Review: The Corner Grocery Store - Raffi

I think with kids' artists there's no such thing as a sophomore slump. There are plenty of artists whose second albums were just as good, if not better, than their kids' debuts. But something happens on album #3 -- delusions of grandeur, perhaps, or just boredom with the formulas -- it's good, but not as good as album #s 1 and 2. Victims of the slump include Ralph's World, Laurie Berkner, and, well, Raffi.

Don't get me wrong, The Corner Grocery Store, Raffi's 1979 album, is pretty good. It has some nice renditions of some traditional songs, including "Frere Jacques" and a very simple but pretty "Swing Low Sweet Chariot." For the most part, the instrumentation consists of the fairly simple arrangements of piano, guitar, and occasional backing band found on his first two CDs.

But there's something missing overall. Perhaps it's the lack of a really good Raffi original, like "Peanut Butter Sandwich" or "Oh Me Oh My." Perhaps it's "Anansi," which jettisons all the simple arrangements for something approaching cheesy instrumentation. I don't know. It's hard for me to put a finger on, but the whole thing just isn't quite as appealing to me. Still, for those you thinking that covering Leadbelly or Huddie Ledbetter or Woody Guthrie on children's music albums is a newfound trend, Raffi did them all (Ledbetter twice) on this CD. (He does add lyrics to some of them, so perhaps it's not quite so adventurous.)

The album is best for children ages 2 through 6. I recommend the CD, though not as highly as Singable Songs For The Very Young or More Singable Songs. You can find the three CDs packaged together (slightly cheaper) as The Singable Songs Collection. Available at the usual suspects.

Whither Jamarama Live Reviews?

Clea's post on attending Jamarama over the weekend reminded me of something I wanted to do...

I've received a fair amount of website hits from people looking for Jamarama Live reviews. So I decided to see what I could find for myself. And the answer was clear: the reason I'm getting all these hits is because there really aren't any reviews out there.

So rather than rail on the mainstream media, I went to the real power, people! The BLOGS, man!

Jamarama Reviews Out The Wazoo(s) (West Coast Edition)

Small Ages: The good (Dan Zanes), the not-so-good (Milkshake), and the ugly (the Ohmies) (this past weekend...)
Buzzville: See above. Also, apparently Dan signs T-shirts! (Santa Barbara)
Winters on the web: "It was sweet and treacly and nauseating. 70 minutes of my life I will never get back but worth it to see my son happy!" So at least we know it's 70 minutes long. (Santa Barbara)
Gavin: All you ever wanted to know about sound for the show. And it wasn't that crowded. (Long Beach)

This Is An Imaginary Post

So last night, my nighttime reading with my daughter included Kevin Henkes' Jessica, which revolves around a kindergartner's imaginary friend.

And this morning, I heard a track off of Justin Roberts' Meltdown! called "Our Imaginary Rhino," which revolves around a youngster's (perhaps in kindergarten, perhaps not) imaginary rhino, natch. It's a catchy power-pop song with a few "na-na-nas" to make for enjoyable singalong action.

You'll be able to listen to samples of every song at Amazon next week when the album is released; for now go here to listen to samples of a half-dozen songs plus a full version of "My Brother Did It," another pleasing power-pop song.

(Truth be told, I prefer Henkes' books about mice to his books about, gasp, real people. Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse is note-perfect, if books can indeed be note-perfect.)

Links: Step Up To The Sidebar

As you can tell during your daily visits to this fine website (and you are visiting daily, right?), the sidebar is under more construction than Central Avenue during light rail construction. (Sorry for the local Phoenix reference, y'all.)

Slowly but surely, I've been adding review and artist links to the sidebar, with more (links and reviews) coming daily. I've also been adding other links of note.

I started this blog 18 months or more ago because there wasn't much on the Internet on children's music. That's changed somewhat -- it's still hit-and-miss, but that's better than miss-and-miss. While there are more links coming, I did want to point out three recent additions of relatively new blogs:

• Head, Knees, Shoulders, and all that... is a blog written by Devon, a teacher of music to young kids in Japan. His blog has a bit of pedagogical bent, but never to the point of dullness or incomprehension. He has also helped record a children's music CD, which gives him an(other) interesting perspective.
• (Sm)all Ages is written by Clea, novelist (among other things), who imparts an indie-music perspective on kids' music. My favorite parts of the blog (despite her impeccable indie-music taste) are her occasional thematic lists of songs -- click here if you're a hand-clappin' fan.
• The Lovely Mrs. Davis Tells You What To Think is written by, er, the Lovely Mrs. Davis, natch. She covers a wide range of kiddie media on her blog. And although as a parent, she should know that just because you ask politely doesn't always mean you get what you want, in this case, yes, you may add me to your blogroll -- thanks for asking.

More links (and reviews, and news, and views, and -- I'm not promising anything, folks -- ramblings) will follow in the coming days. As always, thanks for reading.

Review: The Great Green Squishy Mean Concert CD - Monty Harper

"Don't judge a book by its cover," goes an adage I tend to ignore when it comes to CDs. The aura of competence regarding album covers and inserts is often an indication of the competence of the music and production itself, particularly in children's music.

So this CD, with its cover picture a giant mouth that brings nothing to mind more than, "Let There Be Lips!" (that's a Rocky Horror Picture Show reference there, folks), worried me.

Thankfully, in this case, the old adage is actually true. Monty Harper's 2005 album, The Great Green Squishy Mean Concert CD, is a fun and occasionally funny album. (It certainly exceeded my cover-based expectations.) For his fourth CD, the Oklahoma-based Harper recorded three concerts with his "Thrice Upon a Time Band" in front audiences of kids and parents. The concept brings a couple strengths to the CD: 1) the full band (guitars, bass, drums) sounds really good, and 2) the audience participation songs have an audience to participate. Both make the CD very lively.

Harper writes straight-ahead rock (think "classic rock") tunes with a sense of humor and an occasional tendency toward "educational" lyrics. My favorite songs on the CD are the two songs leading off the album, "Loose Tooth," a cute pop-rocker about, er, a loose tooth, and "The Great Green Squishy Mean Bibliovore," with crunchy guitars (and lead character). While I tend to prefer his more story-based songs (like the two above), his "educational" songs aren't bad either -- young kids will probably eat up (pun mostly intended) "You're a Dinosaur," which introduces a whole bunch of dinosaurs in song. (It's one of 5 reptile/dinosaur songs on the CD, so if that's your child's thing, definitely check it out. I'm pretty sure it's the only album in the world with two songs about horned toads.)

The CD also comes with some CD-ROM bonuses -- I did like the two healthy-eating-based songs, "I Go Bananas," and "Gimme Vegetables," the latter of which had a very '80s synth-pop texture wholly unlike the concert itself. (Both are fun -- if Harper ever releases a B-sides/rarities disk, these seem like perfect candidates. Because I don't think I'm ever actually going to listen to the CD at the computer....)

I'd recommend the CD for kids aged 4 through 9. You can find it through the usual suspects (artist's website, CDBaby, Amazon, with samples available at the latter two). If you're looking for a CD of rockin' kids songs, check it out.