Kids Music In My Adult World, Part 2: When I'm Alone

TableTopPeopleVol1and2.jpgLast week I wrote about how kids music had made small inroads into my workout mix, so that I have Ralph's World and the Hipwaders scattered amongst my U2 and LCD Soundsystem tracks. Today I'm going to give you a list of ten kids music albums I've listened to without my kids around. Not in a mindless "it's in the CD player and I'm too lazy to change disks" or "I need to review this" way, but in an active, "I want to listen to that along with that Spoon disk and the new Kathleen Edwards" way. They're also disks that I can see myself listening to 10 or 15 years from now when I'm out of the primary age range for most of these albums. Now, before I provide this list, I should note that this is in no way my list of favorite kids' albums, though I think some of these albums would definitely make that list. In fact, I think sometimes I look so favorably on these albums as a result of how they please the "adult" sensors in my brain and it overrides the "kids" sensors. I mean, I think Justin Roberts and Recess Monkey and Laurie Berkner and many others put out great albums. And there are some songs on their albums that I would gladly listen to deep into old age. But would I listen to Whaddaya Think of That? 10 years from now? I doubt it. It's not wrong in the way having the Disney Channel on one of the gym TV sets this morning was wrong (what was somebody thinking?), but I just don't myself being interested except mostly as nostalgia. The list and a few thoughts are after the jump... feel free to add your list of CDs that have become more yours than your kids in the comments.

Real Simpler, or, More Real Simple

To those of you stopping by after reading my article "Music To Their Ears" in the printed version of Real Simple Family 2008, welcome! To those of you stopping by after reading that exact same article (but for whatever reason titled "The Best Children's Music" instead) in the online version, welcome! (And to you longtime readers, welcome back, of course.) If you're looking for more details on the artists and albums mentioned, you can go to this post for a whole bunch of links. Or just wander through the links at the right. I liked the concept of the article, actually. I sent 'em about 20 disks of interesting new releases along with some family favorites, but just like American Idol, once they got to Hollywood (or, in this case, New York), the fans (the kids and families) had the final say. Not quite how feedback of "dancing and head bobbing" led them to pick their two quiet-time CDs -- maybe it was the absence of dancing and head bobbing.

My Favorite Kids and Family Albums of 2007

It's time once again for me to list my favorite kids and family albums from the past year or so. As I noted in last year's list, I don't put tremendous stock in individual "best of" lists, because taste is idiosyncratic. (Please note the title here is "favorite," not "best," a deliberate choice of words.) The idiosyncracies of taste are one reason why I came up with the idea for the Fids and Kamily Awards. The fact that I think Recess Monkey's Wonderstuff is one of the year's best CDs might be more easily dismissed if it weren't for the fact that a good number of 19 judges happened to agree with me. As for my list, the top 10 below reflects my Fids and Kamily ballot. But as with last year, limiting a list of favorites to just 10 albums would leave off a number of very, very good albums. In fact, as a whole, 2007 was even stronger than 2006, making this year's decisions even more difficult. Although I lost count some time ago, I'd guess that I probably heard 250 to 300 new albums this past year -- even at 20 albums, I've left off some great music from this list. So without further ado...

When I Say You've Never Heard These CDs, I'm Not Talking About You in Particular

Another week, another piece of mine on Education.com. This time it's "Five Great Kids' CDs You've Probably Never Heard." Regular readers probably have heard all of these CDs (heck, a couple of the bands listed have been discussed here in the past couple weeks), but if your kids' music diet has been limited to intakes of Jack (the music show, not the bourbon), Disney, or NPR, or assorted award-giving sites, here are five CDs you should get to know ASAP. Go forth and enjoy.

Record Collection: Top 10 Desert Island Disks

Longtime readers know that while I love to write lists of songs (and I promise I will finish that Top 50 Kids Songs list very soon), I haven't done much in the way of lists of albums. Well, with these occasional "Record Collection" entries, I hope to remedy that ever-so-slightly. The not-quite-out-of-beta Education.com asked me to write some articles on on kids music for them, and the first entry has just been posted: "Ten Kids CDs to Take to a Desert Island." You could probably ask me for a Top 10 list 10 different ways or at 10 different times and I'd come up with 10 different lists. This particular list is "a list of CDs (in no particular order) whose enjoyment has stood the test of time in our household." I bet a few of the CDs on my list would be on yours, too -- feel free to tell me which ones I've cruelly omitted. For a taste, here's my comment on one of the albums:
They Might Be Giants, No! – You can't go wrong with either of the two kids albums from They Might Be Giants, who've been turning out quirky pop songs for adults for more than 20 years. This collection, the first of two for kids, gets the nod over its successor Here Come the ABCs for sheer consistency of material, but, really, either would be a great addition for your sandy retreat.
More pieces of mine will be running there in the weeks and months ahead. In the meantime, if you've got a preschool through grade-12-aged child, you should stop by the site. Reference articles, community features, and expert advice. Not much for the snark, but man cannot live by snark alone.