Itty-Bitty Review: The Best Candy in the Whole World and Other Stories - Bill Harley

Not quite sure how I've managed to write this website and not review a disk from Bill Harley. Well, that ends now. Harley's latest disk The Best Candy in the Whole World and Other Stories, out this week, is a disk of four stories (with a song mixed in for good measure). It features Harley's typical sense of impish humor, vocal stylings, and, most of all, humanity. In a couple different stories, Harley uses the phrase, "his/her heart went out to her/him," a lovely phrase that underscores Harley's approach to telling stories. When he's getting at the heart (pun intended) of familial or larger rivalries, Harley always sees the person underneath. There may be heroes and there may be villains in his stories, but they're almost never entirely so. All of which makes the collection sound a little dull, which it's not. The stories (some original, some borrowed) are funny and imaginative. You can see the ending of the title track coming perhaps a minute or two before the actual ending, which is both neatly wrapped up and open-ended. You think you see the ending of the "Jack and the Singing Leaves," about ten minutes into the 25-minute story, but then Harley acknowledges what you're thinking (in the context of the story) and then takes it in a somewhat different direction. The stories will be most enjoyed by kids ages 4 through 9. You can hear samples here. Bill Harley's albums of stories are usually good an hour's worth of silent attention broken by the occasional giggle or guffaw, and The Best Candy in the Whole World is no exception. Recommended. Disclosure: I received a copy of the album for possible review from Harley's PR folks.

Itty-Bitty Review: Kid Songs - Salteens

This is the year of the kids music EP, apparently. First Haley Bonar, then Lucky Diaz -- now Vancouver's Salteens complete the trifecta of excellent family EPs with Kid Songs. Most folks will probably come to Salteens via Yo Gabba Gabba! -- two of the songs have appeared on the show and another two were written and recorded for it as well. "I'm So Happy" is a giddy romp that will bring smiles to everyone, including and especially fans of The New Pornographers' throw-in-the-kitchen-sink arrangements. (Yes, there's an indie-pop formula at work, and I hope they don't lose it.) "Be Nice To Animals" lopes along sweetly, with just enough giddiness and over-the-top sincerity to make it listenable repeatedly. The band, recognizing the popularity of those two songs given their visibility, has shrewdly made those two songs only available via an $8 physical CD (which includes four other songs); if you just want the other four songs, you can get those digitally without those two songs for just $3.50. Those other four range from OK (the reflective "I Love My Cat") to pretty darn good ("All My Friends Are Different"). The purposefully emotional "Have a Nap Mom" is funny, but sounds out of place here with its wise beyond his years narrator and winking tone -- the rest of the album is so eager and earnest. The EP is most appropriate for kids ages 2 through 6. You can listen to (and from there buy) the 4 digital tracks below (or here), and listen here for "I'm So Happy" and here for "Be Nice To Animals." Salteens have successfully dipped their toes into the family music water with Kid Songs and the only question, really, is whether you should get the 4-song or the 6-song version. I vote 6-song version -- so fun and definitely recommended. Disclosure: I was provided a copy of the album by the band's press folks for possible review.

Itty-Bitty Review: Take It Outside - The Okee Dokee Brothers

I'll go ahead and say straight out that since I wrote some liner notes for Take It Outside, the second family album from Minnesota's Okee Dokee Brothers, I think you can guess that I like the album. I do, indeed. It's a big step forward for Justin Lansing and Joe Mailander, who are neither brothers nor from Oklahoma, but who do share a big ol' grin behind their band's genial name. Their first album Kids With Beards was pretty good, but this one is stronger in every way -- musically, lyrically, and sonically. "Neighbors" sounds like they've packed everybody in their neighborhood into the studio for parts of the chorus. "Hero" features a soaring chorus and guitar work from the Honeydogs'/Bunny Clogs' Adam Levy. And midway through the bouncy "Antidisestablishmentarianism," they decide that "now we're going to spell for you / 'Cause that's what kids musicians do" and proceed to do just that. (Their joy mounts as they continue to sing as they provide a frequency distribution, for example, of the letters in the word, capped by the definition and a gleeful "what's that supposed to mean?" followed by "Who caaaaares".) They do reflective OK, as on "What We Got" and "Sweet Dreams," but their strength is silly and/or goofy. Kids ages 5 through 10 will most appreciate the lyrical themes and humor, while their Americana/bluegrass take on pop-rock, polished to a nice sheen by producer Tor Hyams will have a fairly broad appeal. You can listen to samples at the album's CD Baby page. Take It Outside has an outdoorsy theme, but even more so it speaks to an engagement with the rest of the world. With good humor and heart, the Okee Dokee Brothers have produced a CD for even the most curmudgeonly recluse and the kids who just want them to play a little bit. Definitely recommended. [Disclosure: I was provided a copy of the album for possible review. Though that's pretty obvious, I think, given this particular album.]

