Colours Are Brighter : Songs for Children (and Grown Ups Too) - various

[ampattenden]

Legend has it, that it all began when Stuart Murdoch of Belle & Sebastian came up with the idea for the song The Monkeys Are Breaking Out the Zoo, recorded it, and suddenly realised that it didn’t exactly correspond with their usual album material. What could they do with it? Release it on a compilation of songs written and performed by the UK and American indie canon’s most respected stars, to raise money for the charity Save the Children, that’s what.

There are some songs which baffle as to why the artists ever thought it would be a good idea to put them on a compilation for children. Take, for example, the frankly Nazi-like paean to the virtues of tidiness by The Barcelona Pavilion. “Ti-dy up! Ti-dy up! Put-it-a-way!” is barked by a man and a woman with frighteningly toneless American voices. No Mary Poppins number, this collection of electronic clicks and beeps would make anyone aged 6 to 60 crawl into a corner and suck their thumb. Then there are The Kooks, who lyrically, give an acceptable lesson on sticking together against bullies, but musically miss the point altogether by persisting with their usual ska-punk-lite. Trying to sound cool is not the point here, Luke Pritchards, give me a hundred lines of ‘I must try to be more child-friendly’ after class. Meanwhile, The Flaming Lips have obviously tried very hard to think of a cool story for little girls and boys, but presumably indulged in the hallucinogenics a little too much, with the result of a 2 minute spoken ramble about dogs chewing toys before there is even any hint of a song.

However, the rest of the compilation is a sweet treat. The opener, Go Go Ninja Dinosaur is effortlessly cool, thanks to the electronic wizardry of Kieran Hebden (aka Four Tet); and suited to the young ‘uns, thanks to cute but stylishly glacial vocals from the appropriately named Princess Watermelon. Adults will appreciate the Power Rangers associations. Soon after, Franz Ferdinand come up trumps with a delightfully catchy song about the perils of eating too many “tasty cakes”, where Kapranos uses his theatrical voice to great effect. Perhaps a career in children’s entertainment awaits the band if their angular art-rock vocation goes wrong? It begins like A Menina Minha and morphs into the best song ever for dancing/bouncing around frenetically at a birthday party, off your tits on E numbers and sugar. Although the parents may end up being the ones fighting over who really won the eighteenth game of Musical Chairs.

Snow Patrol perform possibly the best song of their career, a softly sung ballad called I Am An Astronaut. But unfortunately for Lightbody and co, it was actually written by a certain Mr. Pete Shelley (who’d have thought it?!). Don’t worry, MOR fans, it’s not as if SP need the royalties now is it? Lyrics, which include “Dad is away and Mum is asleep and I am an astronaut,” describe perfectly the happy imaginings of a small boy on his way to the land of nod, and really seem to come from within the psyche of a child. Most kids will be able to relate to it, and the (slightly confusing) refrain of “Like a gorilla, he’s a real killer” should get the boy vote. Whoever said songwords have to be logical, anyway?

The finale is perhaps the most charming lullaby in the history of the world, by Kathryn Williams. With its sweetly sighed words about baking a cake with the moon and the stars, Night Baking is the perfect end to a mostly brilliant compilation for both children and adults alike.