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		CD Review - Monkey Business Reprinted from December 2005 Issue -by REBECCA PACKARD Monkey Business by Eric Herman and the Invisible Band. For parents who’ve always wanted to get more kids’ music, but aren’t sure they can handle more high-pitched cutesy songs and super-sweet lyrics, Monkey Business (the latest album by Eric Herman and the Invisible Band) should be a real treat. The songs on Monkey Business are highly original, but the lyrics are similar in spirit to Disney films and Jon Scieszka books (like The Math Curse and Science Verse): they use both simple and sophisticated humor that appeals to both parents and kids. The music often reflects rock influences, and when it’s a bit more traditional, it’s generally fun without getting too campy. This CD also has the added bonus of inspiring more than listening. In an age of computer games and television, it can be hard to get children to just listen to music, but songs like In the Box, Blackbeard, Bluebeard and Redbeard and Bounce and Flap and Twist all lend themselves to activities like cleaning up, mixing colors, and, well, bouncing, flapping, and twisting. But the CD works well for listening too. A lot of the music cleverly alludes to various types of pop, whether it’s psychedelic 60s tunes, British 80s pop, or glam rock ballad, and almost all of it works. I can’t say I got the robot song—does it allude to 20th century atonality?—but I consider myself lucky if there’s only one odd song on an album. The lyrics are often funny enough to make adults laugh out loud. Every part is performed well, and the album ends both strongly and softly with The Hero of Your Dreams and Rest Easy Now. The Hero of Your Dreams combines warm, slightly scoopy vocals with some beautiful folk-classical sounding guitar and violin. The lyrics weave a fairytale story that encourages children to be the hero of their own dreams in a way that’s subtly encouraging personal courage rather than personal vanity. Rest Easy Now effectively tells the child the world is going to sleep, a bit like Good Night Moon, brings in gentle harmonies in the chorus, and ties the whole album together by including characters from previous songs. If you don’t want to commit to the album without hearing a song or two, go to www.erichermanmusic.com for a list of internet sites where you can download a song for just $.99. I love the way Monkey Business works as an album, but any of the activity songs and lullaby songs would also work well on their own. For those who love kids’ music or those who need a good song or two to convince them, this Monkey Business shouldn’t be missed.