Los Kidz Bop CD

The resurfacing of the concept of a compilation of recent hit songs recorded not by the original artists but by a coterie of session singers and musicians is a bizarre development in the pop world, but, if you're this album's target age of around ten years old you probably won't be able to tell the difference between the retreads and the real thing. Plus the artists on KIDZ BOP articulate better than the originals, so you can actually hear the words, sometimes for the first time.

The album starts out promisingly with a game version of Smash Mouth's "All Star" complete, as are most of these cuts, with kiddie chorus, while Britney Spears' "Oops...I Did it Again" is similarly perky, despite seemingly being sung by her (considerably) older sister. On the other hand, Len's "Steal My Sunshine" is sung completely by kids, which leads to a few bizarre moments in the talkover segments ("what do you think she got up to last night?" is just plain weird when spoken by a ten-year-old). The kiddie version here of Eiffel 65's "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" is probably better than the original, and "Livin' La Vida Loca" is a hoot, its surf guitar giving the track a Hawaii Five-O flavor.

Audio Mixer: David Gervai.

Recording information: Tribeca Recording.