DadCentric Reviews: New Kids' Music From Ziggy Marley, Cathy Heller, and Rick Springfield

I found myself backlogged: three new albums plus a shiny car to review (I'll get to the car next week). So I'll cut right to the chase:

First, a thought: reviewing kid's albums is not as easy as one might think, because the tendency is to hear it through (in my case) the ears of a jaded 39-year-old. And it goes without saying that what we like, and what the kiddies like, are often not one and the same. (Exhibit A: Jay Jay the Jet Plane. Holy hell is that show awful.) Further complicating things is my somewhat sentimental and probably naive view that musicians, especially popular (or formerly popular) ones, should get a bit of a critical break when making music aimed at kids; I'd like to think that they mean well, even if the results are less than spectacular.

And so we'll start off with the Less Than Spectacular one. You remember Rick Springfield; he wished that he had Jesse's girl. His album, My Precious Little One, is a collection of lullabies that Springfield wrote some twenty years ago for his recently born sons. Springfield recorded these songs, and the result is a sweet album that 39-year-old me found to be repetitive and overproduced (and I'm not sure that a child would catch the Walter Mitty reference in the lyrics to the song "Catch a Kiss"). That said, and this may sound like a backhanded compliment, I can definitely see playing it for my kids at bedtime to help them fall asleep. (You can listen to three tracks from the album on his website.)

On the flip side, there's Cathy Heller's new album Say Hello to The Sun. If you've read The Daring Book for Girls, this album could easily serve as its soundtrack. Heller has an infectious voice and the album skews toward Power Pop - "Supergirl" sounds as if it were written by Matthew Sweet, and "It's Up To Me" has a Go-Go's vibe. There are slower songs as well, for those times when you don't want the kids bouncing all over the room; the album's closer, "You Are My Friend" is a disarmingly mellow tune. It's a fun album for both the kids and adults. You can listen to and order the album at Cathy Heller's website. 

Finally, Ziggy Marley's Family Time album. If I were giving starred reviews, it would get 8, and two WTF's? The album is classic Marley, upbeat reggae, and features a few notable guests including Jack Johnson, Paul Simon, Willie Nelson (!), and...but before I tell you why I gave it two WTF's (and it has everything to do with one of the guests), here's a sample:

 

I want to go to there. Anyway, it's great right up until the last two tracks, which I can compare to the final scene in the BSG finale, or for you literary types, the tacked on final chapter in Stephen King's unabridged re-release of The Stand. The last two tracks feature spoken-word performances by Jamie Lee Curtis, and if you've seen any recent Saturday Night Live episode you'll understand why I couldn't listen to them with a straight face. I whole-heartedly recommend the album, with the understanding that you'll just skip the last two songs.