Tunes From Tarrytown

Tunes from Tarrytown doesn't exactly set the tarmac on fire musically, but with every song extracted from the gentle PBS series, it'll put the pipes of fans in action from the opening spin, and provide preschoolers with a clutch of ready-for-takeoff social skills tucked under their wings. Sure, songs like "Following the Leader" and "Digadeezip"--in fact, the bulk of these 22 songs--issue from what sounds like a revolving cast of stuffed-up 6-year-olds, but there's no denying their propeller-shaking peppiness and sky-high spirit ("I'm gonna mix these colors and make them fly / It's just like living in a coloring book," exclaims Snuffy, the runt of the fleet, on "My Rainbow World"). Even songs on subjects that might normally induce dizzying dips in altitude--"You Are Unique" reminds Jay Jay that "you're anything but plain, little plane," and "Together Is a Better Way to Be" tackles cooperation--help kids soar with their boosting self-confident spirit. "Bubblegum Friend," the harmonica-heavy gem of the record, captures the vibe best: everybody, not just a fleet of anthropomorphic flying machines, wants a bubblegum, or a boomerang, or a yo-yo friend--the kind that keeps coming back, no matter what. For preschoolers just learning to navigate the friend-filled skies, Jay Jay's Tarrytown tunes present a zingy, encouraging training course. --Tammy La Gorce