Musical Mystery Machines
Ken Whiteley
Pyramid Records
1997
14 tracks

When I was a child, there was a popular folk song about a marvelous toy. In his latest release, it seems that Ken Whiteley has reinvented that toy and put it to good use as a tool for education and entertainment. In fact, one of Whiteley's songs (A Circle & a Ball & a Box & a Square) even sounds a lot like "The Marvelous Toy," that marvelous Tom Paxton song.

I don't know how well the songs on Ken Whiteley's CD would go over with the intellectuals at the local folk club, but an audience at the neighbourhood day-care or kindergarten is sure to give rave reviews to Musical Mystery Machines. This is a clever Bill Nye (the science guy) meets Eric Nagler (of Sharon, Lois and Bram fame) concoction of solid early learning and just plain fun.

While featuring a lot of the Caribbean and folk sounds preferred by many Canadian children's artists, this release has a smattering of klesmer, country, fifty's rock, so-called classic rock, blues, Sesame Street style pop, and Chuck Berry. This broad base of musical styles, while no more than a teaser, can certainly serve to enhance the learning experience provided by the interesting approach to science presented here.

It should be noted that cuts 8 (A Circle & a Ball & a Box & a Square) and 9 (Tools Are Cool) are listed on the liner in reverse order to that in which they play.

Even better for those parents with children at home, there is much more than music on this CD. Musical Mystery Machines includes a very clever interactive CD-ROM section chock full with scientific knowledge presented in the form of games and fun exercises. The CD-ROM is included in versions for Macintosh, Windows 3.1, and Windows 95, so it should work for all but those with the oldest computers.

Musical Mystery Machines promises to provide hours of positive, productive fun for the young and the young at heart.

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