Product Review: Gustafer Yellowgold’s Year in the Day CD/DVD Combo (2012)‏ (All Ages)

“Dr Seuss Meets ‘Yellow Submarine’!” – The New York Times

I wanted to share this CD/DVD Combo with my daughter as soon as I learned about it (Hello, Cool Mom Picks blog) and I was persistent in this desire. I was getting this product! I have a huge wish list of music for Brooke and this was on the top of my list. Eighteen dollars may not sound like a lot, but it really can be for us. But, this CD/DVD combo is so worth it. First of all this ‘musical storybook’ follows the sun-drop looking Gustafer Yellowgold from his former Sun-Planet to the woodlands in Minnesota. Minnesota? Yes, that’s where he ended up and is trying to learn the Earth customs in a year with his own Yellowgold take. After all, a sun drop from Sun-Planet may have a hard time figuring out why we hide Easter Eggs and why a bunny is so excited to be part of the tradition. Children’s music and art go hand-in-hand and the visuals are so appealing and bizarrely beautiful that I wanted to watch it as an adult! I also loved that the lyrics are nicely displayed on each music video because it was great to follow. The concept is what makes this musical album and video DVD combo so fun and hilarious for our kids, but it’s the musical talent and beautiful, genuine art! I can’t completely describe the musical style of this album because it is so different on each song: soft rock, pop, crazy guitar solos circa 1970 to even acoustic performance. In any event, you will never be bored and I have to truly appreciate kid’s music as being a stepping stone into excellent musical taste as an adult. Our favorite music video was ‘Fireworks’ which is focused on the 4th of July that has Gustafer jumping high into the air as the air fills with blasts of color. It was lovely and Brooke loved it. I was really proud in that moment. You know, I was the kid who checked out Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band just to hear ‘A Day in the Life’ by the Beatles (on cassette tape, mind you) over and over for an entire year in 3^rd grade. Yes, good music appreciation starts early and kid’s music is not a throw away genre, it’s a gateway to your musical genre of choice.

It wasn’t just the changing of the seasons and the combination of learning about American holidays through the eyes of Gustafer Yellowgold’s ‘Year in the Day’ that makes this a Momma’s Bacon pick, it was also the great cast of musicians I was delighted to hear: John Munson (Semisonic and Trip Shakespeare,) Robert DiPietro (Norah Jones) and Robert Jost (Bjork), to name a few. Singer and illustrator, Morgan Taylor (also originally from Ohio, so you know I claim all Ohioans as comrades), has a pretty impressive background in his own right. He has opened for the Smithereens, Bob Dylan, Guided by Voices (Ohio!) and Wilco. These are clearly not kindie musicians, so why was Morgan so excited to bring his Gustafer character to life? It really came together in 2005 when Morgan won the Grand Prize in the Children’s Category of the John Lennon Songwriting Contest from the track “Mint Green Bee” from Gustafer Yellowgold’s Wide Wild World. I am definitely looking forward to more of Morgan’s albums and since he and his wife (who have a son, Harvey) created their own production company, I think Mr. Yellowgold is here to stay!

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