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REVIEWS
 GulfAlive
Grammy
Nominated - Best
Children's Album, 2012
-----
Winner
of the Creative Child Magazine - 2011
PREFERRED CHOICE AWARD
From Kidzmusic.com
GulfAlive – Celebrating Gulf Creatures & Features,
The Banana Plant, The Banana Plant LLC., 2010; $9.95 CD, Coloring Book
$4.95, Together $13.95; www.thebananaplant.com
<http://www.thebananaplant.com/> . “A
celebration and
exultation of the myriad and diverse wildlife and sea-life that inhabit
the Gulf – a jambalaya of musical styles enrich the
edutainment value, and, a portion of sales benefit the Gulf Coast
restoration. A win-win.” John
Wood, Kidzmusic.com
From The Muse's Muse
CD REVIEW:The Banana Plant - Gulf Alive
By Don Sechelski - 12/30/2010 - 12:26 PM EST
Artist: The Banana Plant
Album: Gulf Alive
Website: http://www.thebananaplant.com
Genre: Children's (ages 5-13)
Technical Grade: 9/10
Production/Musicianship Grade: 9/10
CD Review: "The
Banana
Plant, a
children’s entertainment group from New Orleans, has released
a
CD of children’s songs called Gulf Alive. This esoteric
collection of songs hopes to raise awareness about the diverse life
that exists in the gulf region. The Banana Plant consists of Gwen
Torres and Sid Berger. The songs they’ve created for this CD
range from lilting Cajun waltzes to growling New Orleans funk.
Accessible melodies make it easy to sing along pretty quickly and the
lyrics are both fun and informative. Titles like Everything Starts With
Plankton and Every Drop of Water let you know that there is some
teaching going on but Torres and Berger manage to avoid sounding
pedantic with their lively performances and catchy melodies. Gulf Alive
is a fun and entertaining way to introduce the diversity of life to
primary age students and it’s also a pleasant listening
experience for parents, win/win. Its release is timely with the gulf
area under increasing pressure from oil and commercial development."
From
Home Education Magazine's unschooling.com
3/24/13
"Gulf
Alive is a Louisiana Gulf themed CD, with ten songs about birds,
cooking, marine life, and other gulf related topics. The music is
upbeat and fun, and covers genres from jazz and rock, to Creole.
"My
daughters really enjoyed all of the songs. The lyrics were all very
easy to understand, which enabled them to sing along while they danced.
"My 7
year old said “The songs are great. It teaches me a lot of
cool stuff. My favorite songs are Green Anole, and Everything Starts
with Plankton.”
"It’s
a great CD, which has quickly become a favorite in our house.
Review
submitted by HEM reader Limor Hendricks
Treasure Swamp -A Pop Opera
The Banana
Plant Expertly Mixes Music,
Environmentalism On New LP
By: Phillip Sayblack, WNCT-TV
Good morning, everyone. I hope your day is going well. I've got one
more new review to share with you this morning. Today, I've got another
new music review. This time it comes courtesy of The Banana Plant and
the Reel Reviews Music Department. Today's
new review focuses on a release that mixes music and environmentalism
in a way that entertains and influences rather than preaches. Its
simplicity and fun make even an animated take on the record seem
feasible. Without any further ado, I offer for your consideration dear
readers, The Banana Plant with "Treasure
Swamp: A Pop Opera."
Typically, when one thinks of children’s music, one
doesn’t generally think of the
likes of The Banana Plant. This Grammy nominated company recently
released its sophomore release, Treasure
Swamp: A Pop Opera. And for
anyone that is looking for something away from the typical sing-a-long
songs records that so many kids’ records are known for being,
this new release is exactly that.
Treasure
Swamp: A Pop Opera is a kids’ record. But
it’s also a record that promotes environmental awareness
without being preachy. This record boasts music from across the pop
spectrum. There’s some pop, rock, blues, and even a touch of
Zydeco, too. The different musical genres aren’t just tossed
across the record, either. Each one is used to
help identify the
story’s different characters. It’s a musical style
somewhat along the lines of the famed opus, Peter and The Wolf. For
instance, the evil pirate and his monkey sidekick are identified with
some really “mean” sounding guitars whenever he
comes in. Not only does the music help to identify certain characters,
they expertly set each scene,
letting audiences know the emotion of the characters. One of the best
examples of that is in the song, ‘Swamp Land.’
