Thomas Starks Kids MusicChildren's Music Reviews & Lyrics

Brother Bear Soundtrack

I’ve wanted to find an excuse to review Phil Collins for children’s music for ages. My son loves Phil Collins. He’s listened to all his albums; and he has watched the video of the final tour more than he’s seen the Wiggles. In fact after about a year of hearing him almost all day, almost every day (that must have been several thousand times) I did have to temporarily direct his attention to other things to save my sanity.

I found a free music download of an album in the kids genre created by Phil Collins and composer Mark Mancina. It is the soundtrack for the 2003 Disney film Brother Bear. They have previously collaborated in 1999 and won an Academy award for the Disney animated Tarzan film soundtrack. Some critics panned the pair’s effort in Brother Bear as being too similar to the Tarzan soundtrack. Well I have only heard one Tarzan song You’ll be in My Heart sung live by Phil on tour; and I’d assumed it was from the 1984 movie Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes. Ok, I was wrong there. But at least I’m listening to this album with no preconceptions.

To me, some of Brother Bear, the score and symphony tracks, remind me of music from Avatar, with its Native American sounding flutes and chanting. The album feels very tender and moving. The score – Three Brothers goes from fragile and delicate, to aggressive and relentless, like an enemy is coming; and then the third part is filled with the song of heart-wrenching tribal voices slowly fading away.

No Way Out sung by Collins appears on the album in two versions; the track called Transformation also appears in two versions. Transformation could easily have been on any of his pop albums. It has that fusion of world music and pop that both Phil Collins and Peter Gabriel do so well. Both versions of the track however are incredibly short, just over two minutes. Phil’s track Look Through My Eyes is a dramatic lovely song with an unusual chord arrangement. I know the track No Way Out because I’ve heard it sung by Collins live in the past. I’m not sure if I prefer the theme version or the Phil version better as they are so similar. On My Way is the most toddler-friendly song. It is a really upbeat, sing a long song with a nice repetitive chorus and simple lyrics. To give you a taste of the album, I’ve included a video of Phil Collins and his band performing it live:

My child rating for the album is, for a three year old, not high. My kid was not paying it much attention, instead clambering on the couch, turning lights on and off and throwing cushions at me. Normally with Phil Collins, the boy plays his bongo drums for hours. I think it would be a good album to play to a pregnant belly and to an infant as part of that classical music is good for a baby’s brain theory; and also for older kids for music appreciation. It’s just not something a child will be likely to sing along to and therefore not the best for an energetic preschooler.