Are The Terrible Twos Better Than the Wiggles?

An interesting discussion over at (sm)all ages about the Terrible Twos and the Wiggles, the closest thing to a KIDS MUSIC BLOGGERS FITE! I've seen in some time. It's worth reading.

In any case, the album, which is pretty awesome, is going to be re-released on Kid Rhino at the end of January. But you can order it now from CDBaby, and here's the cool part -- rather than listening to the same two songs sampled at the Terrible Twos' website over and over, the CDBaby page has nice more-than-30-second samples of all the songs.

(As for my take on the debate, I agree with Eric that it's just poor form for a musician to slag on another musician. Spend time talking about what makes your music yours, not defining it by what it's not. But I think Jeff's close to the mark when he talks about the commercialization aspect. Combine that with the narrow distribution channels of most kids music, and it's no wonder that many parents get tired of the Wiggles... it's because it's the only game in town, the only thing you see as you're tooling around Target with your kids. There's a lot of great music out there -- it's one of the reasons I've been writing about kids music for five years now -- but it takes work to find it, and most families know that time can be a scarce resource.)

Book/CD Review: Hello Hello / Jump Up! - Dan Zanes and Donald Saaf

You might think Dan Zanes is mostly artistic musically, but his family creates art in other ways. His sister Julia and her husband, his brother-in-law Donald Saaf, exhibit their paintings in galleries, and Donald has done the artwork for all five of Dan Zanes' family albums.

So if you're Dan and you're thinking of doing a book, who do you turn to? Donald, of course.

In 2004, Zanes and Saaf released Hello Hello and followed that up in 2005 with Jump Up!. Each book comes with a 5-song EP of music Zanes recorded with his band, accompanied by Saaf's paintings. Of the two EPs, I think Jump Up!'s is the stronger of the two. Perhaps it's the perkier, more uptempo nature of the songs on the collection, but I found the latter CD a better collection of songs. I also think it's more diverse, following up "Hal-An-Tow," an English song on which David Jones makes an appearance with "Mango Walk," a fun Jamaican folk song. In other words, it sounds more like an actual Dan Zanes album than the Hello Hello EP, which I found less diverse. I did like "Alabama Bound," but also thought the re-recorded version of "Hello" on the EP sounded too muddy.

The books themselves are OK -- Saaf's drawings are fun and filled with fun details, but he's illustrating the title tracks' song lyrics which don't, in and of themselves, have much of a plot. They're nice to look at, but not the most compelling books by themselves. The books also have notes, chords, lyrics, and liner notes for each of the songs on the EP, to help the readers who want to play the songs on their own.

I think the books are most appropriate for kids ages 3 through 7. (The songs on each of the 13-14-minute EPs are appropriate for everybody, natch. They're Dan Zanes!) You can get the books at many booksellers, and you can watch a video for "Hello" (the original version, but featuring Saaf's artwork similar to that in the book) here. You can also purchase the EPs on iTunes here as an album called Social Music, minus "Hello," but plus the Loudon-less video version of "All Around the Kitchen".

The music on Hello Hello and Jump Up! is similar in nature to a set of B-sides, some songs just as strong as the regular albums, others OK, but nothing special. If you have friends who don't know Dan Zanes, this isn't a bad way to introduce them. If your family includes Dan Zanes fans, they'll like these, though they're not as essential as the regular albums. But even less-than-essential Dan Zanes music is still recommended.

Yet Another Kids Music Compilation

Not to be confused with YAKMA (Yet Another Kids Music Article), YAKMC reflects what will certainly be a trend to watch in 2007 -- compilations of kids music by "adult" artists.

I've known about this compilation for a few months now, but now that it has a release date, it's time to get the word out.

DeSoto Records, home to artists such as Jawbox and (the late) Dismemberment Plan, has finally announced a April 17, 2007 release date for its three-years-in-the-making compilation Play. With artists such as the Young Fresh Fellows, Mudhoney, and Supersuckers, it will at the very least be interesting to listen to.

(By the way, if you're a fan of Jawbox, you may be interested in the news regarding Callum Robbins, the infant son of Jawbox singer/guitarist J. Robbins (who's gone on to produce bands such as Jets to Brazil). Cal has been diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy and the DeSoto website is soliciting donations on behalf of the family for what will likely be expensive medical bills.)

In Case You're Just Tuning In...

To those of you new to the site and getting here via the NPR interview, welcome. More details on the site are here.

I'm getting a bunch of new CDs, but am always in interested in hearing more. Want to add to my listening pile? Find out how here.

For the rest of you, I promise I'll be getting to the Top 50 Kids Songs very soon. In the meanwhile, read my review of They Might Be Giants' Bed Bed Bed book/CD or read how Mates of State parent.

Book/CD Review: Bed Bed Bed - They Might Be Giants / Marcel Dzama

In 2003, They Might Be Giants teamed up with illustrator Marcel Dzama to produce Bed Bed Bed, an illustrated book with an accompanying CD of four original TMBG songs. Why it took me, an avowed TMBG fan, until 2006 to get the collection, still puzzles me. But since we're in the season of gift-giving, it seemed like an appropriate time to review it.

The songs in the CD and book are supposedly ordered in a way to transition the reader to sleep. While I understand the theory (the first two songs are uptempo, the second two are not), it would work better if the first two songs weren't, well, quite so good. "Impossible," about a child who's been "impossible," deftly explores the double meaning of the word and mixes in new words such as "octo-fish." The best track, "Happy Doesn't Have to Have an Ending," is a good song to have in mind generally, but especially as you start thinking about bed. But the 12-minute CD doesn't finish up as well. The lullaby "Idlewild" is OK, but the reworked "Bed Bed Bed" from their No! disk is a misfire, as it replaces the awesome "A Day In The Life"-esque theatrics of the album version with a plodding tuba-accented version. I like tubas, even and especially in my They Might Be Giants, but this doesn't work so well.

Marcel Dzama's are artful and, as befitting a TMBG project, delightfully skewed (I particularly liked the pet octopus), but having the song lyrics draped across the page doesn't work so well for reading. (And I should note that the pages are regular paper pages, so those families accustomed to reading board books to their 2-year-old TMBG fans may have some difficulties here.)

Like most TMBG works, this is pretty much an all-ages affair, but I think it's most appropriate for kids ages 3 through 8. You can watch the "Idlewild" video at the GiantKid website.

It's hard to recommend the book just for the brief EP or just the drawings, but Bed Bed Bed would make one fine gift for a family with a They Might Be Giants fan in the household (no matter what age).