Itty-Bitty Review: "Sing A Little Song" - Brian Vogan and his Good Buddies

Seattle's Brian Vogan released his family music debut album Little Songs in 2008; though I never reviewed it here, it was not without its charms. (It also spawned an amazingly cute video for its song "That's How a Pumpkin Grows".) For his follow-up, Vogan recruited a new band, the Good Buddies. The result, Sing a Little Song, is a strong second album, fuller in sound, and more confident in its stories. The songs here are still somewhat movement-oriented, reflecting Vogan's experience in preschool music programs. But they're more fleshed out here -- the leadoff "How To Fly" starts off as a very simple movement song, but by the time that Visqueen's Rachel Flotard joins in, and then the full band and synthesized strings, it becomes a very catchy movement song. Standard kids music subjects show up here -- counting ("27"), vehicles ("Tow Truck"), dinosaurs (uh, "Dinosaurs") -- but there's enough of a unique take (numbers 1 through 20 get barely cursory notice, for example) to hold the interest of a listener who's heard enough of the standard take. He pulls out a couple long narrative songs (the aforementioned "Dinosaurs" and "Last Thanksgiving," featuring the world's largest turkey). He wraps up everything in an indiepop sheen (I particularly adore "Gray Dog") with enough attention to detail (the car sounds on "Cross the Street") to stand up to repeated spins. The songs are still targeted mostly at preschoolers, so it's most appropriate for kids ages 3 through 7. You can hear clips at the album's CD Baby page or "How To Fly" at his Facebook page. Sing A Little Song is fun, effectively translating preschool circle-time topics into full-fledged pop-rock for the home or car or, hey, maybe even preschool dance time. Recommended.

Itty-Bitty Review: Do Fun Stuff - Various Artists

Do Fun Stuff is hardly a new idea -- there's a long lineage of compilation albums featuring adult artists recording songs for the swing set, er, set, arguably starting with Free To Be You and Me more than 35 years ago. Even the indie rock genre has been part of the act (see: Yo Gabba Gabba!, See You On The Moon, Colours Are Brighter, Play, and three For The Kids albums, just for starters). This album, the brainchild of music blogger Ryan Marshall (Pacing the Panic Room), is a worthy new addition to the tradition, the equal of many of those collections. Marshall used to work in the music industry and still has friends there, such as the indie-pop band Rabbit!, who contribute 5 of the album's 13 songs. They're some of the best tracks, such as the uptempo leadoff "Pass It On," the rock ballad "Always a Blue Sky," and the lullabye closer ("Sleep," and natch). But the other artists pitch in nicely in a similar indie-pop vein. A few of the songs tell a story or have some greater moral (hate to spoil it for you, but in Davey Rocker's "Morton the Caterpillar," Morton ends up becoming a butterfly), but it mostly has a gentle springtime bouncy feel. The songs here are most appropriate for kids ages 2 through 7. (Spin the tunes in the widget below.) This digital-only release is also noteworthy in 2 other ways: 1) it managed, albeit briefly, to hit the #1 spot in the iTunes Children's Music store, which is pretty amazing for an indie release, and 2) more importantly, it's a benefit album for which 100% of the proceeds will go towards funding graduate students who will do additional research into the Smith Magenis Syndrome, a developmental disability (Marshall's stepson is diagnosed with SMS). Little of that would matter if the album wasn't good. But it is good, worth your time and money. Fans of those indie-rock-for-kids albums above will definitely enjoy Do Fun Stuff as well and even if you don't know your Frightened Rabbit from your Rabbit! methinks your family can still rock (and mellow) out to the songs here. Recommended.

Itty-Bitty Review: The Color Album - The Ditty Bops

I wouldn't expect a kids album from Los Angeles' Ditty Bops to be ordinary. The folk/cabaret/swing duo of Amanda Barrett and Abby DeWald, after all, might be best known for doing a cross-country tour on bike; the one song of theirs that previously got airplay on XM Kids (now Kids Place Live) was a repurposed song about slowing down off their debut album for adults. Their recently released The Color Album doesn't disappoint in that regard. As you might gather from the album title (and cover), it takes its inspiration from colors, with 8 songs (pink not being part of most rainbows except those colored with marker). But this isn't an educational disk in the school-learnin' sense, aside from the songs being helpfully arranged in ROY G. BIV order (plus, er, pink). The colors here are just jumping off points for considerations of lemonade (the Tin Pan Alley-esque "Lemon Tree") and the general glory of pink ("Pink City," a particularly gleeful and zippy song), which is not for girls only as the song points out. But some songs are not quite targeted at your 3-year-old. The driving acoustic tune "Orange Sun" features the lyrics "Under the orange sun / there can be love / or there can be none / We can hold our hands / or our guns." In the context of the song, it's not really inappropriate (and it's one of the best songs on the album), but it's songs like that and "Blue I'm Blue" that make this kind of a unique disk -- some songs are more for the kids, some are more for the adults, and the band just trusts that each will get something out of every song. Obviously, given that statement, it's hard to peg an age range for the 18-minute disk, but let's go with 3 through 7. You can hear some samples here here or spin a full copy of "Lemon Tree" here. (By the way, copies in CD format come with an album cover hand-colored by the band.) The Color Album is a brief but nifty little collection of tunes for your family's 4-year-old, 34-year-old, and maybe even 74-year-old. Even if the 3 of you don't agree on what your favorite song is here, you're each bound to find one. Recommended. [Disclosure: I was provided an (electronic) copy of the album by the band for possible review.]