Album Details

• Artist: Randy Kaplan
• Album: The Kids Are All Id
• Label: Yellow Thing
• Year of Release: 2010
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: patchen on 2010-12-06

Randy Kaplan's latest in what is now becoming his genre (the children's song that is subversively also meant for adults) is even more respectful of kid's wits than usual. Never one to talk down to tot, Kaplan, on "The Kids Are All Id," takes the title seriously and delivers an amiable but jaundiced set, infusing these seventeen songs with wit, sarcasm, whimsy and a kind of carefree bite kids that will certainly resonate with little ones and their parents.

Kaplan's folk-based tunes are built on topics ranging from inoculations ("My Little Laugh") and species-ambiguity ("Is She a Girl or Is She a Monkey;" the monkey in question is Kqxhc, of XMRadio fame) to encounters with huge beasts in Ireland ("The Derby Ram") and Jewish forest denizens ("The Hebrew-Speaking Bear"). "Whistle for Willie," an ode to a loved dog, and gentle pleas for kids to keep their wonder, as on "Dream Hat," "Dreamin'" and a poignant cover of Dylan's "Forever Young," which round out the set.

Randy Kaplan is slowly becoming a national treasure. "The Kids Are All Id" is a gentle barbed set of songs for kids that speaks to them at a level of respect and understanding that, in this age of screaming that passes for news, adult might wish to be spoken to as well.

User Reviews and Comments