Pirates of Caribbean: Swashbuckling Sea Songs
By the looks of the cartoony cover art, Disney'sSwashbuckling Sea Songsis meant to be a consolation prize for kid brothers and sisters who couldn't convince their parents they'd come away from "Pirates of the Caribbean" (name your installment) without developing nightmares. That's not to say that bigger kids won't whistle yo-ho-ho merrily after a casual listen, too: salty classics like "Blow the Man Down" set the mood for a plastic sword fight in the basement; "Pirates of the Black Tide" and "Stowaway" deliver mutinous tales made mild by friendly-sounding flutes and fiddles; "The Pirate King" sallies forth with regal, dramatic flair; and "Shiver Me Timbers" and "The Legend of Davy Jones" are sufficiently menacing-sounding to keep the whole thing afloat with kids who'd sooner walk the plank than be caught listening to a kiddie CD. The packagers didn't forget that any pirate worth his eye patch expects a little buried treasure with his purchase: Pirate lore--cool tidbits on flags, secret identities, and so forth--fill the liner notes.--Tammy La Gorce