Book Review: "Kids Go!" - They Might Be Giants

Books are so 20th century, right? Then why do people insist on continuing to write them? Who knows, but in the case of They Might Be Giants, their proficiency in the non-book world has led them to Kids Go!, their second book. It's a song they wrote for PBS converted to book format featuring the illustrations of Pascal Campion, who's animated a number of their videos for their "Here Comes...." series. As a book, it's fine, really. While song lyrics written on the page can look odd, especially given the verse-chorus-verse nature of most songs, Campion's energetic line drawings with muted colorings help move the plot of the book, such as it is, along. And, hey, it comes with a DVD video that mimics, though doesn't copy, the book illustrations. But I think a lot of parents, excited to get another TMBG item to go along with, say, Here Comes Science, will be disappointed. For the same price as the book (if not cheaper), you can get an entire DVD and CD of TMBG music. Even compared to TMBG's previous book foray (Bed Bed Bed, which featured a 4-song CD), the package is a little lacking. (And isn't it a little weird to read a book about putting books down and jumping around?) The book will be of most interest to kids ages 4 through 7. You can buy the book just about anywhere -- here the whole song here or watch a minute's worth of the DVD video here. It's a fun and might make a neat gift for the They Might Be Giants superfan in your family's life, but most folks can probably hold off. Until they figure out how to package the Kindle text and iTunes video download for $5.

Video: "Ed" - Clementown

I already mentioned this video in my review of Polkabats and Octopus Slacks, the debut CD from Clementown, based on the poetry and pictures of Calef Brown. But now it's been posted in a much larger format to YouTube. So you can enjoy the dreamy soundscape accompanying Brown's art (and words). I love the way it looks old -- is there a computer macro for that the way you can make any video look like a Ken Burns documentary? Clementown - "Ed" [YouTube]

Review Two-Fer: "Underwater Land" and "Polkabats and Octopus Slacks"

Is it poetry set to music, or music made of poetry? That's the question posed by these two albums. The first, Underwater Land, consists of poems set to music written by the well-known poet and occasional songwriter Shel Silverstein. Originally released in 2002 and re-released this fall, the nautically-themed music was recorded in 1997 by Silverstein's friend Pat Dailey, with Silverstein making vocal appearances on a few tracks. The tracks here are a mix of poems that seem to have been written without music particularly in mind, along with some songs that seem to be more like songs. The title track has enough fish-related puns to last a good year, while "Fish Guts" (which at 4 minutes long is about twice as long as it needs to be) tackles the ickier side of eating fish. "Cuttlefish" is a cute little folk song, too. But a lot of the songs are basically spoken-word poems with minimal musical accompaniment. The album comes with some nice Silverstein illustrations, and the subject matter itself includes the typical Silverstein mixture of comforting jokes and more upfront discussions of danger and mortality than you'd see in a lot of kids material. That's not a bad thing -- it's one of the reasons why I think Silverstein resonates with a lot of kids, for dealing in material that they didn't ordinarily read. (Anyway, it's probably best for kids ages 5 and up.) The 46-minute album is available here, along with sound clips from some of the tracks. The music isn't the big selling point here; I'd recommend the album for families who are fans of Silverstein's work, and poetry fans in general.

The debut album from Twin Cities band Clementown, Polkabats and Octopus Slacks - The Music, takes a slightly different approach to poetry. They used a couple books of poetry from the author/illustrator Calef Brown (the book giving the album its title and its sequel Dutch Sneakers and Flea Keepers) and crafted 28 distinct songs for its 28 distinct poems. (The somewhat askew viewpoints of the poems' subjects owe a small debt in some way to Silverstein.) These aren't long poems and the band doesn't attempt to craft choruses or extend the text in anyway, so the songs are rarely more than 2 minutes long. As a result, you're forced to move onto the next song -- like "Kansas City Octopus" 1 minute and 39 seconds into the funky groove or the indie-pop-tastic "Gum Bubble Monday" just 83 seconds into the song -- no matter how much you're enjoying it. It's like listening to a poetry-centric version of TMBG's Dial-A-Song service. I also dug the southern rock of "The Bathtub Driver" and the slow, off-kilter sound of "Ed," among other tracks. What's most impressive about the set of songs is how much attention is paid to painting a picture with the songs. Clementown's Kate Lynch and Chris Beaty work to create distinct worlds for each of the songs -- the funkiness of "Funky Snowman," the slightly seedy sound of "Fleakeepers," the Chris-Isaak-on-kids-music sound of "Desert Surfer" -- and for the most part they succeed in creating those worlds. The songs will be of most interest to kids ages 4 through 9. You can listen to several tracks from the 46-minute album at the band's Myspace page or watch some videos at its main page (be sure to check out the video page as well). You can also purchase the disk (in mp3 format and listen to more clips at the album's CDBaby page.) I'd also note that while you can enjoy the album without the two books which inspired the band, the books are worth reading both for the text and Brown's vivid drawings. (So, hey, Houghton Mifflin, get a 2-book/CD combo out pronto, OK?) In any case, these, too, are a fun set of poems and a unique set of songs that will entertain quite a few families regardless of their poetry proficiency. Recommended.

