Capping off his run on the spring 2011 season of the Celebrity Apprentice -- aka, The One Where Donald Trump Feigned a Presidential Campaign -- with a pair of thematic six-tracks EP,
John Rich once again proves that when it comes to pandering, he has no peer. The second of these is
For the Kids, a collection of songs about children, which isn’t quite the same thing as being a collection of songs for children.
Rich has written a clutch of sentimental claptrap and covered
the Oak Ridge Boys’ classic piece of schmaltz “Thank God for Kids,” a tune that provides the touchstone for
Rich’s saccharine salutes to children dying of cancer. From one angle, it’s heartbreaking, from another, it’s manipulative, and given how it’s paired with the buffoonish party EP
Rich Rocks!, it’s clear that the latter is the right reading of the record.
Rich is pulling the heart strings with such a heavy hand that
For the Kids quickly descends into self-parody. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine