Review in Brief: Sing Along With Sam - Hullabaloo

Hullabaloo is a two-man band based in the San Diego area, but their sound on their 2006 album Sing Along With Sam made me think they live a bit too far south. I can't shake the idea that these guys have a great album reminiscent of the Bakersfield country sound made famous by Buck Owens and, later, Dwight Yoakam.

I wouldn't extend the comparison too far, of course, but their willingness to mix a lot of country in with their folk and rock sounds makes Hullabaloo a bit different from many of the kids and family musicians out there. The album includes a lot of songs about animals, some silly ("Diamonds and Dogs") and some not much so ("Run Bunny Run," the best kids' rocker never written in the late 1950s). The 27-minute album is laced with the band's good humor, with the opening track "Mama Llama" and closing track, the oft-covered "Mama Don't Allow," doing a good job of highlighting that good humor. The downside of the album is that although band members Steve Denyes and Brendan Kremer are talented musicians, it's hard to generate a lot of musical variety with just two musicians, so there's not much to interest the listener on weaker tracks such as "Mary Ann."

The album's songs are targeted mostly at kids ages 3 through 7. You can hear samples of some of the songs at the band's music page.

With its good-natured attitude and West Coast feel, Sing Along With Sam will especially appeal to families looking for something different from run-of-the-mill kids' pop or folk. As for me, I think Hullabaloo should head north to Bakersfield and see if Buck Owens' backing band is interested in helping out on a track or two on their next CD.

Fever For The Kids

But in a good way.

News from MTV that Luscious Jackson -- best known for their 1996 album Fever In Fever Out -- will release a kids' album in the not-too-distant future. Frontwoman Jill Cunniff told MTV.com that they're seeking a label for the album. (Hello, Little Monster Records, are you listening?) In addition, they'll be performing "family concerts where parents can come with their kids, because a lot of our fans have kids now."

Now if only the Beastie Boys would do a kids' album.

(Thanks to Bill and the Pokey Pup for the heads-up.)

Maybe Gavrilo Principe Has Something Against Kids' Music

They've posted Franz Ferdinand's song "Jackie Jackson" at the Colours Are Brighter Myspace page, but after constant buffering, all I get is about 30 seconds of Franz Ferdinand-y goodness about a greedy boy eating too much cake before an abrupt cutoff. Your mileage may vary, and hopefully it's better than mine.

The Belle and Sebastian-compiled benefit album is set to be released in the UK on Oct. 16th.

How I Got Here: You're the One - Paul Simon (Eric Herman)

Longtime friend of the site Eric Herman released his third kids' album, Snow Day!, earlier this year. His new blog, Cool Tunes for Kids, is filled with thoughtful posts on other kids' music artists, famous and not, and what Herman finds worthwhile in their music. I thought he'd be a great artist to lead off this "How I Got Here" series (for more details, go here). Without further ado, then, here's Eric on Paul Simon's You're the One.

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Paul Simon may be best known for his “and Garfunkel” years and his enormously successful Graceland album. But for me, his best album is 2000's You're the One. Being a big fan of Graceland, I picked up You're the One on a whim, thinking “ah, it's probably pretty good”. And on my first listen, that was the exact reaction I had. There was nothing necessarily innovative like Graceland's fusion of world music and pop, nor were there any standout hits like “You Can Call Me Al” or “Diamonds...” But it was intriguing enough, musically, and had some pretty interesting tunes, so I kept listening... and listening... and listening.

More than any other album I've heard, You're the One has layers that reveal themselves upon repeated listens. The words of a song like “Look at That” work both literally and metaphorically, and the music is both immediately engaging and also densely arranged with some cleverly involved percussion. The album is full of brilliantly poetic lyrics like these from the title track: “Nature gives us shapeless shapes/Clouds and waves and flame/But human expectation/Is that love remains the same”. There is also ample wit and humor evident on songs like “Old” and “Darling Lorraine”, and sometimes even delicate humor within songs that are otherwise serious. Tracks like “The Teacher”, “Love” and “Quiet” are deeply moving and a nice contrast to more energized songs like “Hurricane Eye”, “Look at That” and “You're the One”. And yet, the upbeat songs may be just as likely to generate goose bumps with the power of their sentiment.

You're the One makes me want to laugh, cry, love, learn, pray, mourn, sing and rejoice for the mysterious wonder that is life. I doubt anyone would hear my music (especially my kids' music) and think, “Oh, it sounds like Paul Simon”, but this album has been an enormous influence on me as an artist striving to color my world as vibrantly as possible.

How I Got Here: An Introduction

In thinking about ways to:
a) add more content to the site, and
b) avoid doing a lot of the work actually creating that content,

I realized that one thing that really interested me about kids and family musicians was what albums influenced them. So I've set up this occasional series for artists to talk about a particular album that influenced their kids' music work. It doesn't have to be a kids' album, it doesn't have to be an album they even liked -- all it needs to be is an album that had some impact on them as a kids' musician (even if they heard it long before they ever became a "kids' musician," whatever that is).

Hope you enjoy these.