Ziggy Marley.  Family Time.  Tuff Gong, 2009.

Nate:  He sounds like his dad.

Me:  Yeah.  But I guess there were people who didn’t know he existed before this album.

Nate:  Really?

Me:  Apparently.  According to blog comments, anyway.  (mock surprise)  “I didn’t know Bob Marley had a son!  …who makes music!” ^[1]

Nate:  I mean, he was around a lot in the 90s.  Not that I can remember any of his songs…

Me:  Um…yeah.

Ziggy Marley, welcome to your moment.  Your moment in this decade, I mean.  Wait, he’s been making competent-yet-unspectacular music all this time?  Okay then…  Ziggy Marley, welcome to your moment to shine in this decade.  Does that work for everyone?  Anyone?

This is a great album that grew on me with each listen.  It’s not a kids’ album.  As you, clever reader, may have gathered from the title, it’s of the Dan Zanes family music variety.  In a Boston Globe inverview, Marley actually credits Zanes for changing his view of music for kids and families.  He says, “It’s not about lollipops and ice cream or being silly and goofy.  It’s about family and joining in the music together as a family.”

Unfortunately, his remarks in the interview perpetuate the all-too-common, typically under-informed, cringe-worthy dismissal of all music created with kids as the main audience.  But we won’t hold it against him.  I guess.

Highlights:  While there are noteworthy contributors on some of the tracks (Toots Hibbert, Willie Nelson, and Paul Simon to name a few), those aren’t the songs that impress me most.

• “Family Time” – The opener is the strongest track, but not in a top-heavy sort of way; the rest of the album is not to be outweighed.  It’s more of a tone-setter.  Irie, unifying, celebratory.  No smoking required.  Oh, and his daughter Judah sings adorably on the track.
• “Ziggy Says” – It’s Simon says without the gotcha! aspect, although the pace is such that you’d practically have to have the song memorized to play along.  When this track was playing, Nate said, “I kind of like this.” That is a sizeable compliment, coming from him.
• “ABC” – An abecedarian repurposing of “Bend Down Low.”  U, V, and W, for example, stand for unity, variety, and the world.  And Z…well, I don’t want to spoil it.

Weak spots:  The last two tracks, narrated by Jamie Lee Curtis, don’t work for me.  I understand including Marley’s poem, “My Helping Hands,” but wouldn’t it be a better fit if it was…I don’t know…turned into a song?  And regardless of how much it fits with the tone and messages of the album, having Curtis read Is There Really a Human Race? is just plain out of place.

Let’s not end on that note, though, because the album is really good.  If you want to explore the contemporary incarnation of reggae with your kids, this is it. ^[2]

other reviews:
About.com Children’s Music | Dadnabbit

^[1] Of course, he had a few other kids, but let’s leave it at that.

^[2] If you want to go for more classic reggae, whatever you do, don’t get Reggae for Kids (unless you prefer “reggaefied kids [sic] classics” to originals with kid appeal).  After screen-listening to half of it, I decided it would be more productive to get a copy of Legend.  Another possibility might be Putumayo’s Reggae Playground, but I haven’t heard it personally.

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