On a Starry Night

The party line on most Windham Hill products seems to be that it\'s either the greatest stuff since wave machines, or that it all sounds alike. On a Starry Night, with its collection of world songs and reputable artists such as Flora Purim, Airto Moreira, the Turtle Island String Quartet, and others, does lean toward a seamlessly understated, homogeneous quality that is broken only occasionally by Bobby McFerrin\'s piece and a couple of others. That said, there can hardly be a more mellow or sonorous album of kid\'s music anywhere. Starry Night could calm a nursery with no nurses; why, it could even soothe the pained yelps at the dog pound--and turn a freeway full of bumper-to-bumper sour pusses into pussycats. Effective? You\'ve heard of mind control, haven\'t you? --Martin Keller (Amazon)