Colours Are Brighter: Songs For Children And Grown Ups Too

If, as a parent, you are sick of the fact that "children's" albums seem to consist solely of muzak versions of nursery rhymes, and you'd secretly prefer to be playing the latest Killers album, then this should be top of your purchase list. It seems such a simple concept - get some of the country's top bands, ask them to write and record a song for children, and put out the resulting compilation for charity - that you wonder why it has taken until now to do it.

And what a fantastic bunch of songs they are too, a selection to please everyone from toddlers to 10-11 year olds, and equally importantly will keep parents happy that their offspring are listening to good quality music.

So we have silly sing-along songs (Four Tet, The Divine Comedy, Ivor Cutler); cautionary tales of the dangers of eating too many cakes (Franz Ferdinand) or not wearing correctly sized shoes (Half Man Half Biscuit); lullabies (Kathryn Williams); sad songs (Jonathan Richman); and songs to feed their imagination (Snow Patrol).

Each of the songs works well on a number of levels - Franz Ferdinand's hilarious contribution will also help with counting and maths, for example.

Special mention must be made of Belle and Sebastian's brilliant "The Monkeys are Breaking Out the Zoo". Apart from being the band responsible for pulling together the compilation, they have (for pre-school children at least) the outstanding track on the album, a wonderful sing-along with great sound effects.

In a perfect world, every child would get a copy in its Christmas stocking. So do your bit to make the world better and buy your child/niece/nephew/grandchild a copy.

British pop and rock stars, always conscious of their image, rare record Christmas songs and it is almost (but not quite) unheard-of for them to record children's music. Paul McCartney had a British top three hit with We all stand together, a song from an animated children's film, but it definitely damaged his reputation in some quarters. Remembering that, the idea of any British pop and rock stars recording an entire album of children's music seemed such a ludicrous idea that it never occurred to me that it could ever happen. Still, it's amazing what those same pop and rock stars will do for charity.

This album of children's music was recorded for a very good cause - the Save the Children Fund's special project (Rewrite the future) to provide much-needed education for children in countries affected by conflict such as Sudan, Angola, Uganda, Afghanistan and Nepal. I can think of plenty of other countries that could be added to that list, but those are the one named in the booklet that comes with the CD. (Cynics might say that the arguments over Iraq mean that Britain and America are countries affected by conflict but I somehow don't think we count.)

I have to confess my ignorance when it comes to the music that these artists normally record but from the overall sound, I suspect that the music here reflects their normal styles except that the lyrics were written for children. If you're familiar with the normal music of the featured artists, your choice of favorite tracks may be influenced to some extent by who your favorite artists are. Being completely ignorant of such music, I'll nominate my favorites as The monkeys are breaking out the zoo (Belle and Sebastian), Mud (Ivor Cutler trio), The big ol' bug is the new baby now (Flaming Lips) and I am an astronaut (Snow Patrol).

This was a very brave effort that deserved to sell in huge quantities but I don't think it did. Despite the cause, it was just too way off the mainstream for most people. I've always been a very curious person, forever on the lookout for something different. As children's music goes, this is certainly different.

for your kids, this should be it!!

We've never played our kids tapes or CDs of nursery songs as to be honest it would drive me nuts. So we listen to the beach boys, the killers, kings of leon etc. but we wanted something a little more approachable and so we bought the colours are brighter from a recommendation.

We ALL love it! My husband is very happy that I will finally allow my kids to listen to half man half biscuit. My boys know that they are listening to good music but it's about baking cakes, sore feet and our favourite - the Pooh (Winnie the...) song!

Gotta buy it! Go on! Your kids will love it I promise!