Blast Off!

Ben Rudnick and Friends | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 23, 2004)
• Original Release Date: July 20, 2004
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Listen Up Records
• ASIN: B0002I9R7W
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #230,839 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

About the Artist

Multiple award winners in family music, Ben Rudnick & Friends was born out of the recording Emily Songs, originally a knock-off project for Ben’s daughter’s birthday party. With their next release Fun and Games, the band further defined their adventurous, high-energy blend of happy, upbeat acoustic music. Mixing original songs and well-known traditional material, both recordings have won the coveted Parents’ Choice Award. Other kudos includes a John Lennon Songwriting Award and Children’s Music Web Awards. Playing a wide range of venues, from town festivals and theaters to large public concerts, the band comprises Ben Rudnick (guitar), John Zevos (mandolin), Arnie Ashford (bass), Mark Yacovone (accordion) and Jared Steer (percussion). Smoothly slipping in and out of musical genres from bluegrass to swing, rock and folk to jazz, Ben Rudnick and Friends are guaranteed to entertain young and old alike. The fun is contagious!

Product Description

Album Description

Blast Off has received a NAPPA Honor award and has been Recommended by the Parents' Choice Organization.

THE FUN IS CONTAGIOUS on Ben Rudnick & Friends latest recording, Blast Off! Whether hanging out in your family room or hitting the road, you and your family will soar the skies in a rocket ship, meet new alien buddies and ponder that eternal question: "Why DID the chicken cross the road??!"

Continuing in the tradition of their award winning CDs, Emily Songs and Fun and Games, Blast Off! goes where no family record has gone before, giving you music you’ll be happy to listen to, even after the millionth playing on that long ride to the relatives. The band continues to mix originals with classics done a whole new way, all on a foundation of adventurous musicianship and a healthy sense of humor, a formula that succeeds every time.

Blast Off! is acoustic music featuring guitar, mandolin, accordion, sax (Don Davis of the Microscopic Septet – highlighted on the theme music for WHYY’s "Fresh Air with Terry Gross"), harmonica (Jeff Bird of the Cowboy Junkies) and an endless array of percussion. Smoothly slipping in and out of musical genres from bluegrass to swing, rock and folk to jazz Blast Off! will find a spot in your CD player and stay there like favorite records of old.

Blast Off! will make your family feel like you’ve done just that: rocketing on a musical adventure that’ll have you laughing, dancing, and asking for a replay.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "...I'll buzz a little buzz/ Twitch a little twitch...", August 14, 2006

By 

My Uncle Stu (Atlanta) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Blast Off! (Audio CD)

Here's what it comes down to: Once you have kids, if you want to listen to music, you have to listen to what your kids want to listen to. In the car especially, I find that the choices are no music versus kids music. So it is worth your time to find kid's music that is palatable to adults. Trust me. Otherwise, you will be listening to Rafi or something like that.

Ben Rudnick and the boys are a fun bunch. They play fun bluegrassy music, complete with spacey, jazz jams, as well as other variants of poly-ethnic folksy variety (polkas, tex-mex, zydeco). My family had the luck of seeing them perform live at the Boston Commons at the Watermelon Festival, a subsidiary I guess of "Life is Good Festivals." It was a nice charitable gig, I don't actually know much about it but this is what it says on their web site: "Life is good Festivals help communities come together to feel good and do good. We donate 100% of festival profits to charities helping kids who face unfair challenges to rediscover joy and connection in their lives." The songs are amusing and playful for kids, but with enough for the grown-ups that the parental keenness is not a complete stretch. Isn't that the most you can ask for.

Doing a little self-promotion, Ben Rudnick announced at the Watermelon Festival that their new CD got four stars from DownBeat, "and that's the most they give unless you're Miles or Coltrane."

We get songs such as "Rocket Ship Man," which reads, in part, "It gets a little scary/ On the dark side of the moon/ The radio's not working/ Shadows fill the room..." ending with "When you look up at the stars/ In the old neighborhood/ Smile when you think of me// You know I'm feeling good."

There's the positive messages songs, "I Got A New Friend," and "Reading A Book." And the absurd "Juicy Black Fly" and "Why'd the Chicken Cross the Road."

Then there's my personal favorite: "Dads Can Dance," with the chorus "Dads can dance/ A little goofy but hive him a chance/ Dads can dance the whole night long/ Dads can sing/ A little off key but it don't mean a thing/ Dads can sing the night away..."

But, the best moments, on songs such as Martian Hoe-down, they will briefly break into an extended little jam, sometimes upbeat picking but occasionally loosening up and getting a little spacey, blasting off on harmonica, slide whistles, clarinets, banjos, cellos, mandolins, accordions and percussion from congas to castanets. Good times.

In deference to DownBeat, I'll give them 4 stars, but would throw in a half star of grade inflation if I could.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pure Fun!!, May 22, 2006

By 

Shirley Braley "ravenous reader" (Arlington, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Blast Off! (Audio CD)

This is BR&F's best ever! Each time we get a new album from them, it is a quantum leap over the previous one, and Blast Off is no exception. The creativity and hard work that went into this album show in countless details of the music, lyrics and arrangements. It is all new material and current fans and new alike will not be disappointed with the variety.

I have given this CD to my friends with small children, and kids just can't get enough of it. Parents like it too because they get to dance all around the house :-)

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Music for ALL ages!, July 29, 2004

By 

Jennifer "Teacher" (OH USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blast Off! (Audio CD)

As a classroom teacher and a mother of 2, I am always searching for good music. Blast Off is the third CD from Ben Rudnick and friends that is again well worth the money. The music and lyrics appeal to kids and adult ears alike. It is not often that I can find children's music that I can listen to over and over again. These are CD's children have requested to listen to repeatedly. Witty lyrics and sensational music!