Colonel Purple Turtle Review and Giveaway

In tribute to their friendship of more than 20 years, Northern Virginia’s premier power trio for children – Rocknoceros – celebrates friends everywhere with the release of its fourth studio CD and first-ever kid-friendly concept album, Colonel Purple Turtle, on September 13. Within the context of exceptionally beautiful music, the album offers lessons in science and lessons in life. Sharing the stage with the music of Rocknoceros is a 24-page book, Colonel Purple Turtle’s Purple Turtle Journal, packed with imaginative artwork that depicts, in gorgeous colors, all of the whimsical characters celebrated on the CD. Taken together, the book and the CD should offer hours of enchantment to any child.

As almost every family with youngsters in the Washington, DC area knows, Rocknoceros (pronounced like rhinoceros) is three guys: Coach Cotton, Williebob, and Boogie Woogie Bennie. The theme of Colonel Purple Turtle is one of friendship, a subject close to the hearts of the Rocknoceros bandmates, who have been best friends since they were children. Colonel Purple Turtle reflects their abiding trust in each other and their desire to share a message of camaraderie through song and story.

With an astounding variety of musical styles, sounds, and compositional devices, the world of a mythical reptilian Colonel and his friends in their make-believe home of Soggy Bog comes alive on Colonel Purple Turtle. this album offers energetic music that is never raucous, reflective music that is never boring, and interactive music that does not patronize children. Above all, Colonel Purple Turtle exposes kids to a world of musical tone color that goes far beyond the industrial gray of electric guitars, synthesizer keyboard, and drums. On this recording, small ears are opened up to the colorful nuance of a violin-viola-cello string ensemble, the harmonic language of jazz, the velvety blend of a barbershop quartet, the rhythmic complexity and vitality of Latin music, the antique sound of a recorder ensemble, and the relaxed style of finger-picking acoustic guitar, in addition to the driving energy of rock and roll. This great musical variety is not an end in itself, but, rather, is put to the task of relating allegorical tales that convey the message that knowing how to be a friend is an important part of life. Beyond the theme of friendship, the album’s songs delve into such scientific topics as echolocation, the power of the sun, and the life cycle of ladybugs. Colonel Purple Turtle can be enjoyed and appreciated on many levels. It is fun and silly, festooned with colorfully descriptive language, word play, and humor, yet, at the same time quite serious and truthful. Taken individually, all the components of this album — the singing, the playing, the musical form of the pieces, the vivid contrasts — represent the highest production values, yet they never call attention to themselves, and neither the telling nor the message of the story is ever obscured.

With her illustrations for Colonel Purple Turtle’s Purple Turtle Journal, Missy Sheldrake has created a classic work of art for children. All the characters are nestled in the cozy environment of Soggy Bog leading lives of purposeful activity. Taken individually, the Soggy Bog residents are quite different from one another, yet they all operate from a position of immense respect for those differences as they work together to preserve their world.

What We Thought:

Just because you've probably never heard of "Rocknoceros" before today does not mean that that shouldn't become a well-known name in your family's house! Some CD's we listen to at home, other in the car. I decided we'd try this one out in the car. We've had a lot of fun listening to this cd on our trips the past 2 weeks! The music is easy to listen to and I know that Maggie loves that this CD has songs about lots of different animals. We especially loved the song, "Harry Elefante"--it will make you just wanna dance. We also really liked "Pirate Harvey" which is about a pirate cat.  The songs are sure to excite your children!

We also received the companion hardback book to read.  It was so fun to see all of our favorite characters come in print! Maggie got to see what Pirate Harvey and Harry Elefante looked like! We've really enjoyed reading this book together at bed time!

Buy It!
Colonel Purple Turtle will be available at rocknoceros.com, amazon.com, cdbaby.com, and iTunes. The colorfully illustrated companion book, Colonel Purple Turtle’s Purple Turtle Journal will be available at rocknoceros.com, both individually and as a specially priced package with the Colonel Purple Turtle CD.

Win It!

One lucky blog reader will win their own  copy of this CD and book! Just fill out the easy entry form below! Good luck!