Joe Scruggs: Joe's First Video

Joe Scruggs is a gifted musician who creates songs for children. But since the term "music video" seems to carry a negative connotation, let us simply say that this is one of the best children's videos we've ever seen, period. The tape is comprised of nine infectious tunes set to visuals that equal MTV in sheer technical quality while far outshining them in the brains and creativity departments. Puppet animation, live action, claymation, and other special effects are brilliantly used with such winning songs as "By the Way" (which examines the extraordinary demands that children make on mom--and she invariably meets), "What Do They Do With the Children?" (which asks, from a child's imaginative point of view, what happens if you stray from your mother in, for instance, the grocery store), "In the Freezer" (in which a sibling pair can't bear to part with their snowman, and therefore house him in the freezer--until the morally disturbing problem of not enough room for the ice cream crops up), and "Skateboard" (in which a son buys his mother the perfect present, and she hangs ten into a cast, but remains chipper throughout), among others. I, for one, will certainly be on the lookout for Joe's second video. Highly recommended. (Available from: Shadow Play Records & Video, P.O. Box 180476, Austin, TX 78718.)