CASPAR BABYPANTS “THIS IS FUN!
The Sound: Sticky & delicious silver dollar pop pancakes for your ears from Presidents of the United States of America singer Chris Ballew.
Best Moments: “Googly Eyes” (video below) succinctly encapsulates the endless possibilities of a kiddie arts & crafts experience. Anyone who can include “googly eye gluing” on their parenting resume will appreciate this song about those versatile plastic eyes. Oh yeah, it’s about the catchiest thing ever too. You’ve been warned. This is your immediate future: Your kids will want to hear “Googly Eyes” and watch the clever video over and over and over again. And you won’t mind a bit.
“Speedy Centipede” is the definition of infectious: doesn’t matter if you dislike it (you won’t), you’ll still be singing it all day long. The keyboards make this one shimmer. The Bear says the keys mimic the sound of a 100 centipede legs.
Story-song “The Legend of the Bone” follows a cute, albeit unlikely path to a perfect pop ending. It’ll make you lean in, focus, and eventually sing along with the closing line: “goodbye to the bone!” This offbeat tale is the NPR driveway moment of the album.
Bonus Thought: Enjoy the video for “Googly Eyes”:
Okay, Time to Wrap It Up With A Nice Little Bow: As with his previous kindie albums, this Caspar Babypants CD skews young. As a parent of two children technically out, or with one foot out the door, of Ballew’s sweet-spot demographic I thought that This Wouldn’t Be As Much Fun! Wrong. My girls, especially the 6.5-year old Bear, curiously enough, can’t get enough of it’s simple musical pleasures.
It’s important to note that while music aimed at the daycare crowd often contains a fair amount of cringe-worthy moments, Caspar Babypants “This is Fun!” delivers none. Seriously, none. You may not, as an adult or 7-year old, embrace every song the way a toddler will, but you won’t run for the hills either. This is crucial to the success of Ballew’s approach to writing songs for tiny tots, and by proximity, their older siblings and parents.
“This Is Fun!” captures the early-childhood experience better than any album I’ve heard in a long while. It’s goofy, movement-based, uncomplicated, sweet, and fun (the title doesn’t lie). If it had the occasional tantrum, “This is Fun!” would be my youngest child.
With little more than acoustic guitar and voice, Caspar Babypants provides the jingles to the long-running reality show that is Childhood: Ages 1-3.
*A copy of “This is Fun!” was provided to OWTK for review. The opinions expressed above are honest and unbiased. No arm-twisting took place in the review process.
Photo Credit: Brian Kasnyik
