When the daughter of PAPA SNOW reached out to me to check out her Dad’s new JUNIOR JUKEBOX Volume 1, I was intrigued. Aimed at reaching a niche audience within the family music realm, JUNIOR JUKEBOX presents a ten track collection of 70% traditional songs revamped ”in the style of” famous acts from the 50s, 60s, and 70s. While the aim is there, unfortunately… Papa Snow misses.
The most important factor to me is if my daughter enjoys an album, and JUNIOR JUKEBOX just doesn’t elicit much of a response at all.
Perhaps it’s the opening performance of Rockabye Baby (lyrically, never a nice song IMO) in the style of Fat’s Domino that sets things off on the wrong foot. It’s just not very inviting, and it sounds more like a parody than a tribute. There’s better songs here, particularly the original tunes by Michael “Papa” Snow, but even those borrow sonic stylings. Self-defeating of concept, I think the biggest problem with JUNIOR JUKEBOX Volume 1 is it’s lack of an original voice in presenting songs that we’ve heard many times before.
While I appreciate and respect the effort put forth by Snow and his collaborators, JUNIOR JUKEBOX Volume 1 will likely hold more appeal for Grandparents and certain Parents than it will for their children.
PAPA SNOW’s JUNIOR JUKEBOX Volume 1 is available at http://www.papasnowmusic.com
The Rock Father Rating: 2.5 out of 5 Stars
FTC Disclosure: A copy of the PAPA SNOW album was provided to The Rock Father™ for review consideration.
