Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that Princess Katie and Racer Steve employ a variety of retro, rootsy musical styles to deliver positive and educational messages -- about everything from cultural acceptance and world peace to using your imagination and having fun -- with energetic warmth.
Families can talk about the songs' various messages. "Sneakers," an ode to speedy and comfy footwear, starts out with a count-off in Japanese. How many languages can you count in? "Hide & Seek" is a silly ditty about the hazards of playing active games in princess clothes -- has that ever happened to you?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Kathi Kamen Goldmark
Princess Katie and Racer Steve are the kind of musicians you might hear playing at a family wedding -- Katie's warm, versatile vocals glide over Steve's journeyman guitar work and a solid rhythm section in a variety of retro, rootsy musical styles.
The lyrics, meant to deliver positive, inclusive messages, will delight children with a larger-than-usual helping of goofy imagination, and enough clever twists to please parents as well. Standouts are "Bubbles," a song in which magical food is promised at a new restaurant in town and diners order up "your tall, thirst-quenching, much-needed, glass of world peace," and "We Dress Ourselves," a cheerfully punkish ode to liberating one's wardrobe ("We dress ourselves in stripes and dots/we dress ourselves in neon spots/we dress ourselves without interference"). The musicianship and songwriting are not truly extraordinary, but Steve and Katie's sense of fun, lively imagination, and obvious love of authentic roots music -- along with high production standards and Katie's warmly sparkling lead vocals -- work together to create a collection of songs and ideas that somehow ends up being greater than the sum of its parts.
For more clever, imaginative children's music check out Class of 3000: Music Volume One, They Might Be Giants' Here Come the 123s, Have You Never Been Yellow?, and Medeski, Martin, and Wood.
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Social BehaviorPositive messages about cultural acceptance, winning, losing, sharing, bullying, making friends, kindness, fairness, sibling appreciation, world peace, dreaming, counting, and having fun. |
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