No one has ever accused
the Mekons of being an especially "family friendly" ensemble, but two longtime members of the Leftist Punk Band That Refuses To Die -- guitarist and singer
Jon Langford and vocalist
Sally Timms -- have decided to take a stab at the children's music market, and the result is an unexpected delight. As
the Wee Hairy Beasties,
Langford and
Timms team up with alt country chanteuse
Kelly Hogan and the rollicking acoustic trio
Devil in a Woodpile, and on
Animal Crackers they've cooked up 14 tunes lively enough to please even the most fidgety youngster, and which are also witty, swinging and guaranteed to make the grown-ups in the room tap their toes. Most of the numbers deal with curious critters of one kind or another -- ants with attitude, dancing turtles, flies feasting on breakfast cereal and ducks with a taste for trad jazz -- and the wordplay is silly enough to make children giggle, but smart enough to still appeal to the more mature listener (especially the parade of clichés on "Animal Crackers," the
Muddy Waters lift on "I'm an A.N.T." and the playfully ethereal "Toenail Moon"), though some parents may find themselves at a loss to explain the convoluted story of "Cyril the Karaoke Squirrel." All the musicians on board brought their A Game for these sessions, with
Devil in a Woodpile picking up a storm (especially
Joel Paterson on guitar and lap steel) and
Timms and
Hogan making the most of their frankly wonderful voices; even veteran troublemaker
Langford proves to be a charming and gregarious frontman in this context. With
Animal Crackers,
the Wee Hairy Beasties threaten to turn your kids into the youngest alt country/roots music fans on the block, and chances are good you won't mind one bit -- you might even join them. ~ Mark Deming