New York, NY (Top40 Charts/ Tree House 10 Official Website) - Former members of The Hillside Singers, famous for the '70s smash hit, "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing," based on the Coca-Cola theme, have set their sights on composing and singing for kids with their new children's CD released by Oniram Music, Bug in a Puddle. Recording under the group name Treehouse 10, four former Hillside Singers members - songwriters/musicians and siblings Frank
Sebastian Marino,
Joelle Marino McDermott,
Laura Marino and Bill Marino - and family friend Michael Chabler, have written and recorded an album filled with beautifully high-spirited, creative and poetic original songs that will delight both kids and parents.
Leading off the album is the infectious "There's a Beat," about a child's discovery of the rhythms that can be found in nature and living in each of us. The song sets the tone for the rest of the CD, which embraces the child's spirit and stirs the imagination with images of flying through the air and with an array of colorful characters. Other songs feature a tap-dancing frog ironically named Red; the adventures of a man overwhelmed by his cats (all 29 of them); a Hippo Lake, where monkeys can't sleep from the noise; and a bug wondering about the universe. The exuberant "Happy-Go-Lucky Go Merry-Go-Round," written by the siblings' father, Sev Frank Marino, a theme writer and guitarist with the "Tonight Show" with both Jack Paar and Johnny Carson, evokes the feeling of being on a carousel ride.
The album closes with a lullaby about the beauty of the lights at night, written by the siblings' mother, Sophia (Billie) Marino, for a child who was afraid of the dark.
The album's production was truly a family affair. Youngest sibling, Karen Marino Panica, is also a songwriter on Bug in a Puddle. Other family members performing on the CD are Joelle Marino McDermott's children: singer/songwriter and musician Garth Michael McDermott (whose songs have been heard on major network television shows including CBS's "How I Met Your Mother") and Meghan McDermott Friedland and Celene McDermott, both of whom are lead singers and also featured on piano. Nephew Andrew Panica is the graphic designer of Bug in a Puddle's 12-page lyric booklet.
Michael Chabler, lyricist of six of the eleven songs on the album, says: "We want this music to inspire children to have a sensitivity to the world around them and to grow their imaginations, without being didactic." Chabler is featured vocalist on the title track and the CD's cover artist. The album was finished shortly after his son was born. Laura Marino adds: "On the musical side, we aimed at composing the songs so that they were both melodically and harmonically interesting to help develop the child's musical ear."
The CD was recorded and mixed at Sync Sound in New York by Bill Marino, an Emmy Award-winning engineer and producer.
Bug in a Puddle is available on Amazon.com, CD Baby.com and iTunes. For more information, visit www.treehouse10.com.
