AMG Review of Baby's Storytime [Video]

William Ruhlmann
All Music Guide

Arlo Guthrie seems like an ideal candidate to make a children's album, not only because he is the son of Woody Guthrie, whose biggest selling records were children's records, but also because he got his start reciting the fanciful and amusing "Alice's Restaurant." Baby's Storytime is somewhat closer to his storytelling background than to his father's music. Guthrie recites 15 children's stories, providing accompanying background music on a synthesizer, but not breaking into song, except on the alphabetic "Apple Pie" and "The House That Jack Built," both of which are only semi-sung, if not just rhythmically spoken. Guthrie doesn't stray from the official versions of these fairy tales, sticking to the accounts of barnyard animals menaced by wolves and foxes who tend to be rescued by parent-like characters. He does adopt different voices for the characters, with some obvious editing to get the voices in. This is a traditional presentation of time-honored material that should entertain small children, even as their parents, hearing Guthrie's distinctive voice, are reminded of his other stories for grownups.