Sunday Review: Parenthood Soundtrack

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To enter to win a copy of the Parenthood Soundtrack CD, please leave a comment at the end of this post!  Also, please make sure you're a Facebook fan of mine so I'll be able to contact you! If you don't have a FB account, that's cool -- just make sure there's some way for me to contact you in your comment!

Inexplicably, some publicity people asked me to review the recently-released soundtrack to the television show Parenthood.  I was pretty sure they had the wrong blog.  I mean, I'm not exactly Rolling Stone.  The closest I have come so far to reviewing music is explaining how I've spent the last nine years brainwashing my kids into liking good music, by which I mean music I like.

Anyway, these Parenthood people asked if I wanted a free copy of the CD to listen to and review.  So of course I was all, sure! Plus can I have an extra one to give away? Because I love free stuff and I figure you do too.  I haven't bought a new CD in ages; I just keep downloading music to my iPod $1.29 at a time.  And it's definitely time for some fresh tunes.  My kids get very fixated on certain songs and if I have to listen to Willie Nelson sing "On the Road Again" one more time, I'm going to ram my van into the next Texas Roadhouse restaurant I drive past.

Also, the show Parenthood has done quite a bit to raise awareness about Asperger Syndrome, so there's at least a tenuous tie-in to this blog. At first I figured maybe they Googled "Asperger blog," but then I tried that and I wasn't on the first five pages, so I got bored and stopped looking.  Then I realized that my statcounter allows me to see what people are Googling to find me.

It. Is. Disturbing.

People are freaks.  Also, I feel kind of bad for Judge Reinhold.  Also, why is someone Googling "Halloween costumes for people over 65"?  Do older people need their own special costumes?  Is there some Activities Coordinator in a nursing home somewhere, forcing the residents to dress up?  And how the hell does that search bring you to my blog?  There's a concept in blogging called Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and if you're good at it, it will drive more traffic to your blog.  I either totally suck at it, or I'm awesome at it; I have no idea which.

So I have no idea how the publicity people found me.  But they did, and I listened to the music, and the CD is awesome.  It totally made me feel like a grown-up and made me miss WXPN in Philadelphia terribly.  The radio stations here in Houston are totally awesome, assuming you want to listen to country, gospel, mariachi, or Classic Southern Rock.  The Classic Southern Rock one is okay for about 20 minutes, and then I've had enough Lynyrd Skynyrd and ZZ Top to last me for another month or so.

There were even a few songs on the Parenthood soundtrack that the kids loved.  However, the kids felt that most of the songs were "too serious," "kinda sad," and "a bummer."  Thus, they left the room and I was left to listen to adult alt-rock by myself in peace for a while.  CD win.

I'd like to take this moment to apologize to the people who sent me the CD.  I'm sure this is not the review they were envisioning.  Unless they actually read my blog.  Then it is exactly the review they were envisioning. In which case, success!  Otherwise, I'm sorry.  

The artists on the album include Bob Dylan, Wilco, Ray Lamontagne, Corinne Bailey Rae, and Amos Lee.  You can listen to clips of all the songs at ParenthoodTVSoundtrack.  My favorite song off the album is "Kick Drum Heart" by The Avett Brothers.