This is arguably the most fun Caspar Babypants album yet! It mixes new songs, old songs, various instruments, and guest musicians. Charlie Hope sings in a soulful rendition of Mister Rabbit, while Elizabeth Mitchell's gentle voice permeates Dark of Night.  Perhaps the biggest surprise on the album is a Nirvana song, Sliver. Caspar Babypants may be the only children's singer who can successfully pull off covering a grunge rock band! A wide variety of instruments and sounds keep the listener on their toes, from the deliberate staccato guitar strums in Where Do You Go?, to the cello and tambourine in Tumble, and the cute little 'tink, tink' of banging spoons in All You Pretty Babies. Although all of the songs are upbeat and fun, the styles differ from playful (Bounce Your Baby), rap (Look At All These Elephants), to lovely harmonies (Shoo Fly & The Cuckoo).

The songs encourage plenty of interaction through strong beats that cause you to tap your foot or bop your head without even realizing it.  In the boogie song Baby's Getting Up, Caspar playfully directs, "Baby kick a leg! Baby shake an arm!" He even whispers a whole verse, "Baby go to sleep. Baby get a hug" like he is telling listeners a secret. Just watch your little one light up!  Caspar's songs are also full of creativity, painting fun and silly scenes in listener's minds. For example, Googly Eyes is about someone who puts googly eyes on a rock, tree stump, balloon - all sorts of things! - and they all come alive! "I'll put you on some old pants; now those old pants can dance!"  What would your child put googly eyes on? Tiger Through The Trees is also fun to imagine together, as five ferocious tigers play instruments (guitar, xylophone, bass, harmonica, and shaker) and get together to make great music. This song does a great job of teaching your little one how to recognize the sounds of different instruments, as each instrument is introduced before it has a short solo.

My three year old friend Sam things Caspar Babypants is the greatest thing since ice cream! We were counting down the days together for This is Fun! to be released. We even listened to it on the way home from the store because we just couldn't wait.  Sam's immediate favorite was Little Ditty because he liked singing with the harmonized 'la la's right away. I liked It's Gonna Rain, because it alternated between just Caspar clapping alone and singing, and small bursts of music to accompany him between verses. I also liked the lyrics, "The clouds are leakin' down, down. The drops are falling down, down. The sky is dropping down, down." The claps, bells and other staccato sounds, sounded like little rain drops plopping down on the ground.  

 

--Audra