Caspar Babypants aka Chris Ballew, front man of The Presidents of the Unites States of America, releases his third studio album This Is Fun! consisting of 20 tracks including a cover of Nirvana’s Sliver accompanied by former Nirvana Bassist Krist Novoselic.

The album is a great cross between your average kids show music like The Wiggles or Yo Gabba Gabba and it ranges from music for the sake of playing and music with a folksy message at its core. Really CB does a fantastic job of highlighting some of the songs on the album with enough personality that they sound inspired by The Beach Boys, The Beatles, and a handful of other bands. Not a complete imitation, just subtle little instruments tossed in for brief moments at a time that suggest outside influence. While I enjoyed the album for the most part though it does seem like it runs a bit long though it’s run time is only 46:47. Some tracks feel like they have no direction, no educational value or narration and maybe an acoustic guitar will become monotonous because of this or Ballew’s voice will seem flat. I listened to the album about five times and each time I found something I really loved or found that one song I favored over another really sound flat in comparison. Its really that kind of album that gives you something new each time you listen to it and, lets be honest, depending on what company your keeping when you listen to it. My first listen I was alone in the car and thought that the album lacked that quality to it that would suggest it’s a kids album and then the second time with my wife in the car both of us were like eh. Finally with my nephew in the car and the way in which he was enjoying the songs all that changed up. My kids think I’m weird for listening to the album so many times but they never ask me to turn it off.

All together fans of The Presidents should get a kick out of the album and find that it really caters to them as well as their kids with the storytelling narrative behind some songs and the simple silliness of others. Moderation seemed to be the key for me though. The only song that I really disliked on the album was the Nirvana cover. It just seemed a little blah to me. Still others may love it. As always final judgment is yours. Enjoy.