Customer Reviews

Sunny Side of the Street

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought the new John Lithgow album for my little cousins and they love it! They dance around the house to the music and can't stop singing the catchy songs. Lithgow uses classic songs that I have even heard before, which makes it nice to babysit and listen to good kids music. Your kids will love this CD!

Great songs for kids to relax and have fun with.
Thanks for bringing some of these old songs to life
John Lithgow for the next generation to appreciate.

I think Singin' in the Bathtub is still my favorite, but this is a close second. Lots of good tunes the whole family can appreciate.

John Lithgow is a genius, I'm so happy someone finally figured out how to entertain both children AND adults!

My grandsons have several CD's from John Lithgow and love to listen to them while in the car. I like the music on "Sunny Side of the Street" myself!

This is a great CD. It is really for children,but it will put adults in a happy mood listening to this kind of music. Children as well as adults will enjoy.

"Getting to know you, getting to know all about you..." So begins John Lithgow's latest children's album, The Sunny Side of the Street, which initially sounds mature, a truly old school song. Soon he shouts out for introductions from his backup singers, the children from United Nations School who fill in the album's young tone, and quickly the fun begins.

Watch Lithgow in action here and you'll see that he has pulled off his transition into children's goofy entertainment very well. Yet this CD is very sophisticated from singing, acting and production perspectives. Lithgow calls on his ability to take on various characters, such as using an English accent in "The Laughing Policeman" and a Brooklyn drawl in "Song of the Sewer." He has an impeccable band and guest singers including Maude Maggart and even Wayne Knight of Seinfeld fame.

Check out the album's namesake, "Sunny Side of the Street," featuring Madeline Peyroux, and you'll hear beautiful singing and the traditional lines of this lovely song. (Adults could use a reminder of the song's message that we have the power to influence how we feel...just choose to walk on the sunny side of life.)

The album features songs from a by-gone era - the Great American Songbook - tried out on kids for their child-level entertainment value. Lithgow seems at home with this style of music and the songs are very catchy. The album invokes a feeling of "Why didn't I think of producing that?" with remakes of songs like the delightful "I Always Say Hello to a Flower."

If your child is in the "why" stage of preschool development, "Song of the Sewer" will create hours of lively conversation about sewers and toilets. It's an amazingly comical song.

It would have been easy for Lithgow to come across as a creepy uncle who doesn't belong with children, but the fact that he acts like a 2-year-old most of the time (as one of his co-singers accurately claims) pulls off the show. His foray into children's music wasn't such a stretch from Third Rock From the Sun since his character Dick Soloman was so entertaining and lively, and he demonstrates his flexibility as an actor as well as his youthful exuberance in this delightful album. Your children's grandparents will love reliving the songs along with their grandchildren, and the lullaby at the end of the album will soothe the little ones to sleep after the dancing is through. -Caity McCardell

Last year, I purchased Singin' in the Bathtub, and my then 3 year-old enjoyed it so much that we had to play it almost every day! Thankfully, the tunes were the kind that held a broad range of appeal to both children and adults, with catchy lyrics and infectious beats. When I saw "The Sunny Side of the Street", I decided to give it a try. It's another winner! Lithgow infuses each song with an element of fun and brings across his zest for life, making each track a pleasure to listen to. He is also accompanied by the children from the United Nations School as his backup singers, which lends a youthful exuberance to the album. The songs are old-school, and the beats are catchy - this album is fun not only for children, but adults as well, and makes a refreshing change from some of the boring children's albums out there (with the usual tepid interpretations of the classic nursery rhymes, etc.).

We have "The Sunny Side of the Street" and "Singing in the Bathtub", both by John Lithgow. These songs are adorable and catchy, and my husband and I find ourselves singing the tunes throughout the day. Our daughter loves them. They are great tunes with clever, funny lyrics for parents to enjoy and for kids to "get" as they grow older. We listen to them at night after bathtime and in the car. I hope he makes another cd!!!

This is an excellent product to have for the young one's. Have a copy at home and in the car. One of a collection of great to sing along with CDs.