Songs from the Street: 35 Years of Music

This set certainly has remastered Sesame Street songs, but it isn't a collection that I would have gotten if I could have gotten a full track listing. I learned that Ladybug Picnic was on it and that led me to assume that certainly more "classic" Sesame staples would be included. (And this version of Ladybug Picnic is not the one I remember--and have found online) The set does include songs like Rubber Duckie and C is for Cookie, but totally misses the boat on too many others like the Rainy Day song(sorry, never did learn the proper titles for the songs). I'd hoped to buy a collection of songs that I could just play from beginning to end for my son. To be honest the good stuff from two CDs could have easily been put onto one. The thrid CD has songs from famous people visiting Sesame Street, a phenomenon where the show was suddenly flooded with too many famous people, so if you're looking for a collection of those songs then you won't be disappointed. All in all rating this is really difficult. Here are some of the classics, but not enough to justify purchase.

Like many other people in their 30s, I grew up watching Sesame Street and had a few Sesame Street records that I listened to back then. Now that I have two small kids, it's been a joy to watch Sesame Street with them, even if the show has changed a bit from those early days.

I got Songs From The Street ostensibly for my kids to listen to, but in truth it was really for myself. Old favorites like "Rubber Duckie" and "I Love Trash" bring back good memories. My kids, on the other hand, couldn't care less. Ernie and Oscar are still on the show, but they take second fiddle to stars like Elmo and Abby Cadabby these days. Besides, they don't want to /listen/ to Sesame Street, they want to /watch/ it. They'd rather listen to The Wiggles.

If my kids were to review it, they'd give it a 1-star rating, but I have a hard time rating anything with the original "Rubber Duckie" that low. But the collection only contains a few of those old favorites. Perhaps because of the lack of memorable songs in the later years, half of the collection consists of performances by special guests instead of great children's music. These guests range the gamut from Stevie Wonder to Steven Tyler, Tony Bennett to The Fugees, Johnny Cash to The Dixie Chicks. Their performances are interesting from a historical point of view, as in "Wow, Stevie Wonder singing on Sesame Street!", but there's nothing musically that really grabbed my attention.

The accompanying booklet is well done. It gives a brief history of the music of the show, and authored by one of the Sesame Street songwriters. It has black-and-white screencaps of many of the performances on the CD, particularly those with the celebrities. It's a nice touch, but doesn't overcome the compendium's shortcomings.

Songs From The Street represents a wonderful historical compilation of music from a great television program, but one that doesn't merit repeated listenings by either kids or adults. See if your local library has a copy and borrow it for a listen or two, but don't buy it.