HOUSE PARTY conveys the spirit in which it was made. Friends dropped by Dan Zanes' Brooklyn home where the tape was rolling, and the happy result is twenty songs of communal music making. Contributors include Barbara Brousal, Deborah Harry, Cynthia Hopkins, Angelique Kidjo, and Bob Weir. The album kicks off with Zanes' wacky "House Party Time", reminiscent of Dylan basement tapes with doo-wop backup vocals.

Memorable guests are a bowlegged chicken who walks "with a wiggle and a giggle and a squawk doing the 'Tennessee Wig Walk'" and a whackety, quackety Father Goose callin' 'Old Joe Clark' dance steps with the help of banjo, drums, electric bass, fiddle, guitar, mandolin, claw hammer banjo, and Xaphoon. Fun wordplay abounds in the classics, making some of the new songs fall short lyrically by comparison.

Deborah & Dan sing "Waltzing Matilda" a bit out-of-tune but perfectly pitched for a swagman (wanderer) who drowns himself in the billabong (waterhole). A little rag time, a taste of calypso, a Spanish song with steel guitar, a Japanese work tune in classical guitar, some gospel, and a catchy West Indian counting song accompanied by ukulele and laughter add up to a good time for all. Some listeners may feel a dip in their energy part way through. Most CDs don't attempt twenty songs because it's difficult to sustain dynamics and variety for that amount, and this album falters only because it makes that attempt. The disc is slipped into a board book containing song notes and imaginative cartoon collages.