Review: Lullaby - Justin Roberts

It's been awhile since I've written a review here.  There are a number of reasons for that, most of them entirely unrelated to kids music.

A small reason for my recent lack of reviews, however, is trying to figure out how to write to music without resorting to the same phrases and frames of reference I've been using for so long.  It's hard to do the same thing year-in, year-out without feeling a little drained.  It takes effort to mix it up, to stretch oneself in a new direction.

Which brings us ("Finally!," you say) to Justin Roberts' new album Lullaby.  For the follow-up to his masterful album Jungle Gym, Roberts didn't choose to write another album of perfect pop and power-pop songs (for that, we'll have to wait until 2013).  Instead, kindie's finest songwriter stretched in a slightly different direction, writing an entire album of, well, if not exactly lullabies, then at least songs for downtime.

Roberts isn't a stranger to slow songs, of course -- songs like "Dad Caught Stars" and "Song for You" are among his best work -- but they typically serve as the dessert, not the main course as they are here.  So instead of songs about bullies or baseball, Roberts has crafted a late-night album of love songs.

Of course, that's what a lot of lullabies are, an attempt to soothe the troubled child (or adult) with a pleasant melody and words that offer comfort and the reassurance of a watching and loving eye.  And some of the best lullaby albums are those that repurpose "adult" song and reframe them as songs of love from parent to child.

Most songs here, stripped of their origin in a "kids music" album, would sound just as appropriate in a mellow, "adult music" album.  Only "A Wild One," which sounds like a lost Van Morrison track, might draw a few odd looks from listeners were it mixed in with other non-kids-music tracks.  The track itself is dedicated "for Maurice," who, based on the lyrics regarding a boy reading books before bedtime, is clearly Maurice Sendak.  It's as close to an anti-lullaby this lullaby album gets.

Key to the feelings of warmth engendered by the album are the musical styles and arrangements.  The Latin samba of "What the Stork Sent," the '70s singer-songwriter folk of "Nothing on You," the string quartet on "Heart of Gold" -- Roberts is using a more muted palette, but appropriately so.  Roberts wrote the arrangements for the album with help from producer Liam Davis, who again creates an overall soundscape that serves Roberts' songs well.

Because this is a lullaby album, I am obligated by the terms and conditions of being a kids music reviewer to state that the 38-minute album is targeted at kids ages 0 through 5, but like many of the best "non-traditional" lullaby albums, its practical age range is much broader.  The album packaging, featuring paintings by Alison Jay, is, like the album itself, elegantly (but not fussily) understated, but I don't think you're missing out if you choose to get the album on mp3.

When I was in college, I would joke that they handed out copies of James Taylor's Greatest Hits album and Van Morrison's Moondance at freshman orientation, so prevalent were they in dorm rooms and apartments.  I still get some warm, fuzzy feelings when I occasionally pull them out.  Lullaby gives me those same sort of feelings, and I can see it unironically being part of parents' non-kids-time listening rotation.  I expect the album to be part of many families' relaxed afternoons, evenings, and late-night feedings.  Different tempo, same great songs.  Highly recommended.

Review: Little Seed - Elizabeth Mitchell

Here's my ugly Woody Guthrie secret: I never much liked Woody Guthrie's music.  Not the songs themselves, just their presentation on record.  Neither of his two albums for kids he recorded in 1947 and released in 1956 -- Songs to Grow on for Mother and Child and Nursery Days -- get much play in our house.  To my ears, it almost sounds like Woody was just rushing to get these recorded, and nobody would suggest that these 65-year-old recordings of Woody and his guitar are sonically gorgeous.

The songs themselves, however?  Those are great.  They just needed someone to give them a little tender loving care.

Who better than Elizabeth Mitchell, possessor of one of kids' music most gentle and empathetic voices?  In the decade-plus she's been recording kids' music, she and her husband Daniel Littleton have consistently been one of the best interpreters of songs, drawing both from the folk tradition as well as more modern tunes (Velvet Underground, anyone?).  Each of her previous albums have included versions of Woody Guthrie songs and now on Little Seed: Songs for Children by Woody Guthrie she mixes those versions with some newly recorded tracks for what is now an essential Guthrie-related album, a nice tie-in to the bigger Woody 100th birthday celebrations.

