David Yearsley

In a just world, talent and its exercise should be duly rewarded, though Phineas professes to pursue the aims of art (the perfect song) over fame and fortune. Even the most cursory of listenings to this CD reveals how rich the author’s invention is, and one could be forgiven for jumping to the conclusion that the monkey is Cullinan’s alter ego. One hopes that the dumbo ears of Disney have not grown dumb to a genius of this caliber. Will the free market reward Cullinan for raising us up rather than dumbing things down? It rarely happens that way. But with compelling characters, glittering musical riches, and an abundant joy in song and dance, The Ballad of Phineas McBoof is the perfect gift, a CD whose covert mission is to educate children in music’s ethical and recreational powers and to do so with unbounded imagination and pleasure. Forget the banal Beethoven for Babies. The Ballad of Phineas McBoof is the musical primer of our times.