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RETRORAMA Holy Senior Sidekicks, Batman! An Afternoon with Johnny Duncan  by ED Tucker
THE ENLIGHTENMENT Edgar Allan Poe In Film  by Terence Nuzum
MUSIC EMPORIUM Barenaked Ladies: Snacktime  by Bobby Tyler
SPORTS TALK Walk The Plank…. .... Welcome To Tampa! .... Top 10 Things We Know About Wrestling .... Super Bowl Pick  by Chris Munger
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Barenaked Ladies: Snacktime
(December 2007)

I've been busy with school, so I haven't been able to grab a new album to listen to and review. Instead I'll review an album I grabbed randomly last summer that caught me by suprise. When I first heard that the Barenaked Ladies were going to put out a "children's album", I thought it was going to be a gimmick. Something they threw out in between major albums to let fans know they were still alive. But since I'm such an avid Barenaked Ladies fan I gave it a shot. I'll admit at first it did sound a bit gimmicky. However, it QUICKLY grew on me. Something about the album just enthralls you.

It's a children's album, but not to today's children. When Ed Robertson makes a quick joke about the movies Grease and Grease 2, it becomes evident that it was more about life as a child when the band members were growing up. Some songs talk about swimming, coloring, and having a bad day. Growing up with a Gameboy in my hand prevented me from doing any of those. The song "Snacktime" has a guest list that I didn't recognize until I looked up the cast (Go to this Wikipedia page and scroll down to the "guest callers" section). Some of the guest callers you wouldn't recognize if you aren't from Canada.

Musically speaking, the album jumps around genres. Most is pop, but there's some reggae, country, rock, and acoustic solo stuff in there too. There's not a real flow to it besides a Trilogy of songs in the middle. The rest of the album is just kinda put together (my only grief). Very catchy stuff. A few friends and I are surprised to hear ourselves whistling some of the tunes in class much to the teacher's chagrin. Some of the tracks that stand out are: "Pollywog in a Bog", "Raisins", "I Can Sing", "Humongous Tree", and the very depressing "My Big Sister".

Overall the album was awesome. Just awesome. I listen to it all the time, and have since discovering it. In fact, it's made it to my second most listened to album since June 2007 (http://www.last.fm/user/FunkLeezard/charts?subtype=albums). I end up giving this album, 4 and a half Raisins, out of 5.

Pollywog In A Bog: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIkqEF2Mvc8 Drawing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOODDDU8Vmo&feature=channel Raisins: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1U7uMIVAEw

My rating -- 4.5 out of 5

--Robert Tyler