period.And they're all completely different."Great Big World," which I've raved about before, has a fantastic '60s-esque sound with a Phil Spector "Wall of Sound" production and crystal clear vocals from Anne Hathaway."Bounce" is an old school rap whose lyrics sound pretty nonsensical (if albeit pleasing to the ear) until you see the movie, after which they make sense (the song rolls over the closing credits).And "Red is Blue" is a stunning ballad which works both within the movie, representing character Red's interior monologue, and outside of it.Listening to the song in the movie, I thought, they have Ben Folds down cold.And then in the closing credits, I noticed that Ben Folds sang the freakin' song!Though he didn't write it, he did add the piano hook -- it's definitely the best Ben Folds soundtrack song of 2006. The rest of the songs cover most of the past 30 years sonically -- "Critters Have Feeling" could've been on the Cars' Heartbeat City, "The Real G" has a Limp Bizkit rock-rap sound (in a good way), "Glow" has a bit of an Elton John feel, and "Eva Deanna" is a very fine Pixies rip-off.Most of the credit for the awesomeness of the soundtrack has to go to co-director and songwriter Todd Edwards, who wrote 9 songs here.The rock tracks here have a very Pretty Woman soundtrack feel, where you know that some of the songs' interest will fade over time, but it's still a fine collection of songs. Now the question remains, is this a good album to recommend for listening with kids?Well, yes and no.Yes, because there are so many good songs here.No, because I'm not sure the kids will necessarily connect to the songs (aside from the "hey, I remember that song in the movie!" effect, which may be enough).In addition, while there's nothing wrong with the score, its placement scattered throughout the disk may be more distracting than enlightening. I'd peg the age-appropriateness of the album at ages 5 through 10.You can see music videos for three of the songs (including the catchy "Critters Have Feelings") at the movie's website.I'd also note that the album also includes song notes from Edwards and complete lyrics.So all you people searching the website for the lyrics, just buy the album!(And if you need to know where to get the CD at a reasonable (i.e., not $50) price, drop me a line.) You don't need to have enjoyed the movie -- or even to have seen the movie -- to enjoy the Hoowinked soundtrack (though it'll add a little bit to your enjoyment).I definitely recommend this album, but it's not so much for your kids as it is for yourself.Your kids are likely to get tired of it long before you do.