Dan Zanes - House Party
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Category: Music CD
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Music CD Cover
Artist: Dan ZanesEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2003-10-07
Music Label: Festival Five Rec.
Soundtracks:
- House Party Time
- Wabash Cannonball - with Bob Weir
- Queremos Bailar
- Hop Up Ladies
- Washington At Valley Forge
- Jamaica Farewell - with Angelique Kidjo
- Tankoh-Bushi
- Down In The Valley
- Waltzing Matilda - with Deborah Harry
- West Indian Counting Song
- Sunny Old Sun
- Tennessee Wig Walk
- Shining Star
- How Do You Do? - with David Jones
- Daniel In The Den
- Surrounded By Friendship
- Old Joe Clark
- Hey Little Red Bird
- We Shall Not Be Moved
- A Place For Us - with Phillip Glass
Free Music Notes for House Party
Free Music Review: I Listen to this Even Without My Kid Around
Hit: 5 Stars
I cannot say enough good about this CD. It was one of the first CDs we got our daughter, when she was about a year old, and her dad and I fell instantly in love with it, playing it just about to the exclusion of all other music for a while. It is cheerful, friendly music that is not annoying, drippy, or cliched like much other contemporary kids' music. The CD is dance-y (if I can coin a term) without being disco, rock without being harsh, pop without being trite, folk without being cheesy or depressing. I've given this CD as a gift to many families over the years and EVERYONE has loved it.
From the opening snap of "House Party Time" (a song that once you know the words to, it is impossible not to sing along to at the top of your voice) to the beautiful, mellow closing tune "A Place for Us" (with guest Philip Glass, woohoo!), this CD is a winner. Some of our favourites include:
"Wabash Cannonball" (with Bobby Weir from the Grateful Dead, yay!) - a driving folk tune that makes you feel like you actually ARE on a train even if you're only in your car;
"Sunny Old Sun" - a cheerful bouncy little tune that is evocative of a June morning with all of its possibilities ahead;
"Waltzing Matilda" - the Australian classic waltz, great for dancing around the room with baby in your arms, savouring the giggles as you sing to her of coolibah trees and jolly jambucks;
"Shining Star" - a love song to your child, with a soft sweet upbeat melody.
I could go on and on, actually, because in reviewing the song titles, I realize that there just aren't any bad ones on this CD. Alas, we lost our copy of this CD several years ago, although we have several other Dan Zanes cds (Catch That Train!, Night Time, Sea Music - all quite good). Even without having heard the "House Party Time" CD in quite a while, we still sing the songs all the time; my daughter is now five and the "African Counting Song" has been a fun and simple way to learn to count to sixty (and beyond, with a little modification of the original). I'm buying a second copy for us, but we've made up our own verses to "Old Joe Clark" (with Father Goose) as we walked around the neighborhood, and "Hop Up Ladies" became "Pop Up Kitties" years ago as we altered it to be about our three cats.
Please don't get the idea that we are a family of musicians and singers; nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, if people heard us singing, they would probably run and hide, or call the police or something. But in the true spirit of Dan Zanes' "family music" philosophy, we enjoy just forgetting ourselves for a while and letting the music take us where it will. And there's no better place than Dan Zanes' House Party!
FINAL NOTE: We are a TV-free, Disney-free family, so although I know Zanes has connections with Disney Playhouse or some such, we have never seen it. I think of this as his only fault as a musician; we saw him and his band live once, and managed to catch their soundcheck, before they were all in their goofy TV/Disney "costumes" and it had a much more authentic feeling, and was more enjoyable than the over-produced, fake looking concert that came after it. If kids don't need cheesy, inauthentic music (as Zanes seems to agree), why should they need the musicians to doll themselves up to look like cartoon characters? I assume this is the Disney influence, and regret that Zanes has fallen prey to it, but at least he has so far kept the music the way it should be. But, no matter; I doubt you'll be disappointed in "House Party Time".
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