There’s No Stopping Curiosity

When I first heard that Jack Johnson would be making a children’s album for the soundtrack of the new Curious George movie I had a little trepidation. I am a huge fan of the surfer turned acoustic king but then again I’m not a kid nor have any of my own. But Johnson’s music already is for all ages and really wouldn’t need to have a drastic change aside from avoiding the occasional political song that sometimes peppers his albums.

So as a kid’s record, Jackson and his band of merry men stick to themes of friendship and other social lesson found in other children’s entertainment. For the most part the songs still have the same breezy acoustic sound that is typically associated with Johnson. But without the diversity in topics, the songs tend to blend into each other over time. Although it’s somewhat odd that the downer Wrong Turn, that includes the line, “this was only the worst hour of my day” in it. I guess that it has to do something with Curious George getting in trouble in the movie before everything gets resolved happily.

There are a couple of straight ahead kids songs most notable a remake of the old Schoolhouse Rocks! gem 3 R’s, or as I remember it, Three is a Magic Number. But this time they focus on the three R’s, reduce, reuse, recycle, and you just know that Johnson would slip some Earth friendly lyrics in here. Johnson even brings some kids along to help him sing the song as well as the earlier Sharing Song. The kids choir aren’t the only ones that drop by to help Johnson out, help people being an overlying theme of the album, as some of his buddies stop by to lend a hand as Kawika Kahiapo (Talk of the Town), G. Love (Jungle Gym), Matt Costa (Lullaby), and Ben Harper (My Own Two Hands) all make appearances.

In the end, the album is good for people of all ages and a must own for anyone with kids whose age are in the single digits. As an added bonus, maybe if you get you kids to listen to good music at a young age, they won’t listen to horrible music like My Chemical Romance or 50 Cent when they enter into the teenage years.

Song to Download - We’re Going to Be Friends (Yes this is a White Stripes cover)

Sing-a-Longs & Lullabies for the Film Curious George gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.