While the old saw about the awfulness of British cuisine may no longer be valid, perhaps the new saw is the awfulness of British kids' music
Well, according to one Times of London writer, who bemoans the state of British kids' music, while lavishing very evasive praise on the new Belle and Sebastian-curated compilation Colours Are Brighter.
While I really don't like the goal of making sure he "can take pride in the songs [his] kids like," I love the idea of creating a "back-story" to certain non-kids' CDs to get them more interested in the albums. In addition to praising Elizabeth Mitchell fave Vashti Bunyan and giving a backhanded compliment to They Might Be Giants, he also puts The Sippy Cups on his Small Ages-esque mixtape for kids.
Oh, and dude, "Furry Happy Monsters" is right here.
I should also note that the Colours Are Brighter website is now offering a free "Go Go Ninja Dinosaur" mp3 along with a "Jackie Jackson" game (which proves to me how old I am, 'cause I failed miserably at it).
News: Stephin Merritt To Release Kids' Music CD, Tour
Someone who's both a reader and reviewee of this site pointed out this Pitchfork article from late yesterday which notes that Stephin Merritt (through his side project the Gothic Archies) will be releasing a CD to accompany the Lemony Snicket books. The Tragic Treasury: Songs from A Series of Unfortunate Events will be released Oct. 10 (not 13th as in the article) and include 13 tracks, one for each book in the series (previously released on the audiobooks), plus 2 new bonus tracks.
Merritt and Snicket (who looks suspiciously like author Daniel Handler) will be making musical appearances in bookstores across the country in October and November.
Merritt is a prolific artist (he's a man whose Magnetic Fields group once released a triple-CD album entitled 69 Love Songs -- the title described it perfectly), so I'm curious to see how he'll do with the discipline imposed by set texts.
Follow-up: Link to Nonesuch's album page, stream of 3 songs from the album.
More follow-up: Kelly at Big A little a has a link to an... odd Stephin Merritt - Lemony Snicket interview in the Guardian.
Review: The Sunny Side of the Street
I work with someone who has a goal of learning something new, however small, every day. In that spirit, what I learned from "Getting To Know You," the opening track on John Lithgow's third album for kids, The Sunny Side of the Street (2006), is that his last name is pronounced as rhyming with "Miss Go" rather than "Hoosegow," which is how I'd always heard it in my head. So that, however small, was what I learned upon first listen.
What I knew already going in, and what the album shows repeatedly, is that Lithgow is a fabulous performer. His theatrical background is perfect for these songs, written for vaudeville or musicals in the '20s and '30s. On the best tracks, such as "Baby!" or "Ya Gotta Have Pep," Lithgow lets loose with theatrical abandon (I love the "whampa..." Lithgow unleashes in the middle of what has heretofore been a very mellow duet with Maude Maggart on "Baby!"). Lithgow has a sweet duet with Sherie Rene Scott on the closing track "Lullabye In Ragtime." The tunes are a nice selection of familiar and less-well-known, and the frisky orchestration is stellar, making the songs sound, while not modern, not 80 years old, either.
Downsides? Well, the duet with Madeleine Peyroux on "On the Sunny Side of the Street" (which I had hopes for) never really gels. It's interrupted by a bunch of kids, which is akin to asking Monet to paint some pretty cathedrals and then having some 7-year-olds from Rouen come in to make some improvements to the canvas. The kids chorus is fine, and in some cases gives Lithgow somebody (or many somebodies) to play off of, but my favorite tracks are those where the kids don't appear. And while some of the less-well-known songs are a joy to discover ("I Always Say Hello To A Flower"), others are much less interesting ("I'm A Manatee.")
I'm gonna peg this album as being of greatest interest for kids 3 to 7, though obviously most of these songs were originally written for adults and people of all ages. You can hear samples of the 37-minute album at the usual online suspects and see Lithgow's antics in the video for "Ya Gotta Have Pep".
