Children's Concert at Town Hall

Birds, Beasts, Bugs & Fishes Little & Big: Animal Folk Songs Folk music represents the best of Americana, and nobody performs folk music better than Pete Seeger. This charming collection of animal songs, remastered from two Seeger LPs originally recorded in 1955, will delight children and parents alike. Comfortable, well-known titles like ...	Pete Seeger's Greatest Hits Pete Seeger's recording career covers more than 60 years, so a single-CD collection is bound to leave out more than a few worthy songs. But the 16 selections on Pete Seeger's Greatest Hits include indispensable Seeger-composed classics like "Turn! Turn! Turn!," "Bells of Rhymn...	Smithsonian Folkways Children's Music Collection 26 songs, play-party games, and poems selected from over 200 Smithsonian Folkways Recordings and Folkways Records present a panorama of music performed for and by young children. Includes notes, song texts, and a complete list of recordings for children. Well-loved songs and unex...	American Folk, Game and Activity Songs for Children This is old-school interactive entertainment in all of its organic glory. This charming release combines a pair of classic Pete Seeger LPs: 1953's American Folk Songs for Children and 1962's American Game & Activity Songs for Children. Featuring an ebullient Seeger, his sprite ba...	Stories and Songs for Little Children
Songs to Grow on for Mother and Child Woody Guthrie offered some sage advice in his liner notes to this collection of children's tunes. "Don't just buy this record and take it home so your kids can listen to it while you go off and do something else," the legendary folksinger counsels. Folk-music fans won't find it d...	Peter, Paul and Mommy Despite denied claims that it's about marijuana, "Puff the Magic Dragon" now ranks as one of the finest children's songs in musical history. It's sung around campfires and in nursery schools to this very day (while still occasionally taking a tug at adults' heartstrings as well)....	We Shall Overcome: Complete Carnegie Hall Concert Pete Seeger, who began recording in the early 1940s, is perhaps the most influential figure in the American folk revival, a walking repository of song who's had an immense influence in popularizing folk music with mainstream audiences. The 2 CD We Shall Overcome is an expanded ve...	American Favorite Ballads, Vol. 1 In 1957, at the dawn of the urban folk revival, Moses Asch's Folkways label issued the first of Pete Seeger's American Favorite Ballads series. Marketing these albums to schools and libraries, Folkways served to document a range of great American folk songs that had remained p...	The Essential Pete Seeger

Pete was indeed, great in live performance...
I saw Pete three times in the 1960's, all after this album was recorded, and all were primarily "adult audience" shows at the height of the fervor over civil rights. However, no Seeger concert went on without a kids' song or three, and when I picked this CD up in a bargain bin the other day, it brought back fond memories of watching him sing "Here's to Chesire, Here's to Cheese" and "Abiyoyo" live. His joy in performing was infectious, and he never let the audience off the hook if the song could be enhanced by their participation. Still, the songs mainly belong to a fading era, as Pete himself tells this NYC audience of children, in which "Families had to make their own music, and make up their own stories to entertain themselves." I have four grandchildren, ages two to eight, and I doubt they would be interested in even half of the concert bill on this CD. Kids' folk songs, whether traditional or written by Woody Guthrie in the 1940's, seem pretty lame when compared to "Hannah Montana" and "High School Musical" which are aimed at teens yet captivate even a much younger audience. If Pete were capable of putting on another concert like this one, from 1962, I'd sure take my grandkids to see him, but the recorded version of that experience just isn't as powerful as seeing it live. I agree with the reviewers who noted that the audience noise destroys some of the songs. I imagine they were added to lengthen the CD from the LP version. As a keepsake of the Pete Seeger experience from the '60's, this is worth owning. Today's kids, however, are so saturated in media, don't expect them to be as impressed as you might wish them to be.

Pete Seeger
I listened to this album as a kid and loved it. I thought it might be too low-tech for my kids (ages 6 and 3), who are used to more modern media, but they love to hear Pete Seeger tell his stories and sing his songs with just a banjo or harmonica. We listen to it in the car, and the whole family sits quietly listening to every word and note.

I first listened to this 'album' when I was 3 years old and it ...
introduced me to music, folk music, and Pete Seeger. I've loved Pete my entire life and am very excited to see his music is being exposed to an entire new audience that has never heard of him. While others complain about the 'quality' of the recording (mostly because of noise from children) I find it to be one of this album's greatest charms. You get a real feel for Seeger as a storyteller. My sister and I spent hours listening to this recording and signing right along. I've introduced this recording to an entire new generation in my own family...and guess what? We've got children sitting down next to the CD player signing right along with Pete! I love this CD, and would recommend it to anyone. Thank you, Pete Seeger, for a great recording that I've enjoyed since 1963.

Disappointing
My son grew up on Pete Seeger singing children songs and I wanted my granddaughter to enjoy the same songs. Unfortunately, this recording is of very poor quality. It was recorded at a concert, you can barely hear Seeger sing, and you can barely make out the words. In short, very poor and unfortunate purchase. I do intend to look for another recording, because I still want my granddaughter to enjoy Pete Seeger.

Great music, so-so recording
I agree with all of the reviewers who have praised Seeger's musical abilities and the songs that are on this CD. In those terms, this is a wonderful disc. But potential buyers should be aware that this _is_ a recording of a children's concert, complete with all the noise that kids make... much more distracting than other "live" cds I've heard. There is a wonderful part where Seeger interacts with a crying child, saying, "I didn't mean to scare you." You need to decide for yourself if the added noise of the children at the concert would detract from your listening experience. For me, it was just a little too distracting. One other warning: If you are concerned about violence in your children's media, you need to know that the rendition of "Frog Went a Courtin'" on this disc -- "Here's to Cheshire, Here's to Cheese," a very catchy song -- contains the most graphic version I've heard of the cat's attack on the wedding feast, complete with blood and a broken back. The bottom line: The music is great, but I recommend you borrow the disc if you can before purchasing it.