Search - Circle Game-Folk Music for, Various Artists :: Circle Game: Folk Music for Kids

Instead of going round and round and round trying to narrow a meandering genre for Circle Game: Folk Music for Kids, Music for Little People limited its songwriting players to a certain era. So break out your bandana and loosen up about letting the kids wear tie-dye, because a hippy-happier mood is hard to find these days. It's not that the 13 songs collected here serve only to spread good vibes--"You've Got a Friend" does more to remind us how we'd feel without one, and "Puff the Magic Dragon" could knock the wind out of even the most freewheeling spirits--but the boys and girls enlisted to perform these tracks clearly were feelin' groovy come recording time. "If I Had a Hammer (the Hammer Song)" and "If You Want to Sing Out," both led by what sounds like a mighty and stuffy-nosed 6-year-old, carry the lyrical capacity to temporarily ease 21st-century strife, real or imagined. So do "Happiness Runs" and "Moon Shadow," which even when delivered by crooners too young to wax philosophical can't help but impart a near-mystical hopefulness. "Mr. Tambourine Man," "Both Sides Now," and "The Circle Game" pull a similar sleight of hand, sparking a winding, shifting sort of introspection. For a finale, "59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)" couldn't be more fitting. Spin this disc and count on not only raising just-aroused consciences, but also on kick-starting a renewed karmic wave of harmony and lyrical insight. --Tammy La Gorce