Tag Archives: Jeff Giles

CD Review: Birdie’s Playhouse, “The Wild World of Wildlife”

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Cute, bouncy, and educational for animal-loving toddlers, The Wild World of Wildlife offers just under half an hour’s worth of world music for the knee-high set, from the congariffic “Iguana Wants to Baila” to the snaky “Shake Your Tail Feathers” and jazzy “Wombat Scat.” Birdie’s Playhouse, led by Birdie Mendoza, probably aims a little low for kids older than, say, five, but that much should be obvious from the cartoony CD artwork (if not the liner notes, where Birdie offers “mil gracias from the tip of my beak down to my knees” to friends and supporters) — and for children in Birdie’s target audience, Wildlife‘s simple beats, instantly memorable singalong refrains, and infectious sense of fun should prove irresistible. For parents, things might be a little dicier, although I’m warning you now: the “Elephant in the Congo” melody will wedge itself into your brain immediately, like a “Tom’s Diner” for the sippy cup crowd. Pick it up to go along with your little one’s subscription to Your Big Backyard and play it in between repeat viewings of The Jungle Book.

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CD Review: Bari Koral Family Rock Band, “Rock and Roll Garden”

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With oversized flowers and a watercolor painting of puffy clouds, daisies, and a rubber duckie on the cover, you might expect Bari Koral’s full-length debut to be more than a little on the cutesy-poo side — and it is, ultimately, targeted mainly at the pre-K audience.

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But the record’s called Rock and Roll Garden for a reason: Koral and her Family Rock Band manage to tie together toddler-friendly themes (dinosaurs, colors, clapping) with arrangements that benefit from a surprising amount of genuine (albeit very gentle) rock ‘n’ roll bite.

The end result ain’t exactly Joan Jett, but if you’re a parent who’s spent any time at all trying to find music that’s aimed at your young children and isn’t barf-inducingly patronizing, you know it’s the little victories that count. And you can count Bari Koral and the Family Rock Band among the good guys: This is very kid-friendly, eminently danceable stuff, with the focus squarely on fun (listen to the mildly subversive “Backpack,” pretty much a laundry list of things parents don’t want going in there) instead of well-meaning attempts to teach listeners shapes or how to count. At 28 minutes, it’s good for family car rides and living room dance parties, and you can never have enough music for either of those, right?

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CD Review: Key Wilde and Mr. Clarke, “Rise and Shine”

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I’ve listened to more children’s albums than I can count, and I don’t think any of them have sounded less like a children’s album than Key Wilde and Mr. Clarke’s Rise and Shine. This isn’t a bad thing at all — in fact, each of these 10 songs is completely appropriate for children. It’s just that most kids’ music, no matter how skillfully or smartly it’s put together, sounds at least a little condescending — like adults trying to record songs kids will like — and Rise and Shine, in blessed contrast, comes across simply as a collection of music that ended up in the kids’ section through a series of happy accidents.

Again, this isn’t a matter of the subject material being over the little ones’ heads; Rise and Shine‘s songs deal with topics including pets, trucks, space travel, counting, and something called peekapoo. But Key Wilde and Mr. Clarke don’t pander with their arrangements, which are stripped-down, folk-flavored, and often totally rockin’ in the bargain — not to mention catchy, too. Rise and Shine is the kind of record you could listen to two or three times without realizing it was made with kids in mind.

Which is not to say the album lacks kid appeal; quite the contrary, as Rise and Shine is not only packed with ready-made favorites for the younger set (“Rattling Can,” which uses a brilliant, progressively lengthening “Old McDonald’s”-style chorus to describe the order of the universe, is at the top of my daughter’s list), but it comes bundled with a board book that illustrates many of the songs’ stories. The end result, as I can personally attest, is that your little ones will spend half an hour flipping through the book, completely mesmerized, while Key Wilde and Mr. Clarke entertain the whole family. Don’t go looking for Laurie Berkner levels of cuteness, but if your kids like a little genuine rock & roll in their musical diet, Rise and Shine is one to look for.

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