Award-winning family music entertainer Greg Lato is scheduled to release his latest album, Adults These Days Friday through his own company, Greg Lato Music. The 9-song record will come roughly three years after the release of his then latest album, Create My Won World (2020). It will appeal equally to children and parents, thanks in large part to its featured musical arrangements. This will be discussed shortly. The lyrical content that accompanies the record’s music arrangements is also important to that widespread appeal and will be discussed a little later. The sequencing of that content rounds out the most important of the record’s items, bringing everything full circle, completing the record’s presentation. It will also be examined later. Each item noted is important in its own way to the whole of the album’s presentation. All things considered they make Adults These Days yet another of the year’s top new family music albums.
Adults These Days, the latest album from Greg Lato, is another successful offering from the veteran family music entertainer. Its success comes in part through its featured musical arrangements. The arrangements in question are a blend of sounds and styles that bridge the 80s and early 90s. Right from the record’s outset, audiences get a clearly pop rock style arrangement in ‘New Lunchbox.’ The guitar and the use of the keyboards and electronics immediately lend the arrangement to comparison to Chumbawumba’s hit single ‘Tub Thumper’ to a point. On another level, it also takes audiences a little bit farther back to another hit single from the late 80s from another well-known act. On a completely different note, ‘Everybody Needs Someone’ takes audiences in a completely different direction, instead offering more of a pop style approach a la Fountains of Wayne. Yes, it’s true. As if that variance is not enough, Lato’s semi-spoken word approach in the verses of ‘What Kind of Animal Would You Be?’ can just as easily be compared to David Byrne’s vocal delivery style in Talking Heads’ timeless song, ‘Once In A Lifetime.’ Whether Lato actually set out to come across in such fashion is anyone’s guess, but the comparison is there, regardless, and it is a really cool comparison. It is just one more example of the diversity in the musical content featured in Adults These Days. When all of the diversity shown here is considered along with the rest of the album’s musical content, the whole of that content makes for reason enough for audiences to hear the album.
Of course, the musical content that is featured throughout this record is just part of what makes it appealing. The lyrical content that accompanies the record’s musical body makes for its own interest. That is because it is diverse in its own right. Case in point for instance is the noted song, ‘Everybody Needs Someone.’ While Lato is obviously addressing his younger audiences, his reminder here that it is OK to ask for and to accept help will resonate with grown-ups just as much as with children. To that end, this theme is one that will resonate with so many audiences, regardless of age.
The album’s title track is another interesting example of the importance of its lyrical content. The very title, ‘Adults These Days’ immediately leads one to think that the song is going to be sung, perhaps, from the vantage point of a child who is frustrated about adults’ behavior. That is the case to a point, but not entirely. The child here wonders why adults are so serious about everything and why it seems so hard for them to get along. The child sings that he/she doesn’t “want to be an adult these days.” Therein is the message. It is a child who is appreciating his/her youth and related innocence. Children will hear this and remember that they are better off to a point as kids. Adults meanwhile will perhaps remember that maybe they need to take a look in the mirror and recall how they became who and what they are. Again, here is a very deep message presented on a level that is accessible to everyone and just as certain to generate plenty of discussion.
On yet another note, Lato gets philosophical in ‘What Kind of Animal Would You Be?’ The song sounds intriguing just from its title (yet again) and becomes even more intriguing through its lyrical content. In the case here, Lato asks listeners what kind of animals they would be while also comparing them to humans. He asks his young listeners for instance if they would be like a giraffe and stretch their necks out high or use them to look down on the world. That in itself is pretty clear what he is saying. He also asks whether listeners would be like deer, looking dead into headlights or look the other way, making their own paths. That is another interesting discussion point. Now the one questionable comparison that he makes is that to a parrot swooping down to steal someone’s food or just eating pellets as told in a cage. That one is sure to lead to its own share of discussion considering there is no real right answer there. Considering this, the song’s overall theme here is another unique presentation in its own right now just here but in the bigger picture of family music. To that end, it is yet another solid example of what makes the album’s overall lyrical content so important to its presentation. When the overall lyrical content is considered along with the album’s musical arrangements, the whole of that content forms a solid foundation for Lato’s new album.
The foundation in question is strengthened even more when the sequencing thereof is considered along with that material. The sequencing keeps the sounds and styles in the album’s musical arrangements changing just enough from one song to the next throughout the album. In the process, the album’s energy remains just stable enough. The result is that this aspect ensures listeners’ engagement and entertainment in itself. When the sequencing is considered alongside the content, the whole completes the album’s presentation, showing once more why the album is so appealing and even more why the album is another of the year’s best new family music albums.
Adults These Days, the latest album from Greg Lato, is an impressive new offering from the veteran family music entertainer. The record’s success is due in no small part to its musical content. The content will take grown-ups back to the mid to late 80s and even early 90s, with the styles and sounds changing from one song to the next. The lyrical themes that accompany the album’s musical content vary just enough yet are just as accessible as the album’s musical content. The sequencing of that content rounds out the record’s most important items as it brings everything full circle. Each item examined is important in its own way to the whole of the album’s body. All things considered they make the album one more of the year’s top new family music offerings.
Adults These Days is scheduled for release Friday. More information on the record is available along with all of Greg Lato’s latest news at:
Website: https://greglato.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greglatomusic
Twitter: https://twitter.com/greglatomusic
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