Yummy stuff for kids
Z Recommends | Texas, United States | 01/08/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Best unknown as the voice of cartoon character Jimmy Neutron, Debi Derryberry has lent her voice to minor characters in a host of animated movies, from blockbusters like Aladdin to what the Onion once referred to as the "straight-to-landfill" market. Like her voice, which contains both a Kristin Hersh-like huskiness and the high register of the perfect Boy or Girl #1 for your next cartoon, Derryberry's sensibilities walk a fine line on her second kids' album, but her sweet tooth has enough of an edge to keep Very Derryberry from descending into the saccharine cesspool of forced jollity and feigned innocence.
Blending rollicking rearrangements of traditional tunes like "Animal Fair" (you know it: "the big baboon by the light of the moon/was combing his auburn hair") and "Skinnamarink" with great originals like "The Tonsil Song" and "I Bit An Apple," this album is perfect for two- to five-year-olds, offering a blend of tunes and lyrics that invite singing along and gently encourage an approach to life that starts and ends with a sunny, inquisitive disposition. Derryberry's "The Very Very Song" is one of the best question-and-answer songs I've come across in a long time, and her "I Love To Share" showcases her ability to serve meaning on multiple levels of her audience range; the pro-sharing song ends with a verse about sharing broccoli, second only to brussel sprouts as a stand-in for all the foodstuffs adults assume kids hate, but she never states outright that this "sharing" is a self-interested act - a nudge-wink joke that will sound gleefully subversive to five-year-olds while their younger siblings sing cluelessly along.
This is one of our daughter Z's favorite and most-requested albums she has heard in the past few months, and while it isn't exactly the kind of music we'd put on if she wasn't around (and yes, there is some kids' music that is) it isn't hard to see why she loves it so much."
Track Listings (15) - Disc #1