United Parent Publications

"Attack of the Twerps"

July 2000
by John Wood

Fact: Sometimes reviewers are twerps. Not your common garden variety either. Case in point: I've had a CD patiently sitting in my office since early December 1999, screaming to be reviewed, called Old Mr. Mackle Hackle by a fellow named Gunnar Madsen. The cover shows him dressed as a farmer, holding a chicken in one hand, with a slightly demented look on his face that should have reeled me in right away because, as we all know, I am a tad skewed. But nooo! I just prodded it, turned it over, read the song list, and delegated it to the stack of "once touched." Exasperated, my cat Smudge sat on the CD and wouldn't budge until I listed to it.

Well, you guessed it: the album's a blast. Great energy, clever lyrics, top-notch musicianship and most important, a sense of fun. Madsen is a co-creator of the internationally acclaimed a capella group The Bobs, so his musical chops are impeccable. The opening song, "Summertime is Here" kicks things off with superb Beatlesque harmonies. Then there's "Chicken Road," where everything and everyone is a chicken. My favorite lines: There's chickens rich and chickens poor/There's a chicken who looks like Lesley Gore.

There are a couple of songs about dinosaurs, "Born to Chew (We Eat Meat)" and a Wagnerian take called "The Dinosaur Song." But my favorite is "I'm a Little Twerp," a paean to little brothers (and reviewers sometimes). "I am passionate about creating music for children that treats them with respect, that both meets them at their level and challenges them to stretch their hearts and minds," Madsen says. And is also tons of fun. Catch you on the flip side.