So it’s a full year after the release of The Nursery Rhyme Collection – 33 Musicians Create A Masterpiece (Volume 1 & 2) and what a successful year it’s been. Since its conception in 2008, it’s 9 months in the making (just like having a baby) and its release on September 4th 2009 the album has gone on from strength to strength meeting and indeed smashing all expectations.
Distribution of the hardcopy album now happens in Germany, France and USA as well as the UK with all markets growing week by week and new ones being sought. Digital downloads of the album grow continuously even though this is still an up and coming medium with respect to children’s music. The public reviews of the album are just fantastic and have simply blown us away hitting upon every one of my initial conceived targets and ideas and all in all this has generated a very promising and pleasing start to this particular ‘little baby’s’ life.
It seems that the frustrations I had as a new father wanting to give my own child good music to listen to and not just run of the mill computer generated rubbish I kept purchasing time and time again are the very same frustrations other parents and grand parents have too. Deciding to create something of my own of absolutely top quality to the note to fill that obvious gap in the market was definitely the right card to play albeit a very ambitious one and the gap has been plugged perfectly. The afore mentioned reviews reflect this high quality with many comments on the fact that the premium price of the product is easily justified by the quality and quantity of the contents; some mentioning the fact that you get the full nursery rhyme and not just a snippet as per other products available today. Most encouraging are the reviews discussing the fact that the adults who bought our product for a child actually want to keep it for themselves as they enjoy the many styles and influences contained and can appreciate the high production and beautiful renditions of tunes they know so well from their own childhood; this reflects uncannily the original sleeve notes that say just that; I wanted the product to be something the adult could ‘put up with’ having to listen to over again. Well it seems as that particular goal has been scored well and truly square in the back of the net as they actually do enjoy it. In some cases reviews even state that they play it in the car to the children and then find themselves listening to it the next day on the way to work without the children present and just not wanting to turn it off in the house when the kids have gone to bed, etc. Wonderful that it has struck the right chord with these people who I will never even meet but it gives them pleasure; it’s a nice feeling as one of the creators to get this type of feedback
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The arrangements in the music were really thought through from the very start and were designed to inspire children to listen intently, get the tune quickly, sing along and even get the bug for performing music, of course we’ll never know if that actually works but what I can say for definite is that it has worked perfectly for my own first child Dominic (that the album was originally produced for) who is now three years old and knows the tracks so well and has even taken to bashing away on my very valuable vintage Ludwig drum kit and my youngest Alistair who already at one year old can swing and sway with the best of them to these tunes!
So what are we doing to celebrate this milestone year? Well we have decided to release some very nice and informational high quality videos on Youtube, Facebook and our own Nursery Rhymes blog that look at the songs individually and contain interviews with myself as the Producer and the many talented musicians who took the time to perform on the tracks and give their hearts, souls and personalities to the music defining the vast array of feels and styles that make up this album and keep the 70 (yes seventy) tracks from sounding monotonous. They all duly turned up once more to a remote location and sat in front of a very intimidating professional film crew who interviewed them about their parts on the albums. Films on each track and each musician will be released giving an intriguing insight into the making of this album and the people involved. Some of them have fun with the medium and jokingly poke fun at the project and me and their illustrious Producer, some speak intently about how honoured they were to be invited to take part but most importantly each and every one talks fondly and openly about their involvement with the album and their experiences at Comfy Towers Recording Studios whilst recording their parts and a mood of genuine love and passion for the project is most certainly conveyed to the audience.
My good friend and colleague Mike “Wilbury” Doering and I have also set down a plan and schedule to have the ‘next baby’ starting October 2010 and create the next two Volumes of The Nursery Rhyme Collection; another double album of equivalent exceptional quality. There are many more children’s tracks and fun music to perform in a plethora of varying styles and genres and it would be a criminal offence in my opinion not to do this after such a great reception to the first two volumes. So to add to the four sections of Volume 1 & 2’s Time To Dance, Time To Play, Time To Learn and Time To Sleep we will tackle four more; Time To Travel; favourite Children’s tracks from around the world, Time To Laugh, Time to Act and Time to Relax, or at least that’s the plan, but let’s see where it takes us! Again my partners on the project will be involved at core level including the talents of Mike Wilbury, Rebecca Leivers, Ian Cunningham and Gary Holmes and many of the other key musicians involved have shown great interest in being part of the mix once more including Pete Bradbury, Mat Williams, Mark Sansom, Brian Hudson plus John Raynor of the Billy Fury Story and Danny Gould of My Mate Kate. Other musicians and bands that have crossed my path at Comfy Towers during the last year have also shown enthusiasm for being involved too, notably an Oasis Tribute Band called Ohasis, a Lily Allen tribute called Smile, Nottingham’s’ Paper Lace and the one and only Jess Conrad from early sixties fame. There will be a couple of new original tracks as per the first album too so it looks an immensely exciting prospect to take on once more. We hope to have the album available by May or June 2011.
If this is the first you’ve heard of this collection of Nursery Rhymes and Children’s songs then please take a look at our website www.nursery-rhymes-collection.com to listen to free samples of each track and see the videos or check out the album on www.amazon.co.uk www.amazon.de www.amazon.com or www.amazon.fr. The album and individual tracks can also be downloaded on digital download outlets worldwide including Apple iTunes, Amazon MP3 plus many more (just search for “singalongasong band“).
It makes me immensely proud to talk about this album, like any father…
Ian Watts
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