Plymouth Staff Choices

MOTHER GOOSE ROCKS from Boffomedia
Youth CD Bins – Music, General – MOTHER GOOSE

If you want children’s music for your children, but are tired of gentle voices accompanied by solo guitar, try this rockin’ take on classic Mother Goose Rhymes. This CD (first in a series of four or so) features “Rub-a-Dub-Dub” done to a tune that sounds suspiciously like the Spice Girls’ “Wanna” and “Pat-a-Cake” ala Alanis Morissette. You’ll have fun figuring out which artist is being parodied, and your kids will enjoy bouncing along to the music.

Fairy Moon: Songs of the Ring by Maria Sangiolo
Youth CD Bins - Music, General

A lot of my children’s music reviews seem to include, “If you are tired of voice and solo guitar…” This gentle, unplugged recording charmed me. Sangiolo’s songs of shoe-making gnomes under the pines and fairy dances range in style from straightforward folk to Irish traditional, and are accompanied by piano, flute and harp, as well as the ubiquitous guitar. They capture a young child’s easy belief in fairies and joy in life in a way that reminded me of Waldorf fairy dolls. Sure enough, the liner notes, when I looked at them later, said that the album was inspired by her daughter’s Waldorf preschool. My son, knowing nothing of Waldorf, still liked the “fayee” songs, and was dancing and singing along. Your fairy friends might, too.

Bananaphone by Raffi
Lower Level - Youth CD bins – Music, Preschool

When I’m listening to children’s music, there is a style that will instantly turn me off. I usually describe it as solo voice with guitar. After listening to this album, I realized that I’m trying to avoid bad Raffi knock-offs. Raffi is basically the king of children’s music. In another artist’s voice, the silliness and seriousness would be insincere and make you gag. From Raffi, you find yourself singing along before you quite realize what’s happened. The title song, Bananaphone, is the song my son wants every time we’re in the car. It includes all the banana puns you can think of, plus the groaner “It’s a Grandpa phone and a gramophone too.” There is a nice song about the First Peoples, listing names of numerous Native American Tribes, and songs about gardening, silly rhymes and more. I would be the last person on earth to say that children need to listen only to children’s music, but if you want the Platonic ideal of kiddie songs, do put Raffi on your list.

African Playground from Putumayo Kids.
Lower Level - Youth CD bins– Music, Multicultural

Putumayo Kids have produced several CD’s featuring music from around the world. The songs on African Playground span several countries, languages, rhythms and sounds. The music is as diversified as the number of countries represented. Each song is accompanied by a brief summary of either the song itself or some aspect of the country from which it originated. Lively music and unique instruments bring this album to life. Providing all of the lyrics in their native language along with an English translation when appropriate would be the one thing that would improve this CD.

Blue Moo by Sandra Boynton
Picture Book Shelves – Lower Level - BOY

Sandra Boynton and Michael Ford do it again with this collection of songs with quirky humor and clever lyrics performed by first-class musicians. Where their first hit, Philadelphia Chickens, was an imaginary revue with lots of Broadway-style music, Blue Moo is an imaginary juke box of (mostly) 50s and 60s style music. Sha Na Na sings “The Gorilla Song” in which a group of gorillas sing about their favorite ice cream flavor, banananananana. John Ondrasik of Five for Fighting delivers a syncopated poem, mostly accompanied only by drumbeats, about his love for big band swing in “Big Band Sound”. “I sing ironic retro rock with just three other guys / But I’m thinking of a band of significant size/ I want a big (beat beat) band sound.” “Speed Turtle”, reminiscent of “Greased Lightning” and sung in classic Beach Boys style by Brian Wilson himself, would appear from the illustrations to be sung by a band of snails amazed at a turtle’s speed. “The One Shoe Blues” is sung in inimitable style by B.B. King. Though the kids won’t recognize the big names, the music is nuanced enough to be great fun for kids and adults alike. There are a few less well-known performers, including the composer Michael Ford, and a trio including Sandra Boynton’s daughter. Their attempt at classic Motown, while no less likely to get stuck in my head than any of the other songs, suffered slightly from the singers obviously never having smoked, and, my husband says, a too-modern recording studio. Every so often throughout the whole album, there is a short marching-band style piece by The Uninvited Loud Intruding Band, hilarious in and of itself and a great prank idea for actual marching students. You can get this fabulous collection as a cd by itself, or for a few dollars more, a picture book with CD, with Sandra Boyton’s full-color concepts behind the songs facing the lyrics in large print. In the back, there are full lyrics with music and chords, for those who’d like to sing along or perform on their own. You, too, could fall under the spell of the legendary Blue Moo.