Leeny and Steve – Be Nice (2008)
purchase this album (CD Baby)

Would you take career advice from a four-year-old?

That’s the question that faced Ilene “Leeny” Altman and Steve “Steve” Equi when Leeny’s nephew, Zak, asked for some new kids’ songs to go along with the ones she’d made up for fun. Not wanting to pass up a challenge, she called up her old college buddy Steve, and the freshly minted duo holed themselves up in his home studio to lay down tracks for what would become the 16 songs that make up Be Nice.

This album stands out in the 2008 kids’ music market because — interestingly enough — it actually sounds like an album for children. I’ve become something of an unintentional kids’ music connoisseur over the last several years, mainly because I acquired a couple pairs of junior-sized ears around the house, and as a result, I’ve been able to acquaint myself with the current crop of family-friendly releases from “grown-up” artists like They Might Be Giants and Barenaked Ladies. Once upon a time, children’s albums were built from downmarket parts — cheesy synths, dippy vocals, and humor that would make anyone over the age of eight groan in pain. That sort of thing has gone out of vogue in the last few years; the mini-revolution sparked by artists like Dan Zanes has prompted a wave of kiddie records that don’t sound appreciably different from anything a parent would buy. (more…)