OK, time for me to take a break and enjoy time with my family listening to and making music. I'll be back before the New Year with a review or two, another installment of the "Top 50" songs, and one or two other things.
And I've got a few surprises up my sleeve for 2007.
Thanks to everyone for reading. Happy Holidays!
P.S. -- There's one wrapped for me that'll go under the tree on Sunday, but if you didn't get yours last time, Dan Zanes has got a new shipment of ukeleles. You'll have to wait 'til January, though...
New Music from Hoodwinked Co-Director Todd Edwards
I've been meaning to mention this for awhile now, but if you grooved to the music of Hoodwinked, there's some new music from Todd Edwards, the co-director of the movie, and the man responsible for much of the movie's awesome soundtrack.
Edwards' creation, Blick Van Glory has its own website and Myspace page. The Myspace page has 4 songs streaming, and while they're not really kids-related, they are some great power-pop and alt-pop tunes with a very '80s vibe. "The Sophomores" has the video, but my favorite is "Eskimo Love Song." Or maybe "Odyssey John." I don't know. They're all good. The album is due for a spring 2007 release.
By the way, co-directors Todd and Cory Edwards both explained in notes to me or comments here why you can't buy the Hoodwinked soundtrack except on eBay. As Cory stated in the comments on my review of the album, "is due to contract disputes between the movie's investor and the record company. As the director, I can tell you that it was completely out of the hands of the filmmakers... and it absolutely KILLS us that no one can easily buy this product now. It is a fantastic disc and booklet that Ryko did a great job on and we're very proud of it. I have faith that it will resurface someday."
You Are My Little Print
By the way, it's too late for Christmas, but the awesome cover to Liz Mitchell's awesome You Are My Little Bird CD is now available in a limited edition run of 250. It's autographed and comes with a copy of the CD. (Which, since you probably have the CD, you can give away to some other person who'll be blown away by the album.)
You can get the print through the cover artist Ida Pearle's website.
Review: Not Naptime - Justin Roberts
Not Naptime, the title of the 2003 album from Chicago-based Justin Roberts is somewhat misleading. This album, Roberts' third for kids, is probably his most down-tempo, the one most I'd most likely play, well, not at naptime, but at least at quiet time.
To be honest, I've always thought Roberts' rave-ups and alt-pop were his best tunes -- think "Yellow Bus," "Our Imaginary Rhino," or "Day Camp." And so I think the best tracks here are similar -- the furiously played "D-O-G," or "Billy the Bully," an alt-poppy story-song about taking on bullies with a tension-filled bridge, released with a chorus of "one-by-one-by-one-by-one." The gentler songs, sometimes they work (the now slightly anachronistic "Nine Planets") and some are just OK ("Nightlight"). I should note, however, that Roberts is one of the best at writing the album-closing slow song that just about every kids' album seems to have. Here, he's so good that he's written two fine closers, "Dad Caught Stars" and "Last Night the Moon was Full."
With a couple of songs about school on the disk, the target audience here is probably ages 4 through 8. You can hear some samples here (or a full version of "Billy the Bully") at Roberts' website's radio player.
Roberts' oeuvre is broad enough that each of his five CDs is probably the favorite of several families. Not Naptime is certainly a good album, and recommended. Whether this most mellow of Roberts' CDs is your family's favorite depends on how you and your family like your Justin Roberts -- faster or slower.A Very Sippy Cup Christmas
My grand plan to list a bunch of Christmas songs this December kinda fell apart under the typical rush of December activities, but I didn't want to forget the Sippy Cups' slightly-slowed down version of "Jingle Bell Rock," now available at their Myspace page.
(Thanks, by the way, to Gwyneth, who first pointed out the song at the Sippy Cups' own website. If you're not reading Gwyneth's site on a daily basis, you're missing out on some great roundups of news.)
Review: Down at the Zoo - George Carver / Papa Mali
Usually when I review CDs that aren't of the most recent vintage, it's because I want to go back and touch on a reasonably well-known CD and see whether or not it's stood the test of time (recognizing that that test might just be two or three years long). I've been writing reviews in one form or another for five years now, and even though I might not have reviewed everything, I've heard quite a bit, and heard of a lot more. But every now and then I stumble across a CD that makes we wonder how this escaped my radar screen.
Down at the Zoo falls into the latter category.
Even though I'm just now hearing the CD, it didn't completely escape notice -- it won an Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Seal award. But this 2002 disk, from Austin musicians George Carver and Malcolm "Papa Mali" Welbourne (each with more "adult" recordings and bands), deserves greater attention, even almost five years later, because it's an excellent collection of family-friendly tunes.
The 35-minute CD includes 10 songs, all about the zoo or zoo animals. This theme, however, doesn't become at all tiring because the tracks are so strong. From the Cajun-styled opening title track all the way through to the final reggae tune, "Jammin' at the Zoo," Carver and Welbourne have crafted strong melodies and matched them with accessible lyrics. The pure country of "I Don't Like My Cage" touches on the good and bad of zoos for endangered species ("I don't like my cage / It's not where I should be / But it's all that's keeping my kind / from being a memory.")
On top of that, Carver and Welbourne have recruited an able group of musicians to join them on these tunes, which besides those mentioned above include the folk-blues ("They Got Feet"), big band ("Jungle Swingers"), and what a Tom Waits kids' track might sound like ("Snake House"). The band really tears it up on my favorite track, the soulful and funky "The Funky Yak."
The album's best for kids ages 2 through 7, though older kids may still dig it well past the age of 7. You can hear samples at the album's CDBaby page.
Better late than never? In this case, yes. Down at the Zoo may be five years old, but this fine album is worth a listen even today. Definitely recommended.