The album will not change the mind of anyone who doesn't care how bright the lights are on Broadway -- if you are a rockist, you will not like this. Lithgow has recorded some fabulous renditions of these tunes, however, and while it's probably not going to be your favorite album, it's definitely worth trying at least once. Think of it as learning something new, musically at least.Listen To This: Ben Fairfield
"Listen To This" is my brand-new category for music that doesn't really fit a review format but deserves a mention. I'm going to inaugurate it with music from Ben Fairfield, an artist out of Hawaii who, he says on his website, was inspired by the NPR story that drew many of you here. (I am sure that it was Justin Roberts and Brady Rymer who inspired him, not me or Melissa Block.)
Fairfield's music is acoustic guitar-accompanied folk-pop covering such kid-friendly topics as dogs, penguins, and homework. Lyrically, he's got an environmental/ecological bent, so if your kids interested in that, these tunes are perfect. He's not above silliness (his conversion of Shel Silverstein's "The Homework Machine" into song) or sweetness ("Goodnight"), though. (The friendliness of the first track, "Hello," may, however, puzzle some kids who've had Stranger Danger drilled into their heads.) The combination is somewhat a combination of Johnny Bregar and Jack Johnson. (Those are just the two artists whose musical and lyrical concerns struck me as familiar here.)
As a collection of songs, it doesn't work quite as well because of the relative same-ness of approaches, but the individual tracks are pretty strong. Try listening to "Hello," "It's Men That Try To Run the Universe," and "Goodnight" for a representative sample.
And drop him a line and tell him to get the CD pressed and to start working on the next batch of songs pronto.
Review: My Best Day - Trout Fishing In America
You don't see too many kids' music acts with a live album. Trout Fishing In America has, with the release of My Best Day (2006) today, two. That fact speaks to Trout's longevity (30 years as a duo and 7 family recordings in addition to other recordings for adults) and their popularity as a live act.
My Best Day is a Greatest Hits collection to an extent. Long-time favorites such as the calypso-styled "My Hair Had a Party Last Night" mingle with new favorites such as "Alien In My Nose" (an absolutely disgusting track -- your 7-year-olds will love it). While those songs (and others) show off Ezra Idlet's and Keith Grimwood's sillier side, slightly straighter songs such as the sweet "Fill It Up" and "Alberta Postcard" fit more squarely in a folk-pop tradition that would sound great at any folk festival, kids-associated or not. The two new songs, "I've Got A Friend (and He Won't Be Quiet)" and "My Pants Fell Down," are pretty good additions to the Trout canon -- I particularly liked "My Pants Fell Down" (the title says it all, and, yes, your 7-year-olds will love it). Both the new songs (and "Alien" and the title track) were written in songwriting workshops with kids.
Having said all that, the banter and interaction that would be lots of fun if you were actually at the concert gets to be a bit repetitive if you're listening to the CD. "Simon Says" gets tiresome; the jokes, amusing on first or second hearing, are no longer funny the fifth or sixth time around. Perhaps the upcoming DVD of the concert (recorded in Febrary 2006) will make you feel more like you're at the concert (and, therefore, not so weary of the between-song stuff).
Kids ages 5 through 10 will most appreciate the album. You can listen to Trout's music by going here and clicking on "Launch Trout Radio" or going to the usual online suspects to hear clips from the new CD.
If you're a Trout fan, you'll enjoy this CD (unless of course they left off your favorite track). If you're not a Trout fan, you won't enjoy this CD -- there's nothing to convert you. If you're not sure about Trout, this is a decent place to start as it does pick tracks from throughout their family music career. My Best Day is, for better and occasionally worse, a good representation of a Trout Fishing in America concert.Gustafer Yellowgold, Real Estate Agent
One takes publicity in the New York Times wherever one can. Morgan Taylor, the man behind Gustafer Yellowgold, and his wife Rachel Loshak, appeared in the "Habitats" section of the Times on Sunday. It's a nice little profile of the couple. (Thanks to Bill for the link.)
It also contains an interesting tibit of info -- "They are also negotiating a contract with the V2 label’s new children’s imprint, Little Monster."
Good on them.
