Album Review

Ziggy Marley remixes a handful of dad Bob’s classic reggae tunes to create B is for Bob, the younger Marley’s second kids’ music project this year. The following thoughts come to you as told to Jbev by his 6-year-old daughter, Dbev.

Hello, out there, all you JamsBio readers. I have to admit that I’m not too familiar with your website; I know my Daddy writes on it, but I get enough of him at home. Anyway, he told me that he had to review a CD that is meant for kids, and I insisted on taking over. I know plenty about music myself. My tastes run the gamut from tame stuff like Miley Cyrus to more in-your-face pop like Katy Perry and Lady GaGa (which Daddy isn’t crazy about). And I do share Dad’s love for The Beatles (although I think that he ranked “Yellow Submarine” way too low in his countdown).

Now that I have that out of the way, let’s talk about the CD. It’s called B Is For Bob and it’s by a man named Bob Marley. Daddy explained to me that this man was the most famous singer for a type of music called reggae. I wasn’t sure what that was, and Daddy said that it was hard to explain it and that I’d just have to hear it to understand it.

So I listened to the first two songs, and I still didn’t understand. “Three Little Birds” was the first, and I thought it was very pretty and it had a nice message that I plan on quoting to Daddy when I spill my orange drink in his new car: “Don’t worry about a thing/Because every little thing is gonna be all right.” The second song is called “Redemption Song,” and it was pretty in a sad sort of way, with Bob just singing and playing his guitar. Now I don’t know have the foggiest idea what “mental slavery” or “atomic energy” are, but I can understand when someone is singing a song that means a lot to a lot of people, and I have a feeling that “Redemption Song” is like that.

Then the third song, called “Wake Up And Live-Part 1” came on, and I didn’t know what hit me. All of the sudden my head started bobbing up and down and my little backside started shaking back and forth, and I had no control over it. Daddy just smiled and said, “That’s reggae, sweetheart.”

As the CD went on, it was a lot more like that: songs that were soft and pretty, like “Bend Down Low” and “Stir It Up,” and songs that had me bouncing around like SpongeBob after too much sugar, like “Satisfy My Soul” and “Lively Up Yourself.” There was even a song in there called “Could You Be Loved” that sounded like that other music that’s great for dancing, which Daddy calls disco.

Daddy explained that this Bob Marley had a son named Ziggy who helped to produce this album and add sounds which make some songs sound better to kids, like bells or little kids’ voices. But there was one song that they changed too much called “Jamming.” Daddy played me the original and I liked it much better; the version on this album, with guitars and bongos, sounds like the kind of goofy thing that one of those punks on American Idol would do to a song to ruin it.

Overall, though, I think most kids will like B Is For Bob, even if they don’t have any clue what reggae is. After all, all of these songs are catchy and have nice tunes that a kid can remember even after hearing it only once. The last song, called “High Tide Or Low Tide” is so gentle and warm that I bet it would work as a lullaby for all you Mommy’s and Daddy’s out there.

In closing, I would recommend B Is For Bob, because not only will kids love it, but, unlike some music that I like that Daddy says makes him want to scratch out his ears with a cheese grater, I think parents will love it too. And to JamsBio.com, please send payment for this review to Dbev so that Daddy doesn’t get his mitts on it. I love him, but he’s pretty sneaky.

Editor’s Note: Help celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Island Records . Enter to win a 50-CD set of the Top 50 Island Records releases or an Island Prize Package with CDs, vinyl albums, t-shirts, and other goodies by (1) playing the Island or Bob Marley editions of the “Scrumbler” puzzle game, (2) and creating top-5 music lists tied to Island and Bob Marley’s catalog. Join the fun!

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