Petey and Pattie Possum solemnly sing of their pledge to defend the
swamp against the evil, greedy pirate. The response by Petey and
Pattie’s friends in ‘Plan A’ gives an
immediate sense of urgency and optimism at the same time. By
comparison, ‘Running Out of Ideas Blues’ does the
job complete with an alligator that sounds strangely like jazz legend
Louis Armstrong. This balance of music and lyrics will keep both kids
and adults alike listening to find out what happens with the swamp and
its
inhabitants throughout the course of the near hour long story. The
whole thing has a happy ending.
And audiences will laugh when they discover what happens to the evil
pirate.
Treasure
Swamp: A Pop Opera is a wonderful piece of music both
for kids and adults due to its overall construction. That it ties in a
message of conservation without being preachy makes the record all the
better. Far too often kids’ records are made with a very
obvious intent. In the case of this release, audiences aren’t
being preached to. Rather, they are being given an important message
and being entertained at the same time. Neither the entertainment nor
the message of ecological preservation outweighs the other, making it
out to be one fun record for the whole family.
The balance of music with an environmental message is expertly executed
with this album. The combination makes it a family friendly release.
What makes it even better is that as expertly as it is executed, it
could just as easily be translated into a visual format. It would be
interesting to see this piece turned into a short, straight-to-DVD
animated feature. That makes Treasure
Swamp: A Pop Opera even better
and more enjoyable. One can only see if an animated companion piece
will be made from it. In the meantime, audiences can pick up the album
in stores and online at http://www.thebananaplant.com/. Audiences can
also follow all the latest from The Banana Plant at
http://www.thebananaplant.com and http://twitter.com/bananaplantsong.
By: Phillip
Sayblack, formerly of WNCT-TV
Treasure
Swamp: A Pop Opera
(Independent)
01
March 2013 — by David Kuniank OffBeat Magazine
The
Banana Plant is the brainchild of Gwynn Torres and Sid Berger,
musicians and producers of the Grammy-nominated album Gulf
Alive, a “children’s” introduction to the
animals and culture of the
Gulf of Mexico. Their new record continues the saga of animal tales
in the Gulf region. This one focuses on the swamp with two themes:
a love story between two possums, and a battle between them and
other bayou critters including a raccoon, an owl, a beaver and others
who face off with a bad pirate who wants to drain the swamp in
pursuit of Jean Lafitte’s treasure. A kidnapping leads to the
possums almost being eaten before
an army of insects buzzes in to save the day. Children will love the
storyline and the voices
portraying the characters. There’s also a great variety of
song types with love ballads, ominous
grungy marches, jazz tunes, blues numbers, sing-along anthems and a
Cajun cut or two,
thereby introducing children to different forms of Louisiana music.
Adults will be entertained
also, but occasionally the opera sounds too cutesy and the use of
computerized instruments
can sound claustrophobic. Still, this record serves well as an art
piece for children to be
exposed to the concepts of nature, the animal world, music and
teamwork. And the overall
message of good triumphing over evil is substantial enough to stick,
yet not so emphasized
that it overwhelms everything else.
David
Kuniank OffBeat Magazine
From
Home Education Magazine's unschooling.com
3/29/13
Ok
so when I think of Opera I think of The Phantom of the Opera. I think
of people on stage singing in extravagant costumes that remind me of
the renaissance. When I was given the opportunity to review Treasure
Swamp Pop Opera I really didn’t know what to expect. I
thought what is it going to sound like is it going to be any good? Let
me just tell you I was pleasantly surprised. It was created by the same
people who were nominated for a Grammy in 2011 for Best
Children’s Album Gulf Alive.
Let
me start out by saying that this pop opera has over five different
types of music throughout it. As a lover of all music I think that is
great especially since I’m playing it for my kids and this
give them the opportunity to experience all different types of music.
Since I homeschool this provides some great teaching moments.
Ok so
now this pop opera is about swamp animals. Yes you heard right. It is
an opera sung by “swamp animals” who are fighting
for their community. It is sung by raccoons, frogs, a pirate, and some
possums plus many more animals all singing. Now this is all so great
for any child’s imagination, it even has sparked my
imagination. Can you imagine a chorus of frogs on a log singing?
So I
would recommend this to anyone with children. Your older children may
not admit they like it. But I’m sure children of any age will
enjoy this CD.
If
you visit their site you can listen to samples of the CD. You also can
buy the CD here. So go check them out listen to some samples buy there
CD and Enjoy.
Review
submitted by HEM reader Kayleigh Withers
© 2010 The Banana Plant LLC. All rights reserved.
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