Sat 25 Mar 2006
Nick’s post today on Jack Johnson 
reminded me of a post I had written a month ago in my notebook to pass time in a company meeting…
For Jack Johnson’s follow up to In Between Dreams 
what could be cooler than doing Sing-a-Longs and Lullabies for the film Curious George . The album features a 13 mostly original child-themed songs from Jack and friends (including G. Love and Ben Harper) performed in Johnson’s typically laid-back style. All that and a downloadable coloring book to boot!
To be honest, I was a bit skeptical of Johnson back when I first heard Bushfire Fairytales in 2002. I was turned off be the similarity of each song. They all sounded the same. I gave up on the album after one listen. However, at the time, I was playing a lot of Kelly Slater’s Pro Surfer on the X-box, which not surprisingly featured a number of songs from the Hawaiian surfer-singer. As I was repeated exposed to Johnson I came to the conclusion that while he may only have “one” song, it’s a pretty darn good song!
Tackling a motion picture sound track puts Johnson in the rare company of Elton John , Phil Collins , and Tom Petty . In general, I think the results have been great when directors have handed over the reins to rock artists, both from the impact to the movie and the quality of the sound track. It’s always fun to hear the results when these guys are stretched to write songs with specific themes and tones to correspond to scenes of a movie.
Sing-a-Longs and Lullabies for the film Curious George features some “classic” lyrics. Highlights include “3 Rs” (”Reduce, Reuse, Recycle”) and “The Sharing Song” (”If you’ve got three, give one to a friend and me”). The catchy single “Upside Down” stands head and shoulders above the rest of the album. That and Johnson’s cover of The White Stripes‘ “We’re Going to Be Friends”. The rest the of tracks likeable but not memorable. New takes on Johnson’s one great song.