"The hottest band in the world!"...Happy Halloween!

In celebration of the absolute greatest Halloween costume for us kids ... ever ... KISS! So, were you Starchild, the Demon, Space Ace, or Catman?

KISS - "Shout It Out Loud"

Another reason technology is so cool...

Remember this classic Halloween album from years ago? Well, unless you're a hard-core audiophile who still owns a turntable, you ain't gonna hear it 'cause it still hasn't been released on CD.

***Breaking News!***

Chilling Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House has just been made available on iTunes as an mp3 download! This album doesn't contain any music, but it does present a great collection of Halloween sounds. Many grandparents and parents will remember this record from the mid-'60s and the early '70s, when it was re-released.

The sound effects were culled from Disney's vaults, and include creaks, groans, screams, and screeches from short animated films and Disney park rides. Side one of the original album was narrated by Laura Olsher, and side two was pretty much the sounds from side one without the narration. Watch out, though: the track "Chinese Water Torture" contains potentially embarrassing, politically incorrect "Asian" dialogue.

Here's Haunted Dimensions' super overview of the history of the album. Spooky, silly, and hair-raising fun!

***Eban Schletter***

Last-minute Halloween musical treat: Eban Schletter's Witching Hour! Watcha got here is one of the best-produced Halloween albums you'll ever hear. Schletter has composed tons of music for film and television, including Mr. Show and Spongebob Squarepants. On this project, he enlisted the talents of musicians and actors like Grant Lee Phillips, Dave "Gruber" Allen, and Dave Foley to add to the songs, skits, incantations, and stories ... spooky and otherwise.

The cool thing about this album is that it's currently being presented live on stage at the Steve Allen Theater in Los Angeles. Not a toddler album, for sure, but your 8-11 year olds will love it. Boo!!

***SteveSongs***

After recording five CDs of kids' music that sounds sorta like Justin Roberts for slightly younger audiences, Steve Roslonek (aka SteveSongs) releases his first DVD collection, The Marvelous Musical Adventures, on the Rounder Records label. Roslonek also recently translated his relentlessly sunny and upbeat style and songs to television, landing a gig on PBS KIDS as the singing "Mr. Steve."

The Marvelous Musical Adventures is loaded with music and fun, including a ten-song live concert with SteveSongs' full band, eight music videos featuring live action and animation, a seven-song bonus music CD, and two short segments from PBS KIDS. After everything's said and done, this DVD/CD set is a pretty incredible deal for the money ($12.99 from Amazon, $11.99 from Rounder), considering the amount of entertainment crammed into this one package.

If you and your kids like silly and fun, upbeat, old-school kids' music, you'll dig The Marvelous Musical Adventures of SteveSongs.

***Sunflow***

We were talking earlier about "Naptime Music," tunes that are not really lullabies, but songs to contemplate while you're watching clouds float by or just taking a break from the annoying skronk of the world in general. Sunflow's Under the Stars is another great example of that genre, an album that features soothing lyrics, loads of harmonies, and knowing nods to Emitt Rhodes, Harry Nilsson, Paul McCartney & Wings, The High Llamas, and Barry Manilow. Personally, this is ex.act.ly the kind of record that makes me want to plug in my bass and sing that fourth or fifth harmony part.

American Nancy Falkow and Dubliner Fran King, both accomplished popmeisters in their own right, teamed up to create Under the Stars with help from fellow melody maker Duncan Maitland. All three are based in Ireland now, which may account for the lyrical images of oceans, rain, rivers, and seas that populate several of the songs on Under the Stars.

Fran and Nancy trade off lead vocals on every other song, singing their own compositions. Under the Stars kicks off with the co-written, impossibly beautiful "(When You're In) Slumberland," Fran's Harry Nilsson homage. I just can't believe people are still allowed to write songs this good! Next is Nancy's sweetly jaunty "I Wish You Love," reminiscent of Nilsson's late '60s tunes (Sunflow love Nilsson!), and not a little similar to The Jellydots' "Pretty Little Baby." Fran follows with his very Paul McCartney-like "Eve's Lullaby (My Little One)," a song so tasty the ex-Beatle would trade his knighthood for it.