The seven new tracks here are every bit as good as the five that have come before.  "Bling Blang," quite possibly my favorite Woody kids' song, gets a sparse backing arrangement of little more than banjo, ngoni, and knee slaps that is quietly and intensely joyful.  ("Why, Oh Why?," almost certainly my least favorite Woody kids' song -- and that's being generous -- is almost tolerable to me.)  I love Clem Waldmann's percussion on "Rattle My Rattle" and the simplicity of Mitchell and Littleton on "Merry-Go-Round," reminiscent of those lo-fi afternoon recordings on You Are My Flower lo these many years ago.

These songs are most appropriate for kids ages 0 through 5, though kids raised on Mitchell's recordings (ahem) will enjoy them beyond kindergarten.  As alluded to above, five of the tracks on the twelve-track album are previously released and on a 29-minute album, that's no small percentage, and really its only downside.  (The mp3 version on Amazon, currently just $4.99, may be an acceptable compromise, though that would be mean forgoing the as-usual excellent physical packaging from Smithsonian Folkways.)

Longtime Elizabeth Mitchell fans will love the new recordings on Little Seed, and if you're a newcomer to Mitchell's music for families, it's a sweet half-hour introduction to the kids' artist most visible folk interpreter.  She does right by Woody Guthrie.  Definitely recommended.

Review: A Little Love - Renee & Jeremy

Cover albums are, depending on one's perspective, the last refuge of scoundrels or a songwriter's tribute to classic songs.

Of course, that's an adult's perspective.  Such debates are nowhere to be found in kids' music, mostly because preschoolers don't truck in adults' notions of hipness and because the history of the genre has been one of handing down songs from generation to generation.  There's a reason why kids have been singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" for hundreds of years in dozens of languages -- it's because it's a damn good song.

And lullaby albums are especially susceptible to the cover treatment.  It's hard work crafting loving songs that are memorable (but not too memorable, because, hey, the kids are supposed to go to sleep).

One of the bands that have worked the lullaby seam quite well in recent years are the LA duo Renee & Jeremy.  Many of their chilled-out songs (especially on their debut It's a Big World) are mellow, modern gems of love.  So it was with a little trepidation I gave their new album A Little Love -- a collection of ten covers given a mostly down-tempo burnish -- a spin.  "They write a good song," I thought, "why would they want to record others'?"

Whatever their motivation, the resulting album highlights Renee & Jeremy's number one weapon in making parents weak at the knees and kids very relaxed -- their voices.  Jeremy Toback and Renee Stahl are the best vocal duo in kids' music, bar none, and it's the interplay and harmonies between them that turn what could otherwise be a collection of "why bother?" covers of overly familiar tunes into something much bigger.  "Daydream Believer," "Shiny Happy People," "Love" -- all songs I never needed to hear other than by their original artists, but which R&J give a sufficiently mellow spin and artfully draw out the lullaby-ish nature of the song to prove me wrong.  And in some cases, like their take on Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Give It Away" and Coldplay's "Yellow," they provide an entirely different perspective from the original, breathing new life into those songs.  Some of that is due to the arrangements, but much of the credit must go to duo's voices, which seem perfectly matched.

It's mostly a lullaby album (ages 0 through 5), but besides the parents, the 25-minute album will probably translate well to the toddlers' older siblings as a mellow-afternoon spin.  (You can listen to 90-second samples via the widget below.)

I expected to like A Little Love, but was surprised how much I ended up enjoying it.  It has nothing to do with the fact that they're covering songs of my musical childhood and everything to do with the fact that they're turning those songs into music of our collective childhood.  That, and the fact that I'm pretty sure I would buy an album of the duo singing anything, including the happy hour menu at TGI Friday's.  I actually have a lot of love for A Little Love.  Definitely recommended.

Itty-Bitty Review: Songs for Little Bean - Kori Pop

Lullaby albums aren't a dime a dozen, but hear enough of them, and their value does diminish rapidly.

And I've heard enough of them.

