Take Me to Toddlerville

Today I am happy to be posting another, long overdue review (hey that rhymes!). A month or two ago I received a CD from Baze and his Silly Friends. This New Jersey quartet, fronted by Marc Bazerman has a new CD called Toddlerville that my dear readers here at Singing in the Bathtub might enjoy.

It's been a while since I've posted a video, so I thought I'd kick off this review with their latest video from the album: This is Your Body

So, as you can see and hear, Baze and his silly friends offer a bluesy, rollicking brand of kids' music that if fun and upbeat. What first jumped out at me when listening to Toddlerville was the rich vocal harmonies. There are so many solo artist kids' acts out there, that when a tight band with kickin' three part harmony comes across my desk I have to stop and smile.

The second thing that caught my attention when checking out Toddlerville was the pseudo-"Hard Day's Night" cover featuring the silly friends mugging for the camera (with a bit of swirly tie-dye pattern to compliment the folk/rock, jam-band style of the music). Parents who are old enough to remember vinyl albums will appreciate this wink to one of rock and roll's seminal albums.

Produced, engineered and mixed by Marc Bazerman and guitarist/keyboard player Brian Rund, the album has a consistent, bluesy, rock and roll vibe that I really enjoy. I am always heartened to see other kids' artist taking the reigns and self-producing. Not sure why, but Quincy Jones, Rick Ruben and Brian Eno don't seem to be lining up to work on the latest kids' music album. Equally, Ticketmaster isn't shelling out the big bucks to book kids' music acts, so I often wonder where artists' production budgets come from. It's nice to have the control and the experience to do a project like this on your own.

The Mike Brady Wrap-up: With the dog days of summer just around the corner, Baze and his Silly Friends' latest album Toddlerville puts me in the mood to find my brightest tie-dye and dust off my dancing shoes. Bazerman has done a great job capturing the thoughts and emotions of this in between time when saying "I'm a Big Boy!" seems like the most vital and important thing in the world. If you are a fan of folk, rock and blues, Toddlerville may be right up your alley!

Kid Quote of the Day: "Mr. Nick, what does the "soft"-tenuto pedal do?" Henry asked during his piano lesson. "To be honest with you Henry, I'm really not sure what the sostenuto pedal does. I'll have to look it up," I replied. "I'll have to go to the Google to see. My dad showed me how I can do the Google and find things out." ~Henry (age: 4)