Schoolhouse Rock! Rocks
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Free Music Notes for Schoolhouse Rock! Rocks
Free Music Review: Your Mind Grows Flowered
Hit: 4 Stars
This is a very nifty CD that puts a more modern-day twist on the old "Schoolhouse Rock" songs that we all know and love. I bought this "on spec" with the idea that it was quirky and different enough to possibly have some gems - and indeed it does.
I'm not much of a hip-hop fan, but the real standout was "The Tale Of Mr. Morton" by Skee-Lo - worth the price alone.
Free Music Review: Gen X reminiscence [3.5 stars]
Hit: 3 Stars
Us 30-somethings grew up watching Saturday morning cartoons on ABC. In the late 70's and early 80's, in between feature cartoons and commercials, ABC ran the "School House Rock" animated shorts, videos really. They were educational, catchy and fun. Those songs are part of the quilt that is the pop culture of us Gen X'ers.
In the waning days of the "grunge" and (so-called) "alternative" music movements, some of the notable artists in those styles assembled to pay tribute to School House Rocks. The result was this CD, featuring Moby, Ween, Pavement, Blind Melon, the Lemonheads, Man or Astro-Man, Biz Markie and others, covering songs like "Three is the Magic Number," "No More Kings," "I'm Just a Bill," "Inter-Planet Janet" and about a dozen others. Some covers are truer to the originals than others. Most are at least interesting. A few are disappointing. But all of them bring back nice childhood memories (if you're the sentimental sort.)
Though the songs look back to the 70's and 80's, the covers are bathed in the 90's. The sound on this album says more about the time it was recorded than when the songs were written. Had this album been made 2 or 3 years later than it was, it would have had a decidedly bland pop/hip-hop sound and probably would've featured Britney, Backstreet Boys, N' Sync, 98 Degrees, et al. Instead, it has a bit of an edge, a little bite to it.
School House Rock Rocks! is not unlike Saturday Morning, the 1995 album of covers of TV cartoon theme songs (like Matthew Sweet doing "Scooby-Do Where Are You?" and Ramones on "Spider-Man".) In fact, Saturday Morning preceded this collection. Both are very similar in that they cover TV tunes from the 70's (and a few from the 60's.) If you like School House Rock Rocks, check out Saturday Morning, too.
Free Music Review: Don't mess with an original
Hit: 3 Stars
I also thought this would be remakes of the originals but instead it's "rocked" up versions of the originals which I think lack the simplicity and snappiness that made them memorable to me as a child. It's better than nothing, but not by much.Free Music Review: A "Not Necessary" remake - the Originals are better
Hit: 1 Stars
Sorry, I thought this would be a great updated version of the classic SHR music - and I was really disappointed. I don't really understand the point of this album - why "remake" music that was timeless and pretty much perfect in the first place?
I can't imagine my own kids actually learning anything from these remakes (and bottom line, wasn't that the point?)... and listening to "No More Kings" was downright depressing - when SHR has always had the exact-opposite effect!
Free Music Review: Nostalgia for Gen Xers
Hit: 5 Stars
Sometimes, covers of old songs and attempts to modernize old childhood favorites just fall flat. This isn't one of those times.
From the rocking rendition of "Lolly, Lolly, Lolly Get Your Adverbs Here" by Buffalo Tom to the R&B Soul crooning of "The Tale of Mr. Morton" by Skee-lo, this album will have you singing along and recalling those simpler days of catching Schoolhouse Rock on Saturday Mornings.
A wonderful effort by all involved and a must-have for children of the 70's and 80's.