Captain Bogg and Salty - Emphatical Piratical

I love these guys! Funny, sing-able, dance-able genre-hopping pirate songs. Whenever I put on a CD for grown-ups in the house they think it's my own band, that's how up my street this is.

Check out these lyrics, spoken by a native of Frogg Island (the pirate's hideaway) in a "native" accent:

"When we come to the Frogg Island, no-one was here.
Only the purple tiki was here.
We ask the purple tiki 'Where we build village?'
'What berry we eat no make us throw up?'
The purple tiki no answer.
The purple tiki never answer.
The purple tiki only listen."

Haha! It's one of the kids' favourites too.

I'll be putting this up for sale on the kids-tunes.com site soon, in the meantime click here to buy their previous album "Pegleg Tango" which is also great.

Madagascar soundtrack

Some hits you probably already have, like "Chariots of Fire" and "Boogie Wonderland", along with some pretty decent underscore tracks.

The reason I bought this though is Sacha Baron Cohen's version of "We like to move it move it", which is amazing. At a kids disco I did last summer I must have played it 5 times (because the kids kept demanding it).

Rockabye Baby! Lullaby Renditions of The Beatles

Plinky-plonky xylophone (or, rather, marimba) versions of Beatles tunes. When Heather ate 2 bowls of jelly instead of dinner it didn't force her to sleep, but it did keep her calm and, crucially, quiet while I paced the kitchen with her in my arms in the middle of the night. Musically a little suspect, but not offensive.

Old English Nursery Rhymes - The Broadside Band

Nursery rhymes performed in traditional English folk style. The female singer's voice is a little bit grating, and it's very long (52 tracks!), but it's pretty good. Probably the best nursery rhyme CD I've come across. It's also Heather's favourite. "IMES! IMES!", she says, pointing at the CD player.

Buy it, and other classic kids music, now on www.kids-tunes.com

Oxbridge Baby Classical Music

Midi (i.e. programmed on a computer, rather than played) versions of popular classics.

Ugh! Rubbish! Avoid!

Sesame St. Platinum All-Time Favorites

An enduring favourite in our house. "Elmo's song" has been Heather's favourite song for ages, and me and Niamh love the oldies like "People in your neighbourhood".

Isabelle claims that Heather likes Elmo so much that Elmo must be her husband.

Buy it now on kids-tunes.com

Carnival of the Animals, narrated by Johnny Morris

I really like "Carnival of the Animals", and played bass in it once in my youth. This is a good performance of it, and Johnny Morris (former presenter of Animal magic on BBC tv) recites a little rhyme at the start of each piece of music. He does a decent job, but the rhymes are kinda crap and are spoiling my enjoyment of the music (plus he recites over "Fishes", which is one of my favourite pieces). Ogden Nash wrote a set of rhymes for this too, and they're much better - must search out a version with his rhymes on it instead

Gustafer Yellowgold's Mellow Fever

Quiet, melodic, mellow, acoustic-y music - a little bit of Mercury Rev in here, a bit of The Beatles. Accompanied by a DVD of animated videos for each song.

While the music is very well-produced and very melodic, it's all a bit boring. I like the sound of the thing, but the songs just don't hold my interest all that much. The videos aren't very interesting either. Isabelle says "I like it a little bit".

My Very Favourite Nursery Rhyme Record - Tim Hart and Friends

Nursery rhymes performed by Tim Hart and Maddy Prior of the English "electric folk" band Steeleye Span. It starts off great, but there's some dodgy 80s-sounding keyboards on here, and Maddy Prior's voice can be a little hard going at times.

Hmm. Undecided. So far Heather prefers The Broadside Band's nursery rhymes record.

Beethoven's Wig

Classical music with funny/silly lyrics sung over the top e.g.

"Franz Lizst/The famous pianist" (sung to the tune of Hungarian Rhapsody #2)

"Beethoven's wig/Was very big" (sung to the tune of the 5th symphony)

The words are hilarious and the performances are great. I love it! Isabelle loves it! Niamh loves it!