Search - Jim Copp & Ed Brown :: Jim Copp Tales

There will never be another storyteller quite like Jim Copp, the children's music genius who, from the late '50s until the early '70s, self- produced nine quirky albums featuring, among others, the Glups on a hairy cross-country road-trip; Mary McGurky McGinty Maguire, a girl too busy playing to eat; and the unlikely best friends of a cow and the kitty cat. Jim Copp Tales, the musician's first LP from 1958, collects nine such songs, an enthralling assembly of stories accompanied by tambourine, piano, drums, celesta, and chimes. A team of varied voices (all of which were supplied by Copp or partner Ed Brown) and an arsenal of homespun sound effects convey a magical world where kids reign supreme, a grumpy frogman refuses to sing, and bad teachers (especially the temperamental Miss Goggins) get their due. Copp never succumbed to children's music clichés--not every story he tells brims with optimism and none of his tunes could be considered simplistic--but his detail-filled stories ask for repeated listenings. The result is an album that both children and parents will cherish for years to come. --Jason Verlinde