Customer Reviews

Gustafer Yellowgold's Mellow Fever

5 star:		(4)
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I saw them perform this album live. My 3-year old loved it. My 9 year old son, thought it was "OK".

The DVD is lovely and has great pacing for the pre-K and K kids. I really like the alt/soft-rock style, but even if you don't, it won't grate on your ears like almost all kids music does.

And as a small bonus, you don't have to worry about having to buy cereals, snacks, toys, and backpacks with these characters on them the next time you're at target.

This is simply the best children's project I've seen. Our whole family loves it.

Am so astounded by the DVD's beauty and charm ... and was blown away by the songs' orchestral arrangements and the "leftoverture" at the end of the DVD, which sort of recapitulates/quotes all of its excellent, inventive melodies from start to finish. ''

Also the illustrations are really, really excellent -- witty, well-wrought, and handmade. Not LIKE Schoolhouse Rock, but of that quality.

''Gustafer Yellowgold is just better than a lot of the kids stuff, both corporate and indie: more heartfelt, and appealingly odd in a way kids get. I think it will eventually be considered a classic kids' project like Where The Sidewalk Ends, or Yellow Submarine, or The Point.

Seeking a cooler climate, Gustafer Yellowgold is a little, yellow colored, cone-headed being that comes to Earth from his home on the Sun and has a knack for making friends with such diverse folks as Forrest Applecrumbie (a smartly dressed pterodactyl) with whom he builds a home in the Michigan woods. Gustafer also has a pet eel named Slim and a dragon named Adsparagus, and a great many other critters of unusual distinction. "Gustafer Yellowgold's Mellow Fever" (featuring the music and storytelling of Morgan Taylor, the creator of Gustafer Yellowgold and is a veteran entertainer, song writer, and do-it-yourself illustrator) combines simple visuals with original music that will entertain and occasionally enchant you children ages 3 and up. The story-telling tunes comprising "Gustafer Yellowgold's Mellow Fever" include Getting in a Treetop; Sunpod; Melter Swelter; Butter Pond Lake; Sugar Boat; Panther Stamps Pants; Underwater Stars; Quite Easily Lost; An Erring Ant; Green Heart; and Constellation Pies. Original, entertaining from beginning to end, "Gustafer Yellowgold's Mellow Fever" is a superbly produced and technically flawless production making it enthusiastically recommended for family, preschool, elementary school, and community library DVD collections for children.

I admit, I bought this for two reasons: 1) the cover - I liked it. 2) because Gustafer lives in Minnesota, where my partner grew up and her family is from. Not a lot of Minnesota in the media. I saw it in a store, so I didn't read any reviews or description. I just bought it on the spur of the moment. When I brought it home, I popped it in the DVD player, and, well, I found myself sort of disappointed.

It was nice enough, but all of the songs sort of sounded alike. And the "music videos" were VERY laid back. There's not much true animation to them. Most of it shows still pictures where the characters move from one part of the frame to the next in a still picture jump. I'm not sure if that makes sense. It's like, Gustafer is in the upper right hand corner. Then the image changes a few seconds later, and he's in the center. Another few seconds, and he appears in the left hand side of the shot. The other type of motion that is prevalent is the camera panning over a still image. To sum this little digression up, the music is pretty mellow, and the videos are slowly paced.

I'd also been expecting (I don't know why) that the songs would be like a musical and the album would have a plot line that progressed, as opposed to each song being self-contained and not related to the others. So I was disappointed about that too.

Then I put the CD in my car to listen to (with my kids, by the way), and I started really hearing the songs. And I liked them. A lot. So much that this CD is all I've been listening to in my car for the past week, with or without my kids present.

In my experience, the DVD isn't something that kids are going to sit down and WATCH, like Disney's Cars for instance. But it's nice to have on in the background while you do other things, and if the songs hook you (like they did me) you won't regret the purchase.