So I'm willing to admit that the novelty (meaning new-ness, not jokey) of Songs for Little Bean, the first kids album from Canadian artist Kori Pop, is part of the reason for its appeal.

But get past the sounds of Pop's ethereal voice multi-tracked and used as much as instruments and percussion, and the album still stands as a gentle mix of classic kids' songs, originals, and well-chosen covers.  Originally recorded as a gift for Pop's newborn godchild, it starts out with "Chim Chim Cheree" from Mary Poppins, a version which is even more wistful than the original. "Twinkle Little Star" extends that small classic into a two-minute version into a Andrews-Sisters-meets-naptime gem.  It's not entirely a lullaby album -- the final two songs, "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and the original "A is for Alphabet" could easily be on a non-lullaby album, but throughout the 25-minute run-time of the disk there's a feeling of calm.  You can stream samples and a few whole songs using the widget below; the only comparable album I can think of is the Innocence Mission's classic lullaby album Now the Day Is Over.

As with any (good) lullaby album, the primary age range of 0 through 4 years for Songs for Little Bean implies that adults won't enjoy it at all, which definitely isn't the case.  Kids could easily get used to falling to sleep it and parents will appreciate the times they get to rock or nurse their kids to this.  Hoping that Kori Pop is asked to be a godparent again in hopes that she records another album as a gift is wrong, I realize that.  But it would be nice to hear a sequel to this.  Definitely recommended.

Review Two-Fer: Putumayo's Instrumental Dreamland / Brazilian Playground

Instrumental Dreamland album coverYear in, year out, the Putumayo Kids offshoot of the main Putumayo label consistently releases a handful of well-curated albums of music from around the world and closer to home (if home happens to be North America).

From a reviewer's perspective, they almost do this too well -- if the quality varied more, it would be easier for us to note the outstanding ones, and ignore the misfires.  As it stands, they're inevitably all good, but it's hard for one to stand out and demand special attention.

I was reminded of this as I listened to the two most recent releases from the label.  There is nothing bad with Instrumental Dreamland, the latest in Putumayo Kids' "Dreamland" series.  You could give it to a parent at their wits' end in trying to comfort a wailing infant, and they would probably be grateful.  It's soothing, devoid of over-emoting vocalists, and peaceful -- a solid album of lullabies.  It is also somewhat superfluous amidst the sea of other lullabye albums available.  Because almost every song features a guitar (or at least some other guitar-like plucked instrument), there's a sameness to the songs that is frankly unusual for a Putumayo disk, which generally features more instrumental and stylistic diversity, even in its Dreamland series.  I even felt it was too Western-ized -- do we really need yet another cover of "What a Wonderful World?"  Kids of all ages (and their parents) will appreciate Instrumental Dreamland either at night or anytime a half-hour of quiet time is needed, but there's far less "need" for this album than most of Putumayo's disks.

Brazilian Playground album coverBrazilian Playground, on the other hand, is closer to a "typical" Putumayo Kids disk (if such a thing can be said to exist).  It features eleven songs from the Brazil's large and diverse musical heritage.  The album opener, "Alo... Alo," deftly mixes the traditional sound of the bossa nova with electronic beats, while the follow-up, Gui Tavares' "Pancada" has a mellow pop sound.  And Chico Cesar's "Mama Africa" sounds like it draws as much from reggae as anything from Brazil.  (My favorite track: Adriana Macel's bright, sun-dappled "Samba Dos Animais")

This is not an entirely new disk -- Putumayo released this originally in 2007.  For this re-release, Putumayo cut 5 tracks, added 3 new ones (Cesar's track, a jazzy "O Rio Tem Cachoiera" and a slow track at the end called "Anhanga), and re-ordered and remastered the rest. The three tracks are fine, but owners of the 2007 disk shouldn't feel the need to upgrade.  Kids ages 3 through 7 will be the ones most likely to dance along and enjoy Putumayo's typically solid work on the liner notes.  Brazilian Playground is Putumayo doing well at what it does well -- bringing a mostly unfamiliar sound to English-speaking America and presenting it in a sparkling light.  Recommended.