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The Sugar Hill Gang
Reviews
Amazon.com
Parents of the 1990s will likely recall--either dimly or clearly--the
Sugarhill Gang's one megahit, "Rapper's Delight," which helped
ignite the hip-hop genre and then largely disappeared. The ensemble, of
course, never vanished, but they also never managed to approximate their
first success. So here's a theory: the Sugarhill Gang receded only to see
the music they helped establish eventually need a social upgrade, a
reorienting of its focus to kids. This collection of 10 tunes revives
familiar early rap rhythms and grafts them onto new lyrics that encourage
children to both enjoy their games and playground activity and intensify
their learning. From "ABC's" to "It's Like a Dream
Sometimes," the emphasis is on a midtempo rhythm that easily
accommodates the child's ear and a smooth, catching lyric that bounces
from the alphabet to dinner to a game of tag. The music is decidedly more
simple than much hip-hop, replacing the sometimes frenetic array of
samples with a sleek, clean bass and a percussion line that really gets
its fuel from the vocals. There's even "Kids' Rapper's Delight"
and much more. Historians will look back at early rap as a kind of urban
folklore, and here Sugarhill Gang adds the educational touch of other
kid-centric folks like Ella Jenkins. --Andrew Bartlett
Uni
Verse Of Song: Spanish
Maria Del Rey
Reviews
Amazon.com
Despite American schools' penchant for introducing foreign language at
the middle-school level, research continues to prove that the earlier a
child is exposed to a second language, the more likely she/he is to become
bilingual. Based upon this tenet, in addition to Music for Little People's
strong commitment to multicultural edu-tainment for children, the label
has issued Uni Verse of Song as the first in a series of bilingual
recordings especially created for children from preschool through
fourth-grade levels. Featuring acclaimed artist Maria del Rey, she is here
joined by a group of children singing standard American tunes in both
English and Spanish. Oftentimes, verses as in "She'll Be Comin' Round
the Mountain," are sung in English and directly followed by a
translation in Spanish, thus making the language come to life with both
fun and content.
--Paige La Grone
The
Mozart Effect: Music For Children, Vols. 1-3
Reviews
Amazon.com
Two hundred years after Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's death, French
physician Dr. Tomatis discovered a relationship between listening and
learning. Remarkably, he found that children develop their listening
ability in the womb. According to medical studies, we now know that the
music of Mozart in particular has a profound effect on the human mind,
body, and spirit. Working in accordance with this philosophy,
internationally known teacher and musician Don Campbell wrote The Mozart
Effect, a seminal book correlating music with health, well-being, and
increased intelligence. Campbell's musical collection of the same name
presents compositions carefully chosen for the benefit of children. Volume
1, "Tune Up Your Mind," is formulated to gently stimulate young
minds. Volume 2, "Relax, Daydream, and Draw," includes excerpts
from Symphony Nos. 6 and 18, and volume 3, "Mozart in Motion," a
delightfully playful disc, includes an excerpt from "The Magic
Flute."
--Paige La Grone
Mannheim
Steamroller Meets The Mouse: Unique Musical Creations Based On Disney
Songs
Reviews
Amazon.com
From the heartland of Nebraska, under the creative guidance of Chip
Davis, the enormously popular Mannheim Steamroller has made some of the
country's bestselling faux-classical synth-pop New Age music, as witnessed
by the Fresh Aire and Christmas serials. Beginning in 1974,
Mannheim Steamroller cleverly and skillfully created a niche--and more
lucratively, a market--for their outfit and for a genre that has grown to
encompass the likes of Yanni and Zamfir. On Mannheim Steamroller Meets
the Mouse, Davis and his cast of accomplices tackle Disney stalwarts
such as "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah" (from Song of the South) and
"Chim Chim Cheree" (from Mary Poppins), as well as
relative newcomers to the Mouse catalog, including "Go the
Distance" (from Hercules) and "You've Got a Friend in
Me" (from Toy Story). Sadly, despite sweet moments in their
rendition of Mulan's "Reflection" or the beloved Pinocchio
tune "When You Wish Upon a Star," on which there is a lovely
hand-bell choir sound, at best the Mannheim Steamroller registers a tepid
nice.
--Paige La Grone
The
Singable Songs Collection [BOX SET]
In 1976 a young Toronto
musician released a fun and lively record called Singable Songs for the
Very Young. The artist was a fellow called Raffi, and in the liner
notes he wrote at the time that "there are very few good children's
records." True as that was in the '70s, Singable Songs became
the No. 1 bestseller in its field and set the standard for today's greater
volume of high-quality material. The Singable Songs Collection
reissues the classic Singable Songs for the Very Young and its
superlative successors, More Singable Songs and Corner Grocery
Store, as a set. Raffi's exhilarating acoustic musicality and sense of
humor shine brightly through. Single-digit-age kids and their parents will
get a kick out of these silly, educational, and joyful songs, which range
in subject matter and tone from shared peanut-butter sandwiches and
instrumental ragtime to standards like "Goodnight, Irene."
--Paige La Grone
