Album Assessment: Album Smackdown 3 ~ Doing it for the kids...

I was inspired to write this post today when a rather "kid" like thing happened to me on the way to work. There I was jamming away to the extended version of You Win Again by the BeeGees on my mp3 player, when I arrived at the office and pulled the ear phones out of my ears. One of the bloody little rubber end pieces of the ear phone remained in my ear!! Rather than maturely assessing the situation, i totally freaked out, dancing around like I had ants in my pants until Amanda my work buddy removed it with tweezers (which despite my distress I made her run under a hot tap for a while). I just hate foreign bodies in me! I think it's remnants of having cancer all those years ago!! Anyway, with thanks to my icky experience lets do it for the kids...

I'm always a little surprised by how often i forget how much i love Barenaked Ladies (these ones, not these NSFW ones. Oh lord!) They quietly plod along with occassional mainstream success, but never failing to churn out a jangly little pop tune, witty ode or sweeping folk tune type ballad. When singing of love, they can be quite insightful and mature, but mainly they are gleefully youthful in their punny pop tunes. Which is why making an album "that children will like" was probably a very good idea indeed. It's not their first foray into the world of children's entertainment - in 2002, they had a song called La La La La Lemon on a "For The Kids" compilation cd. Now they have gone about 23 steps further and released "Snacktime" - a joyous celebration of all things kid. What the album does incredibly well is breathe life into the mundane things they sing about whether it be hungry number 7, snack food at a party, or raisins (the shrivelled grapes, not Murphy). And although it's a kid themed album, they still have kept their pop sensibilities, their sense of humour and knack for creating ridiculously catchy tunes. I just find this whole album incredibly charming and frothy, so instead of rave on about it all day here are a few of the highlights...

• On the song "Ninjas" it is learnt that 'ninjas are deadly and silent/they're also incredibly violent/they speak Japanese and do whatever they please/and sometimes they vacation in Ireland" Brilliant! Lovely harmonic tone to the chorus too...
• "Popcorn" is a sneaky little song that would probably work incredibly well in a young kids music class. It's actually a voice exercise song disguised as a lesson about onomatopoeias. Sneaky and amazing...
• "Food Party" is a talky jam (not literally) about the foods being guests at a party. Spicy is loud and obnoxious, Chocolate is smooth and lounge lizardy and the best of all is Orange Peel who is incredibly bitter. As you would be...
• "Raisins" is a lot like the rap bit in One Week- a pretty nonsensical jumbled stream of consciousness that has you trying to keep up with the lyrics after just one listen. Now if only I could summon fish to the dish, I hope you like the chalet swiss, etc...
• There is a rather ace bit in the middle of the title track where a bunch of celebrities describe their favourite snack foods (janeane garofolo, sarah mclachlan, gordon lightfoot, the bands kids) and it's very cute indeed.
• Crazy ABCs is bloody hilarious. That's all i can say without giving away the genius of it...

If you are looking for an alternative to BNL then you might do worse than to check out the mighty They Might Be Giants kids album Here Come The 123s. No "7 ate 9" jokes here, but an incredibly canny marketing move that retains their aging fan base as well as winning over a new generation (and all those people who saw their song on Pushing Daisies!!). They not only teach the kids the essential things like numbers, but they do it in a variety of quirky pop styles all of which are quite lovely. Check out High Five, which sees the giants go a little bit disco and a little bit B52s. One Everything is slightly weird but the more you listen to it, the more it makes sense. And that's the thing here - if you are looking for the slightly off kilter sound TMBG are well known for, you'll find it here, but you'll also find the precise meaning of zero and what exactly infinity is. Overall, i give the edge to BNL but i may very well be biased because I do love those crazy canucks so...

Related kids stuff:

• Moxy Fruvous actually created the best kid song ever back in the 90s called The Kids Song. Download it legally for free here
• Download Barenaked Ladies "789" legally for free here

Related barenaked ladies stuff:

• Is it me or does The Ting Tings current UK number one "That's Not My Name" sound eerily familiar to parts of BNL tune "Grade 9"???

that is all.