The Pre-Schooler - Melvin Kaiser

It's nearly the end of the school year, and if that means for you what it does for us, it's also dance recital season. Chances are you will have a child, sibling, grandchild, niece or nephew or friend (or maybe even yourself) involved. Many of the acts in these recitals are performed by young people (and sometimes adults) who work hard to produce some very good to excellent performances. But how are they best remembered? For the acts featuring small children who sometimes literally have to be pushed onstage, and are just as likely to cry or yell "Hi Mom!" as they are to do the steps they were taught. Yeah, they're cute (and their parents, grandparents, etc., help to guarantee a large audience), but I sometimes thought it wasn't really fair to the other people who busted their humps to perform the best they could.

Anyway, this record is one that would be used for those little rugrats. The album features six sung songs, and the same songs as instrumentals, all written by this guy...
This is Melvin Kaiser, and from what I read online, he was a famous dance school teacher and choreographer. When you're simply able to focus on the songs (without watching the kids dancing to them), you realize how silly these songs are. But, to be honest, they're no worse than most of the other ditties that get used for these occasions.

I had to go to a number of these dance recitals in my time and, for the record, my favorite act is still the women dressed as nuns who tap danced to the George Michael song "Faith". I haven't seen any other act nearly as entertaining as that.

Enjoy the record and, if you do end up going to any dance recitals coming up, be sure to acknowledge the hard work that the older kids and adults (and the teachers!) do as well.

Here's the track list:

1. I'm a Pre-School Child


2. Skinny the Scarecrow


3. I Can Count to Eight


4. The A.B.C.'s of Dance


5. Manda the Panda


6. The Five Basic Steps of Pre-School Tap


7. I'm a Pre-School Child (Instrumental)


8. Skinny the Scarecrow (Instrumental)


9. I Can Count to Eight (Instrumental)


10. The A.B.C.'s of Dance (Instrumental)


11. Manda the Panda (Instrumental)


12. The Five Basic Steps of Pre-School Tap (Instrumental)

Click here or here to download!

Playtime Songs and Activities - The Bubble Gum Singers and Orchestra

This seems to be the same group who did this album and, like that one, I like the fact that they're not just doing the same kid's songs and that, at times, they really seem to be having a good time singing this stuff. I can tell you from experience that if you're having a good time performing, your audience tends to enjoy themselves as well. Hope you like the cover as well, even though that pirate kid has some serious gut action going on there!

Here's the track list:

1. How D'ya Do My Partner


2. Round the Village


3. Strawberry Jam


4. Shake My Hand


5. Jack Can I Ride


6. Skip to My Loo


7. I Wish I Were a Windmill


8. Rose Rose and Up She Rises


9. Come On and Join the Game


10. Clap Your Hands


11. Eency Weency Spider


12. Put Your Finger in the Air


13. Girls and Boys Come Out to Play


14. Ring Around the Rosy


15. Ten Little Farmer Boys


16. Paw Paw Patch

Click here or here to download!

Melodies from Tupperware's Star Spangled Jubilee '76

Tupperware Tuesday continues with this album, using the theme of the founding of the United States. This was, of course, the Tupperware Jubilee for 1976 (when bicentennial fever was hot in this country). You'll find appearances by George Washington, Betsy Ross, Paul Revere and more. There's some halfway decent stuff here. I particularly like the song "Where Do You Find a Marching Band in Yorktown". I also like the fact that Tupperware is actually acknowledged in one of the songs. I have no idea what the Category numbers mean, but they were listed in the track listings on the back so I include them here hoping that somebody around here is a Tupperware person and can explain it to us.

I've got one more Tupperware Jubilee album, and I'll cover that one here next week (with hopefully another one or two non-Tupperware albums along the way). Enjoy!

Here's the track list:

1. Independence Independence
2. Sugar, Spice, Tea
3. A Sale
4. Milkmaids (Category 2)
5. Circles & Stars
6. Milkmaids (Category 3)
7. If I Only Had a Horse
8. Tonight Tonight
9. Milkmaids (Category 4)
10. The Crown
11. Milkmaids (Category 5)
12. Pass & Stow
13. Where Do You Find a Marching Band in Yorktown (Category 6)
14. Fife & Drum
15. Milkmaids (Category 7)
16. Hello Dolly
17. Tupperware Spirit of '76
18. Milkmaids (Category 8)
19. We Can't Forget/New Birth of Freedom
20. America

Click here to download!

Once Upon a Time - Tupperware Jubilee '77

For the next few weeks, I'm starting a new feature here. I call it:

TUPPERWARE TUESDAY!!

I'm doing it because, for some reason, in my travels I've picked up a few of these records that were supposed to be soundtracks for the annual Tupperware Jubilee. I don't know much about this event, other than it seems to be something special for people who sell a lot of Tupperware, I guess. Each show has a different theme, and this one seemed to be Mother Goose. These are odd little shows. Don't get me wrong; they seem to be pretty professionally done, but they just seem...odd to me. So did people in the audience dress like the characters too? And there's not even any mention of Tupperware in the show at all (at least, not in the songs)! The back cover (which is included in the download) has photographs of some of the cast. Enjoy!

