Comments on: Review: Universal Music Family CD Collection

By: anjii

anjii — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 16:14:30 +0000

I have to agree with Paul. While there are some CDs in my collection that I save for those rare times in the car when I don’t have 3 1/2 year old ears along for the ride, most of our music is up for listening. Most of the age inappropriate lyrics go over his head, and any questions he poses opens up discussions. Sometimes short and boring, but sometimes quite interesting. My parents were the same way. We listened to a HUGE variety of music, both kids and adults. Even today, sometimes I’ll be listening to a song that I haven’t heard in years, and although I sang along when I was a kid, all of a sudden now, it’s like “Oh, so THAT’S what this song is about!” And I’m so grateful for my music exposure as a child, because I still love most of the stuff they played, and I have a true love and appreciation of almost all kinds of music thanks to my parents. Oh, and we also had a lot of kid specific music, and I love that too, and have transferred a lot of my childhood cassettes onto CD so I can share them with my kids.

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 14:14:34 +0000

We are always surprised by what our daughter will shimmy to in the back seat. The other day, it was Jimi Hendrix. You never know what your kid will find entertaining.

By: Inki

Inki — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 06:59:52 +0000

These sound awesome! Thanks for the tips, now I’m off to put them on my Amazon wish list for Christmas :-)

By: Paul

Paul — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 23:09:26 +0000

Thanks again for an awesome review. It's amazing how much easier life is since most of my best buys have been reading your review and then buying it, without the hours of shopping and pondering what to get. Best so far was the Bob's Books series.

Anyway on this one I have to disagree with one premise. Within reason, there's nothing wrong with questionable lyrics. It will be something that a child misses originally, and then gradually grows into and learns from over time, adding a depth to the song. In my own case I grew up on M*A*S*H and All in the Family enjoying the antics, and then gradually over the years understanding and learning the deeper meanings, noticing some of the 'questionable' adult issues, and eventually even deciding what to agree or disagree with. (yes I'm dating myself ... I was around when these were new and my parents watched them). And hey maybe I still haven't grown into understanding Puff The Magic Dragon or all the Beatles. ;-)

It's uncomfortable to answer some questions but if the child is old enough to ask coherently, then I'd rather a clean but honest answer come from me than the street!

All that said some of these sound wonderful and I'm sure I'll be getting a few. :-)

By: callmekelly

callmekelly — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 22:18:02 +0000

Reviews like this are one of the reasons I stop in here daily... you hit all the angles and take out the guesswork. Thanks for an easy to understand comprehensive review!

but no thanks at all for the hard to shake mental images conjured up by following the wiki link... shudder, shudder, shudder...

By: anjii

anjii — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 16:02:28 +0000

These seem great! I can’t wait to add a few of them to my CD shopping list… I see a lot of dancing in our immediate future ; )

By: RobMonroe

RobMonroe — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 13:35:43 +0000

I've been apreciative of finding different versions of these collections over the last 18 months. We have a 22 hour playlist in our house that is on whenever we're awake. It includes intentionally children's music (thanks AJ for the Red Grammar tip) and more fun, more diverse music. We've had a lot of the offerings on the 80's collection in our mix for a while. There is also a lot of newer music that is both fun and toddler apropriate.

I'm all about variety of music and having opportunity to experience things differently. With that in mind we've also sought out songs from India, Mexico, South America, Africa and Canada. Okay, so the Canadian songs are hockey songs, but they count as international to me!

By: Dani

Dani — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 13:25:37 +0000

I think we will definitely have to purchase some of these! Especially the motown! I may have grown up in the 80's but I was raised on the Temptations. My father used to sing The Way You Do The Things You Do to me but change all the lyrics around to make it VERY silly. It's one of those treasured memories and this may make it a little easier to pass down.
Thanks!

By: BusyMom

BusyMom — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 11:02:40 +0000

LOVE IT!!!!!

We have been making mixes to listen to in the car with our kids. It's sometimes surprising how many questionable lyrics can be found in songs that you love, that you never considered when you were listening pre-kids (or actually pre-toddler).

I think I might have to send them a list of some of the collections that our kids love and learn what their special thank you package is.

I already forwarded the link to my husband to get his opinion. I think the 80's, the songs for the car, the Motown and the future Idols discs might just be featured in my car soon.