Music » Box Set Children's Music

In 1976 a young Toronto musician released a fun and lively record called Singable Songs for the Very Young. The artist was a fellow called Raffi, and in the liner notes he wrote at the time that "there are very few good children's records." True as that was in the '70s, Singable Songs became the No. 1 bestseller in its field and set the standard for today's greater volume of high-quality material. The Singable Songs Collection reissues the classic Singable Songs for the Very Young and its superlative successors, More Singable Songs and Corner Grocery Store, as a set. Raffi's exhilarating acoustic musicality and sense of humor shine brightly through. Single-digit-age kids and their parents will get a kick out of these silly, educational, and joyful songs, which range in subject matter and tone from shared peanut-butter sandwiches and instrumental ragtime to standards like "Goodnight, Irene." --Paige La Grone

With the three-disc Raffi's Box of Sunshine, the reigning king of children's music fills in the blanks between the phenomenally popular Baby Beluga and The Singable Songs Collection for legions of tykes who can't get enough of the Toronto-based troubadour's goofy, good-hearted sound. The first disc, Rise and Shine, recorded in 1982, serves up a mishmash of traditional and original tunes including "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" and "Wheels on the Bus." The common thread on this 17-track album--though not every song is subject to a stitch-- is inspiration, bordering on spirituality ("Rise and Shine," "He's Got the Whole World," "This Little Light of Mine"). Lucky for listeners, Raffi refuses to get bogged down while delivering his message. Instead, his focus is on keeping things light, as he coolly demonstrates on disc 2, One Light One Sun, recorded in 1985. Here again is a hodgepodge of the familiar ("Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star," "Take Me Out to the Ballgame") and the nutty new ("The Bowling Song"), loosely linked by a theme of diversity and acceptance (for example, "Ching lives in China, Olga lives in Russia / And each one is much like another"). Disc 3, Everything Grows, recorded in 1987, veers from the point-making path of its predecessors and instead asks its listeners to suspend high-mindedness in the pursuit of sheer silliness, if only temporarily. There's "Bathtime," the opener, complete with simulated scrubbing sounds; a spirited instrumental polka version of "She'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mountain"; and "Eight Piggies in a Row," an accordion-heavy lament for a hapless line of porkers who can neither laugh, cry, sing, nor dance. Combined, the three discs constituting the Box of Sunshine deliver not a moment's dimness; instead, playfulness, cheeriness, and fun radiate throughout these records, and legions of Raffi fans as well as the few remaining uninitiated will love them. --Tammy La Gorce

Release Date: 1995-01-09, Audio CD, Children's Book Store Distribution

Laugh and sing along with 100 of the greatest Kidsongs favorites in this special four CD box set featuring "My Favorite Animal Songs," "My Favorite Let's Go Songs," "My Favorite Sing-Along Songs" and "My Favorite Play Along Songs." Songs include: "Old MacDonald Had a Farm," "Bingo," "Turkey in the Straw," "She'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mountain," "Little Red Caboose," "Row Row Row Your Boat," "Over the River," "Oh Susanna," "Yankee Doodle Boy," "The Muffin Man," "Home on the Range," "London Bridge," "Simon Says," "Polly Wolly Doodle," "Skip to My Lou," "This Old Man," "John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt," and many more!

It's hard to overestimate the effect Schoolhouse Rock had on anyone who was a child between 1973 and 1985. Forty-one three-minute educational cartoons set to original songs, they were the original music videos, and they taught countless kids the difference between adjectives ("Unpack Your Adjectives") and adverbs ("Lolly, Lolly, Lolly, Get Your Adverbs Here"), how to multiply ("Three Is a Magic Number"), basic principles of science ("Do the Circulation," "Interplanet Janet"), and American civics ("I'm Just a Bill," "The Preamble"). All of the original songs are here, plus four Money Rock songs--"Dollars and Sense" and "Where the Money Goes" are as classic as any of the original standouts--and four tracks from the short-lived Scooter Computer & Mr. Chips series (which, unlike the rest of the Schoolhouse Rock songs, can be dated by the proto-new-wave-influenced instrumentation). A classic collection of (mostly) timeless songs that shaped the minds of a generation or two: how many box sets can you say that about? --Randy Silver

There is no soundtrack composer working today more talented or consistent than John Williams, and the Star Wars trilogy represents some of his finest work. Though he uses few major themes (mostly tied to specific characters, signaling when they appear on the screen or do something important), there's also enough variety in the incidental music to keep things interesting. From the instantly recognizable opening music to the medley that accompanies the closing credits, this is excellent work that perfectly captures the innocence and sense of adventure of the film. At the same time, the Star Wars score stands up very well as a piece of music on its own. --Genevieve Williams

Release Date: 2002-05-07, Audio CD, Big Blue Dog

Songs from the Street, the boxed set that stretches back to "Sesame Street's" 1969 debut, is the kids' record of the year, if not the decade: Big Bird and the gang might've pulled it off themselves--for a crew of fix-it store workers, shopkeeps, and goofball monsters, the talent quotient's off the charts--but when you've got this many names to drop, they've got to land somewhere. What impresses most in three discs is the lack of a single thud. Cab Calloway, Pete Seeger, and James Taylor mosey in on disc one; Johnny Cash, BB King, and Tony Bennett take seats on the stoop for disc two; and the Dixie Chicks, Gloria Estefan, and R.E.M. raise the brownstone roof on disc three--and that's leaving out stars like Lena Horne, Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel, and Trisha Yearwood. When it comes to inspiring preschoolers and their parents to sing the praises of rubber duckies, bein' green, and the people in their neighborhood; "The Street" gets busy. --Tammy La Gorce

Release Date: 1997-09-30, Audio CD, Children's Group

Release Date: 1999-05-04, Audio CD, Philips