About this Artist

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Editorial Reviews

For the earth-centric concept album THIS PRETTY PLANET, Tom Chapin has re-recorded the best of his green-themed tunes with guest stars and penned some new ones that fit right in. As always, Chapin's supremely witty tunes, cowritten with longtime collaborators John Forster, Michael Mark, and Jon Cobert, are rife with contagious melodies and sparkling wordplay. His guest performers shine as well -- gospel great Cissy Houston (mother of Whitney) duets with Chapin on a remake of his "Happy Earth Day," while the laugh-a-minute "Good Garbage," Chapin's tribute to biodegradability, benefits from the button accordion and fiddle of Cajun virtuoso Michael Doucet of Beausoleil. Chapin's albums are invariably a family affair, and here his daughters Abigail, Lily, and Jessica join in for the stop-and-smell-the-roses number "The Signs of Dawn," and brother Steve Chapin helps out with vocals on the new song "Passengers." Homage is paid to the next millennium (that's right, the next one) in "The Year 3000," a blues-washed question-and-answer tune that examines why we should keep Mother Earth healthy. The real showstopper, though, is "Two Kinds of Seagulls," an ingenious, very funny look at procreation, with guest vocals by none other than Dr. Ruth Westheimer. Not to worry -- there's nothing remotely inappropriate here, just clever observations on gender diversity in the animal kingdom, such as "There's two kinds of blackbirds, jillbirds and jackbirds/Jillbirds thrill jackbirds, and that's why there's blackbirds." Ever just toss a soda can in the garbage because you can't be bothered to lug it over to the recycle bin? You'll shape up right away after just one spin of this thoughtful, delightful album. Moira McCormick, Barnes & Noble

Customer Reviews

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• Ratings: 1Reviews: 1