Shel Silverstein's "Underwater Land," uh, Resurfaces

With all the talk right now about another certain kids book writer who first drew national attention more than 40 years ago, it seems like good a time as any for Underwater Land to make a big splash. (If you're gonna groan at a simple joke like that, you should probably just stop reading right now because the album's definitely not for you.) It's the brainchild of Shel Silverstein, well-known poet and author (Where the Sidewalk Ends, anyone?, The Missing Piece, lots of other stuff you probably read growing up and still have floating around your household), not to mention songwriter (hello, "A Boy Named Sue"). Underwater Land is a whole nautically-themed group(er) of poems (oh, c'mon, I'm tellin' you, the whole album's got 'em) set to music, sung mostly by Pat Dailey (that's Shel and Pat in a picture below) with Silverstein making a few vocal appearances. The album first appeared posthumously in 2002, but it's getting a new lease on life. Freed from Davy Jones' locker, so to speak. Anyway, Shel Silverstein fans may want to give the samples at the site a good listen. After the jump, the tracklisting (finally, a second kids song about cuttlefish!), that picture of Shel and Pat, and Shel reading one of his earlier works...

They Might Be Giants' Next Release Won't Be Named "Here Comes..."

So did you know They Might Be Giants have a new multi-platform release coming out this fall? You did? Really? You knew that the duo would be releasing Kids Go!, a book-CD combination, on Nov. 3rd? Ohhhhh... you were thinking about Here Comes Science, weren't you? Nope, this is a book -- no details on the book cover, illustrator, or even what songs will be on the accompanying disk, just that there will be an accompanying disk, a la Bed Bed Bed. I'm thinking, though, that this tune would at least be titlistically approrpriate. (Though I doubt that word exists. Yet.) (Hat tip: This Might Be a Wiki.)

Review: My Name Is Chicken Joe (Book/CD Set) - Trout Fishing in America

With about 30 years of recording behind them, Trout Fishing in America have a back catalog that is plenty large enough with which to start doing some interesting things. To wit, My Name Is Chicken Joe, the first book collaboration the duo of Keith Grimwood and Ezra Idlet have done with The Secret Mountain publishing company. The collection is out this week and it essentially is a "best of" collection of some of Trout's wordier, folkier tracks. The "star," so to speak, of the 11-track collection is "Chicken Joe," which gets its lyrics (about animals with non-sensical names like the cat named "Chicken Joe") illustrated over a couple dozen pages. The illustrations by Stephane Jorisch remind me of gonzo illustrator Ralph Steadman with about 90% less gonzo. (There is no other way to describe them than "cute.") Lyrics to the other ten tracks each get a couple pages of illustration as well. But we're mostly about the music here. The 11 tracks -- all previously-released -- include a number of excellent Trout Fishing tracks, not just the title track, but also "My Best Day," "It's A Puzzle," and "Fill It Up." For the most part, the selections tend toward the folkier (notwithstanding the rocking "I Can Dance" and the klezmer-touched "Boiled Okra and Spinach"). It's a fine collection, but it by no means is a complete Trout Fishing "Best Of." The collection lacks Trout classics such as "18 Wheels on a Big Rig," "Three Little Ducks," and "The Window," but those are songs that depend upon interaction between Grimwood and Idlet and not so much on the lyrics. Written down on paper, those latter songs wouldn't be so interesting -- it's Trout's classic live stage banter that makes those songs favorites to many listeners. The songs here are songs on which the lyrics themselves take center stage. The songs will be of most interest to kids ages 5 through 9. (The book, maybe a little younger.) You can hear clips of the 33-minute album wherever books/CDs are sold online (or watch this video of the title track). If you're interested, you can also buy the CD just by itself, but with the book barely costing more than the CD, I say go for the book. (I should note that book itself is of high quality -- typically the books in these book/CD arrangements have a pretty cheap feel to them, but not this one.) Longtime Trout Fishing in America fans will likely appreciate the book My Name Is Chicken Joe because it marries some delightful illustrations to a sweet Trout song, though may be disappointed by the lack of even a single new track. I'd recommend it more to newcomers to the band, who may appreciate the book more for that "best of" quality. Here's hoping, though, it leads to a couple more books (and, by extension, a couple more greatest hits volumes).