Yee Ha - Happy Gang (The)

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Definitely a cut above the rest
Lyrics	Thought-provoking
Quality and consistency of tracks	A couple of weak links
Value for Money	Good

Advantages:	Excellent romping cowboy themed music for children under ten .
Disadvantages:	Won't appeal to all ages but has a pretty long shelf life .   Some songs quite repetitive .

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

The Happy Gang,s "Yee-Ha" Song Collection, on CD.

Available to buy, live from Happy Gang tours with tapes starting at £6.99 and CD's at £9.99. This is where we bought Cherith's. However, they are available much cheaper in the shop, with tapes from just £2.99 and CD's from £4.99. I 've also seen some on e-bay with a starting price of just £1.

For those of you out there who don't know who or what The Happy Gang are, therefore probably don't have kids, I will tell you! They are a singing sensation made up of two men and a women, much like the Singing Kettle, and originated in Scotland, Edinburgh to be exact.
They tour Scotland and now Englang too. Each stage show is usually themed with anything from a Christmas theme, to a medieval theme to a wild west theme like this one, hence the name - Yee-Ha! Each show is accompanied by a tape or CD but compilation tapes and CDs have also been made with more generalised favourite songs.
This CD in question has eighteen songs in total on it, and lasts just over one hour.It is perfect for listening along with your child as you can sing and do the actions together. Even if you haven't seen the Happy Gang live, this will not spoil the enjoyment of this CD. The songs are fairly easy to catch onto as they tend to be quite repetitive in nature but spicy with enough of a twist to keep children enjoying them.
The songs especially these ones on the Wild West CD have a nice beat in the background which will keep your little ones toes a tapping!
This CD is also good for childrens parties, as many of the children will know the songs and enjoy singing and dancing along. This CD is particularly excellent for this purpose, as there are so many well loved songs on it, such as The Hokey Cokey!

Again as this particular compilation is quite rowdy, it's probably not the best to listen to at bedtime! Saying that my child has listened to it as she has been falling asleep, well supposedly! - And it hasn't kept her awake too much!!

The songs:
- The Happy Gang theme ; This usually kicks off every CD compilation, and is of course their theme music. A nice familiar start for children of a young age.
- The Hokey Cokey ; This well loved song is sung beatifully with a fierce steady beat in the background. Children and adults alike will love dancing to this one.
- The Cowboy Way ; This is a lovely little number with a very easy corus. The verses are quite hard in this song, so my daughter and I usually dance or do actions during the verse then join in the chorus.
- Little Red Wagon ; Another song which will generate lots of whooping and shouting ! With a great rhythm and real catchy tune, you'll be exhausted at the end of this one!
- B.I.N.G.O ; A nice well known song that most children will be able to join in with. In a good position, after a couple of songs the children may not have known. This will lift their spirits and confidence that they know and can join in this one!
- All On the Way To School ; This one is sang to a well known tune, and so in parts, especially the chorus, it's easy to join in with.
- Git Along Li'l Doggies ; A nice tune this one, but sung with a strong western accent. My daughter had trouble saying a lot of the words, but then again she had loads of fun trying, and I had tons of laughs watching and listening!
- Jennifer Jellybelly's song! ; Named after one of the charectors in the performance, this song is sung mostly by her. A good one though, very funny lyrics!
- Rock 'n' Roll Band ; This one wavers away from the Wild West theme, but is a refreshing addition to the compilation, giving your child a different tempo and rhythm to move to. Quite hard to sing along with this one!
- This Way, That Way ; Another well known tune is used for this song with these alternate words. They are very easy to learn, and even the youngest child could join in with this. The actions are fairly straight forward too.
- Sleepy Teepee ; As the title tells, this is a nice relaxing song, which tends to calm things right down, and babies tend to nod off to sleep during! Nice addition here.
- Barnyard Song ; This is a crazy fast paced action packed song which is very easy to sing along to and the actions are easy too. This is one of my daughters favourites on this CD.
- The Kazoo Song ; Always well loved. My daughter loves the funny sound the kazoo makes and enjoys singing along. This song is quite fast though, so at times she will just listen and move to the beat, but enjoys this emensely too!
- Yankee Doodle Doo ; A great one to dance too, but never seems to last long enough! We always end up playing this one twice!!
- Billy Bighair's Song ; A bit of a tounge twister to sing but kids usually have fun trying, however smaller ones tend to get frustrated!
- Bruce the Kung fu Kangaroo ; A very modern song with an Aisian Twist. Another favourite of Cheriths, because of the funny lyrics.
- Skip to my Lou / Commin round the mountain ; A nice medely to finish this one. quite sooting at bed time!

I would definately recommend this CD to mums and dads who have children under six. It could be suitable for children older than that, but for older children I would recommend listening to it first before buying it.
Also, If you haven't seen The Happy Gang Live, i would definately recommend doing so!
Michelle