Raffi's Box of Sunshine
With the three-discRaffi's Box of Sunshine, the reigning king of children's music fills in the blanks between the phenomenally popularBaby BelugaandThe Singable Songs Collectionfor legions of tykes who can't get enough of the Toronto-based troubadour's goofy, good-hearted sound. The first disc,Rise and Shine, recorded in 1982, serves up a mishmash of traditional and original tunes including "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" and "Wheels on the Bus." The common thread on this 17-track album--though not every song is subject to a stitch-- is inspiration, bordering on spirituality ("Rise and Shine," "He's Got the Whole World," "This Little Light of Mine"). Lucky for listeners, Raffi refuses to get bogged down while delivering his message. Instead, his focus is on keeping things light, as he coolly demonstrates on disc 2,One Light One Sun, recorded in 1985. Here again is a hodgepodge of the familiar ("Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star," "Take Me Out to the Ballgame") and the nutty new ("The Bowling Song"), loosely linked by a theme of diversity and acceptance (for example, "Ching lives in China, Olga lives in Russia / And each one is much like another"). Disc 3,Everything Grows, recorded in 1987, veers from the point-making path of its predecessors and instead asks its listeners to suspend high-mindedness in the pursuit of sheer silliness, if only temporarily. There's "Bathtime," the opener, complete with simulated scrubbing sounds; a spirited instrumental polka version of "She'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mountain"; and "Eight Piggies in a Row," an accordion-heavy lament for a hapless line of porkers who can neither laugh, cry, sing, nor dance. Combined, the three discs constituting theBox of Sunshinedeliver not a moment's dimness; instead, playfulness, cheeriness, and fun radiate throughout these records, and legions of Raffi fans as well as the few remaining uninitiated will love them.--Tammy La Gorce