AMG Review of Evergreen Everblue

William Ruhlmann
All Music Guide

Although Raffi had touched on environmental issues before in his children's songs, notably the popular "Baby Beluga," his 1990 album Evergreen Everblue was a full-blown work of musical advocacy in which he sang one song after another extolling the natural world and occasionally decrying its despoliation. This was not the music for young children his earlier work addressed. Especially when he was complaining about human pollution in songs like "What's the Matter with Us" and "We Are Not Alone," with its references to contamination and nuclear waste, the tone was well beyond the understanding, not to mention the vocabulary, of youngsters. But Raffi kept the music, folk-based with elements of pop, rock, and reggae, as engaging as ever, and his message, if slightly more grown-up, remained essentially simple. The 20th anniversary edition of the album adds two bonus tracks, "SustainABILITY" and "Cool It," the latter a rockabilly number with some good barrelhouse piano.