Search - Billy Jonas :: Happy Accidents

Happy Accidents
Billy Jonas
Happy Accidents
Genre: Children's Music
 
  •  Track Listings (21) - Disc #1

NEWS FLASH: HAPPY ACCIDENTS has been awarded a Parent's Choice GOLD award!!! Happy Accidents, the latest Billy Jonas recording, is funky folk music for the whole family. It's musical medicine for the mind, body and spirit ...  more »

     

CD Details

All Artists: Billy Jonas
Title: Happy Accidents
Members Wishing: 1
Total Copies: 0
Label: Bang-A-Bucket Music
Release Date: 3/6/2009
Genre: Children's Music
Style: Educational
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 703034100721

Synopsis

Product Description
NEWS FLASH: HAPPY ACCIDENTS has been awarded a Parent's Choice GOLD award!!! Happy Accidents, the latest Billy Jonas recording, is funky folk music for the whole family. It's musical medicine for the mind, body and spirit of young and old alike. It's a splendiferous sonic sojourn into the near and far reaches of fun and fantasy, possibility and purpose, word-play, wonder, heart, and hope. The 18 songs feature 13 originals, and 5 adaptations of traditional tunes, all destined to inspire and inform. For instance, Eyes Wide Open;You are Not Alone; Get There ;Open Sesame; each provide a different 'musical map' for navigating challenging situations; To Be One and Hollow Bamboo enliven the soul; Cabeza teaches Spanish; Happy Accident explores four mistakes with wonderful outcomes; and What Kind of Dog are You?!,Vitamin Alphabet,Knock Knock, and One Tutu too Many; are just plain FUN question-answer songs that invite the listener to guess-along and sing along. The arrangements include Jonas' trademark homemade ;re-percussion'' drum set, as well as a glorious panoply of found sounds (rubber bands, body percussion, door squeaks, apple cider jugs), exotic kalimbas and marimbas, conventional instruments (guitars, bass, piano, banjo, accordion, tuba) and 2-, 3-, 4-, and 5-part vocal harmonies. The finale of the CD is the Wake Up Suite a series of 5 songs that trace a young person's morning rituals. Jonas and an 8-year-old friend sing duets designed to be easily learned and re-sung, to help families move their morning process along with as much fun as possible. The pieces include ;Gotta Get Up; Two Minute Shower, Eat Something!; Brush Your Teeth and Totally Ready to Go. Happy Accidents is Jonas' seventh recording, and his second family CD. Built on a foundation of voice and percussion, with strong, memorable melodies, it has something for everyone, regardless of age. It was recorded over the course of a year, primarily in Asheville, NC, with the help of co-producers Bill Melanson (from The Billys) and Adam Johnson. Happy Accidents features more than 40 local musicians and a host of nationally and internationally renowned co-conspirators, including David Wilcox, Moira Smiley, The Fire Cracker Jazz Band, Secret Agent 23 Skidoo, River Guerguerian, Don Porterfield, Jake Wolf, Ashley Farmer, and Eliot Wadopian.

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CD Reviews

Fantastic, even for grownups
Stephen Espinola | Brooklyn NY | 01/15/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)

"Wow. This one is even better than "What Kind of Cat Are You." Billy Jonas, for those of you who don't know, is an experimental folkie whose live shows (some for kids, some for grownups) feature him playing tons of homemade instruments, often several at once, most of them made out of recycled and re-purposed ex-junk. (He's also a good guitarist.) This, his 5th album, is his best so far.



This is truly a "family" album, not a kids' album. Which is to say that while all songs are appropriate for kids, there are many songs here that would be highlights of any adult album. (The gorgeous and mystical "To Be One" and "You Are Not Alone" come to mind.) It's a good balance. The kids' songs are clever and silly enough to make both kids and grownups crack up. ("Vitamin Alphabet" and "Happy Accidents" are two highlights among many.)



Musically, it's all over the map in the best possible way. "Who's Gonna Make Our Music" is a Sly and the Family Stone homage. "You Are Not Alone" features a beautifully-arranged marimba orchestra. Dixieland jazz bands and classical choirs make bizarre cameos at appropriate moments. And some of the quieter songs are simply haunting in composition and arrangement.



The album features a mini-rock opera at the end about a kid's struggle against the forces trying to get him out of bed and off to school. (It's left open as to who wins at the end....)



I bought this for my nephew. But I ended up keeping it for myself, and now I need to buy him a new one."