Review - Cbeebies The Album

There are a few numbers that, as parents, seem to have magical properties.  Take the number five for example.  If I want my children to help tidy up the man-made (or rather, child-made) sea of mess and chaos, or do some other sort of task, all I have to do is count to five (for some parents this magic number may be three).  More often than not, whatever it is I want my children to do, will be done by the time I've reached that number.

Likewise, if my children are being rowdy, restless or having an all-out, scream-the-house-down tantrum, the number 71 has calming properties.  It can quieten them and sometimes even succeeds in raising a smile or two.

Magic.

Cbeebies - channel 71 on Freeview - is one of those essential tools every parent needs in their armoury, a 'weapon of mass distraction' if you will.  Don't get me wrong, I don't let Sophia or Dexter sit in front of the television all day every day, but it can be useful to switch on when the children start getting crabby, to distract them from whatever's making them moody (usually each other) and lifting the mood.  Both Sophia and Dexter have their own favourite programmes which they love to watch and will even sing and dance along to the theme tunes.

So I can't tell you how excited I was when a copy of the new Cbeebies CD album dropped through my letterbox.  I know, sad right?  A grown woman getting het up about a compilation album of tunes associated with a television channel aimed at small children.  But, if you're a parent reading this then I bet you understand.  Well, I hope you understand, otherwise I'm looking like a bit of a weirdo right about now.

Anyway, on with the review...

I was pleased to see that Sophia and Dexter appeared to be as excited as I was when they laid eyes on the album.  They eagerly agreed to playing it straight away and it was at this point I discovered a new 'magic number' - the number 19.

Track number 19 on disc one of the Cbeebies album is the theme tune to Tree Fu Tom.  I made the somewhat rookie mistake of exclaiming that Tree Fu Tom was included.  Sophia, upon hearing this revelation, demanded at once to listen to it.  I am happy to report that much dancing and cheerfulness ensued.

The Cbeebies album is a 2-disc, 50 track affair.  It's packed full of songs from popular programmes like Rastamouse, Baby Jake, Mike the Knight and all the Justin Fletcher shows, as well as the Cbeebies presenter songs.  In fact, the one thing I'm slightly disappointed about is the complete lack of number raps.  They are ace and also useful to help a small child learn about numbers.  But, I know there's only a limited amount of space on CDs and to include everything would be impossible.  I reckon in that case, there could well be a 'volume two' coming out at some point.

Despite the huge amount of songs on the album, Sophia, Dexter and I have only listened to a small handful.  They tend to have their favourites and stick to them.  But the important thing is that they love it.  I can definitely see the album coming in handy on long car journeys; it'll make a welcome change from singing 'The Wheels on the Bus' a gazillion times over at least!

The album is out now to buy for around £7.99 from most online retailers.  One word of warning though, don't allow your child unlimited use of the album.  While I'm sure they would enjoy it, the endless playing of the Cbeebies jingles and songs risks you, the parent, being sent slowly round the bend when the tunes get stuck in your head! 

But, until you're sent absolutely doolally by it all, I'd recommend heeding the words of Chris and Pui and "Show me, show me...your groovy moves!"

Please note: I was sent a copy of this album for the purposes of writing this review.  All opinions are, as always, 100% honest.