Music
Press
This North Alabama collective of music pros turns in a great collection of songs for the whole family, from Beatles-influenced pop tunes to down-and-dirty Tennessee River R&B. Members of Tangerine Tambourine have played in Decatur, AL-area bands like Girlfriend Voice, Toy Shop, The Carnaby Loafers, Cobra Jet, The Whitey Herzogs, Sunday Best, The Bishop Black Band, and Subteriffic Chug-A-Lug.
Meet Tangerine Tambourine!
Tangerine Tambourine's core members, Jeff Sharp, Jamie Pressnell, Bobby Blount, Josh Lovvorn, and Whitney Inscho, have been performing together since 2008. The band are supported on their debut album by Jeremy Braswell, Mark Horton (who records as J. Crown), Tasha Jones, Mike Kilpatrick, and Subteriffic Chug-A-Lug alumni Alan King on sax and David "Super Dave" Ward on percussion.
The horn section is shored up by out-of-towner session guy Satish. The album was mastered by Motown veteran Bob Ohlsson, and mixed by Greg Thompson, who worked on They Might Be Giants' recent GRAMMY winner Here Come the 123s.
The Music of Tangerine Tambourine
Tangerine Tambourine kicks off with the Muscle Shoals-powered R&B shouter "Doing the Math," complete with a double dutch chant breakdown. Then comes the Fab Four-inspired "Mix It Up," a tune about combining favorite foods that channels both The Beatles' "All You Need is Love" and George Harrison's "Crackerbox Palace." And "The ABCs" is pretty much exactly how The Ramones would play the alphabet song.
The food lover's tune "Bananas (Plum Crazy)" is reminiscent of a laid-back Sublime song, while the Celtic-flavored "In the Morning" features lots of onomatopoeias and an anthemic, Oasis-like chorus. And the highlight of "Go Go Gorilla," a rockin' Chicago blues call-and-response tune, is the blistering harmonica work by Jeremy Braswell.
Accordions and ukuleles abound in "Mailman," a tune describing the heroic perseverance of postal workers. "My Shadow" would've fit right in on the Jungle Book soundtrack with its world music rhythms, and "Shake It Up" is a twangy Elvis tribute, a la "Teddy Bear."
More Music from Tangerine Tambourine
One of the highlights of Tangerine Tambourine is definitely "Radio," a song about the joy of hearing your favorite ditty play over the airwaves, a tune that has Contemporary Country Hit written all over it. "Clean Up Your Act" is a Reggae-fied bathtime jam, while "Spit It Out" describes every parent's battle with orally fixated toddlers, via "stuck in your head" power pop.
"Hey Saturday!" is another sunny pop gem, this time celebrating the awesomeness of the weekend (listen for the melody of "A Day in the Life" sneaking into the bridge); while the wistful, waltzing "Swing Swang Swung" is reminiscent of the McCartney/Costello duet "You Want Her Too" from Flowers in the Dirt.
If you could still flip albums over, Side 1 of Tangerine Tambourine ends with a short, funky loop called "Banjo Rock," while Side 2 ends with a sweet, show-ending ukulele farewell, both invoking the band's name. That's right, Tangerine Tambourine is bringing back old school self-shoutouts, circa 1987!
The Verdict
Tangerine Tambourine's self-titled debut kids' album is a solid collection that makes you wish for a quick follow-up: on the strength of songs like "Radio," "Hey Saturday!" and "Swing Swang Swung," Tangerine Tambourine's second effort promises to be a children's music chart-topper.
Released June 9, 2009; Science Fair Records
- Warren Truitt, About.com
Discography
Lp - Tangerine Tambourine
2009 on Science Fair
"Mix It Up" has been played on Saturday Morning Cereal Bowl
Photos
Bio
I've been playing in bands and writing songs since middle school, so when my daughter was born I made up a few silly little ditties about taking a bath, crawling, eating fruit, etc. to see how she would respond to music. One day my wife said, "When are you going to record these so we have music to listen to in the car? Your songs are better than the ones on @$%&*!'s" (a famous purple dinosaur who will go unnamed). I asked my friend Josh if he was interested and we started recording. It turns out that Josh's old college buddy, Bobby, had written a few really cool tunes for his 2-year old son and wanted to join in. My obvious choice for a drummer was James (Jimmy P) with whom I've been playing music with for over 20 years - touring with Fishbone as a rock band, opening for the Drive-By Truckers as a rap group and comprising the rhythm section for 15-piece funk outfit. Local musicians started dropping by the studio to sing or play after it got out how much fun we were having - most notably Whitney Inscho, whom has become our lead singer. The sessions consisted of goofing off, drinking root beer, playing instruments we normally didn't play and discussing what music we loved as kids. The bands that kept coming up were : Elvis, James Brown, Ray Stevens, Chuck Berry, Stevie Wonder, The Coasters, the Cars and of course, The Beatles. From the first gig we've noticed that playing for children is cool because they're more likely to dance and have fun than older crowds. We've also enjoyed helping the community by playing shows for children with special needs, foster homes,Toys For Tots and the United Way. The live show has basically transformed into a "Flaming Lips-for-the whole family" type event with ballons, hula hoops, bubbles and homemade maracas for every child made from recycled water bottles and beans....it's a blast!
Links