Nancy's "Sleepytown" is a quietly acoustic tune that contains the awesome line "Bumpy, rumbling stones will sooth your soul / Just a little break from rock and roll", after which waves wash up on a shore, fading into Fran's "Daisies & Orchids." The song begins serenely and builds into another McCartney-ish tune, with a chorus straight outta Paul's Flowers in the Dirt era. And Nancy's "Rock-A-Bye Dreams" is another mostly acoustic tune that would (and should) be a chart-topper on American country radio.

Fran's breezy "August Moon" features the baion beat that so fascinated Leiber & Stoller and Pomus & Shuman (check out "Spanish Harlem," "There Goes My Baby," "Save the Last Dance for Me," and "This Magic Moment"), and a chorus that would have been right at home on McCartney's Red Rose Speedway. The sweeping "Now Sleep" is Nancy's exploration of the connection between parents and their children, and the comfort kids take in mom or dad's arms at bedtime. The album ends with Fran's soft Tin Pan Alley tune, "Dreamboat," and Nancy's dreamy waltz, "Goodnight."

I've talked a lot on this blog about music being a powerful entity, a force that transcends genre, era, or listener age. This here album is so full of good vibes and beautiful melodies it's a shame you have to cobble it with a label like "children's music" ... so we won't! Under the Stars is music, folks ... dig it, and buy copies for all your family.

I'll send the medical bills to Yo Gabba Gabba!

Steamboat has developed a very cute but very intense obsession with skateboarding ever since he saw the episode of Yo Gabba Gabba! where Tony Hawk skates through his Dancey Dance segment. I brought home Hawk's autobiography, Occupation: Skateboarder, so Steamboat could check out the photos, and one of his favorite was Hawk with a gigantic scrape on his lower hip (a booboo, according to Steamboat). But Steamboat is also adamant about how you always have to wear a helmet and knee pads and elbow pads.

Here we are hanging out in a local coffee shop, reading an old skateboarding book I found. We had just watched the "Careful" episode of YGG! that features a kid skating throughout a 1-to-10 counting segment (great, now Steamboat is convinced he can skate).

***Beethoven's Wig***

"Beethoven's wig / Is very big..." So began Richard Perlmutter's series of fun-filled classical music explorations back in 2002. This year's Beethoven's Wig 4: Dance Along Symphonies is all about dances, from waltzes to polkas, from two-steps to habaneras. Even if kids have never heard a graduation march or the theme to Masterpiece Theater, they'll dig the music and parents will get a giggle out of lyrics like "I want my diploma / I want it right now," and "People upstairs, downstairs, all around the house / They never miss tuning in, it's de rigueur."

One of the cool things about Perlmutter's projects is that he goes all out musically: world-class orchestras, singers, ensembles, and musicians from around the globe contribute music to Dance Along Symphonies. So, while Perlmutter is singing goofy lines like "Be a good doggie good doggie now Rover," you still get to experience the lilting melodies of Johann Strauss, Jr.'s "Annen Polka," as performed by a professional orchestra.

A few times on the album Perlmutter's lyrics perfectly match the music being played. During "Oh No!" you can see the steam engine bearing down on the poor damsel tied to the train tracks in a grainy silent film as Scott Joplin's "Maple Leaf Rag" plays, and Georges Bizet's "Habanera" from Carmen provides the perfect tip toe music during Perlmutter's "Midnight Snack."

And, don't worry, Dance Along Symphonies isn't a complete sillyfest. Instrumental versions of all 12 songs are included so that kids and their families can enjoy the sheer beauty of Emile Waldteufel's "Les Patineurs" and Johann Sebastian Bach's "Minuet in G," and the joyful power of John Philip Sousa's "The Washington Post" (played by every single marching band that has ever existed) and Julius Fucik's "Entry of the Gladiators" (the tune that introduces the clowns at a circus).

This is a fun CD to play loudly and sing along with. "Forever we're marching, marching, marching!"