Customer Reviews

Animal Crackers

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

After just one listen, my two year old was singing out loud for Wee Hairy Beasties. Seriously. We were jumping for each "wee" and giggling, and she wanted to hear more about Cyril the Karaoke Squirrel. And all this in an an albumn that doesn't make my ears bleed.

Wee Hairy Beasties brings together a mix of bluegrass, Dixieland jazz, and blues that offers a relevant blueprint for a model of goofy kids' music that demands stellar musicianship and timelessness. If the band could be said to have a frontman it'd be former Mekons member John Langford, whose aggressive but friendly brogue makes a major contribution in addition to his lead acoustic guitar playing and percussion work; other band members and guests also take on vocal duties in a well-balanced blend of voices on this entertaining and often downright funny album.

The band isn't afraid of caricature ("Housefly Blues" is what you might suspect, and "I'm an A.N.T." is a straight-up parody of "I'm a M.A.N."), but overall, Wee Hairy Beasties creates a unique and cohesive musical world for children to enter when listening to the album. Two of our favorite tracks are songs which purport to back dancing animals performing for listeners, complete with supportive hollers from the band and comments from the animals themselves. This album is a deliberate, if restless, throwback to an earlier time, complete with jug, kazoo, washboard, kick drums, and a lot of zaniness, and it works beautifully.

Top Tracks: Wee Hairy Beasties / Ragtime Duck / I'm an A.N.T. / Cuttlefish Bone / Cyril the Karaoke Squirrel / Lightnin' the Turtle

I was nervous when I ordered this. As a longtime fan of Jon Langford and Sally Timms, I feared that I was foisting my tastes on my five-year-old daughter. Would this join her stack of unlistened CDs?

My fears vanished before the opening title track. My daughter loves this record even more than I do. The music is clever, engaging, and best of all -- not cloying.

Reviewed by Three Silly Chicks - Readers, Writers, and Reviewers of funny books for kids. www.ThreeSillyChicks.com


You may think that all we chicks do on any given day is read silly books and eat sprinkled donuts. And you would mostly be right. But every now and then, we chicks get a bee in our bonnet to shake our tail feathers and our groove things and our whatnots. And when we do, we crank up ANIMAL CRACKERS by Wee Hairy Beasties for delicious, romp-stomping tracks like Flies on My Taters, Ragtime Duck, and A Newt Called Tiny ("I call him Tiny because he's my newt.")

Featuring Kelly Hogan, Devil in a Woodpile, and British punk rockers Jon Langford and Sally Timms of Mekons fame, these Wee Hairy Beasties know how to raise the roof and rock the roost. Kids will eat up these jiggle-wiggle songs like coco pops while parents fall to their knees in gratitude for a children's music CD that doesn't induce nausea after more than one listen.

Finally, a CD that can be heard at least 4 times a day that won't drive you insane. For some reason music for children tends to be simple. Animal Crackers proves that you can make good music for children and still have the silly lyrics and rhymes that kids love. I bought several copies for all the kids in my extended family.

The whole family really enjoys listening to this! I have played it while friends were here and they went out and bought it for their kids/ nieces, nephews, etc., immediately. When you are sometimes forced to listen to cacaphonic electronic toys ad nauseum, this is a really welcome relief!

great little CD, provides a nice break from the more saccharine toddler and younger kids CDs
The main problem is our younger insists on rewining to hear the first three songs over and over again

This CD is easy to listen to with a variety of musical influences and lots of fun humor that adults will catch. I will say that in one song, some badly behaved animals meet their demise, and I wonder what my daughter will think of that when she is a little older. I also hope she won't develop too much sympathy for house flies.

My 3 yr old loves this CD for about 15 mins. The first several songs are good, then the album falls flat. The tunes are catchy and I have found myself at work many days chanting "Wee Hairy Beasties" with a brogue as the band leader does. Enjoyable, in small doses.

overall ok. There are better children's cds. Some of the songs are really twisted and a little dark for kids. And I am usually the last to say so.