Various - The Bottle Let Me Down: Songs for Bumpy Wagon Rides

Some kids' records perch themselves atop an anti-Barney platform in the name of parental palatability, others reach out with artist recognition.
But The Bottle Let Me Down: Songs for Bumpy Wagon Rides goes one better, reversing the whole premise so that parents, for an entire 26-track album, fully reclaim their listening rights. So what if ''Rubber Ducky,'' ''On Top of Spaghetti,'' ''The Three Billy Goats Gruff,'' and ''Señor El Gato'' are among the song titles--this is music meant to celebrate Mom and Dad's last remaining shreds of coolness, from the retro-inspired jewel case to the alt-country acts' indie credibility. Alejandro Escovedo laments hitting the big One-O (''Candy just doesn't taste as good anymore'') on ''Sad & Dreamy''; Rosie Flores sends 'em flocking to the speakers with first track ''Red, Red Robin''; Robbie Fulks feels the pain of ''Godfrey,'' the sickly unemployed amateur children's magician; and the Cornell Hurd Band makes a compelling case for napkin use with ''Don't Wipe Your Face on Your Shirt.''
Also weighing in on such subjects as funky butts, the difficulty of being green, and weasels, beans, frogs, and dogs are Devil in a Woodpile, Rex Hobart & the Misery Boys, and Split Lip Rayfield. Granted, grownups with R&B, jazz, or rock leanings won't get as much mileage out of this CD as those who sniff the twang in song titles like ''Hinky Dinky Dee'' and like the aroma, but there's no denying its down-home, keep-it-real musicianship--everything from Dobros to duckies do their part. If ever there was a record for musically deprived parents, this is it.
Slip it in and show them, for 45 minutes if not once and for all, who's in the driver's seat.
--Tammy La Gorce

Tracklist:
1. Red, Red, Robin - Rosie Flores
2. Senor El Gato - Kelly Hogan
3. Hinky Dinky Dee - One Riot One Ranger
4. Big 1-0 - Alejandro Escovedo 5. Godfrey - Robbie Fulks
6. Camptown Races
7. Down In The Arkansas - Jim & Jennie
8. Don't Wipe Your Faces On Your Shirt - Cornell Hurd
9. Snowball - Handsome Family
10. On Top Of Spaghetti - Jane Baxter Miller
11. I Am My Own Grandpa - Asylum Street Spankers
12. It's Not Easy Being Green - Rex Hobart
13. Cartoon Chicken
14. Three Billy Goats Gruff - Carolyn Mark
15. Three Little Fishes - Jon Rauhouse
16. Crazy Dazy - Chris Ligon
17. The Weasel, The Bean. - Split Lip Rayfield
18. The Fox - Waco Brothers
19. Cheese, Peas. - Nora O'Connor
20. Turkey In The Straw
21. Funky Butt - Devil In A Woodpile
22. Crawdad Song - The Meat Purveyors
23. Down On The Farm - Kim Lenz
24. Little Red Riding Hood - Freakwater
25. Rubber Duckie - Kelly Hogan
26. Lullaby - Trailer Bride