Here's the track list:

1. Mother Goose (cast)
2. How Will I Know (Jack)
3. Stickin' to the City Life (Three Blind Mice)
4. I'm on My Way (Jack)
5. I Should of Stayed in Bed (Mother Hubbard)
6. Why Do I Love Him (Fair Maiden)
7. We're on Our Way (Jack and Fair Maiden)
8. Peter Peter
9. Little Bo Peep
10. Being an Egg (Humpty Dumpty)
11. We're on Our Way (Reprise) (Jack/Maiden/Peter Peter/Bo Peep/Humpty Dumpty/Jack & Jill
12. Why Do I Love Her/Him Duet (Jack and Fair Maiden)
13. Mother Goose (cast)

Click here to download!

Stories for Rainy Days - Frank Luther

Hey, look! I'm on a roll for my second week in a row!!

Frank Luther is a great storyteller, even if he does change things around a bit. For instance, in this version of "Jack and the Beanstalk", the reason Jack and his mother were so poor was because the Giant stole their bag of gold, their magic harp, and their hen that laid golden eggs. So Jack was just getting his own stuff back! Uhhhh, right. Anyway, these are some fun stories and songs and I think you'll like them.

Here's the track list:

1. Jack and the Beanstalk
2. The Tick Tock Shop
3. The Raggleytaggletown Singers
4. The Ugly Duckling
5. Chicken Licken
6. Sleeping Beauty

Click here to download!

Some Great Stuff from Amazon.com!

After a week of new content on the blog, I feel I'm due for some plugging!

If you like the albums on my blog, here's some others from Amazon.com that you should enjoy too! (Some of these are CD format and the rest are mp3 format.) And if you click on the link here and end up ordering the album, I'll even make a little bit off of it! And if there's nothing here that interests you, remember that clicking that link on the left means I'll make a little something off of anything you buy from Amazon! Thanks!!

Stay tuned for more music next week!

Songs from "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" and Other Sweet Songs

The first half of this album features songs from "Willy Wonka". They even include "Cheer Up Charlie", the song that most kids will skip. They've also changed some of the words on the Oompa-Loompa song. I'm not sure why since the original was perfectly fine. The second half has songs with sort of a candy theme. They run out of candy songs by the end, and put in things like "Cindy" (the one from the "Songs That Tickle Your Funny Bone" album) and yet another version of "Big Rock Candy Mountain" (that doesn't mention cigarette trees, but does mention "al-kee-hol')

If I get the stuff written up soon enough, I'll have another two or three albums for next week. Enjoy!

Here's the track list:

1. Oompa-Loompa-Doompadee-Doo
2. The Candy Man
3. I've Got a Golden Ticket
4. Pure Imagination
5. Cheer Up Charlie
6. I Want It Now
7. Big Rock Candy Mountain
8. Candy Store Owner
9. You Turn for Sugar and Tea
10. Raisins and Almonds
11. Strawberry Jam
12. Cindy
13. Pat-a-Cake, Pat-a-Cake

Click here to download!

Song Stories for Little Cowboys & Cowgirls - Mother Goose Orchestra & Players

This is an album that I actually grew up with. It's a two-record set of cowboy songs and stories. The first record is all done by the same guy (identified as Cowboy Joe), and he does a nice job. The second record is sort of a potpourri of people, and you can tell by the end that they've kind of run out of cowboy stuff, and resort to train songs like "Casey Jones" and "I've Been Working on the Railroad".

There's a lot of nice stuff here (especially on the first half). Enjoy!

Here's the track list:

1. Cowboy Joe Rides Through the Night
2. Yipee-Ti-Yi-O (Get Along Little Dogies)
3. Make Me a Cowboy Again for a Day
4. Pony Boy/Cheyenne
5. The Legend of Crystal Rock
6. Whoa Mule Whoa
7. Red River Valley
8. Little Wahoo
9. The Strawberry Roan
10. A Cowboy's Prayer
11. Red River Valley
12. Old Chisholm Trail
13. Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie
14. Home on the Range
15. Clementine
16. Casey Jones
17. Ten Little Indians
18. I've Been Working on the Railroad
19. Big Rock Candy Mountain

Click here to download!

Star Wars - The Kid Stuff Repertory Company

Here's another "classic" from the Kid Stuff Repertory Company. Looking at this cover, you might think it was the story of two little American kids who go up in a rocket and have an adventure on a strange planet with two robots, a Threepio and an Artoo ripoff. Except that just about everything on this cover is a lie. The only connection to "Star Wars" is that they play the theme song at the beginning of the record. After that, you get the story "Jack and the Flying Saucer", a sort-of "Jack and the Beanstalk" parallel. The difference is that Jack lives on the planet Boom Boom, a planet where everything makes a loud noise. He and his mother are poor, so she sends him to sell Pinky, their stuffem worm. Jack trades the worm for what he is told is a magic saucer. Mom is upset with Jack when he returns home and throws the saucer out the window. The next morning, it has turned into a flying saucer. He flies off into space, meets a space monster, and eventually lands on the planet Sshhhh which (as you might expect) is a very quiet planet. Jack goes to a castle, meets a giant and his wife, and you can pretty well guess how the story goes from here.

There are some interesting bits here. For example, for some reason the guy playing Jack does it with a Cockney accent. I have no idea why. Also, the story is narrated by Shadoe Stevens, a voice you might recognize from his radio work or from being the announcer on the latest version of the Hollywood Squares.

Anyway, this is a pretty odd one, and I hope you like it!

Click here to download!