KIDS CORNER

A Fab Four

A children's choir singing Beatles tunes? "All Together Now" offers winning renditions of moptop classics. Plus a clever baby's journal, an Alice Hoffman novel, and a surprising DVD suggestion

CD/BOOK

All Together Now - VARIOUS ARTISTS (LITTLE MONSTER)

(available exclusively at Barnes & Noble or at bn.com until its wide release next year)

Even with the recent spate of hip musical offerings for tots, the very idea of a Beatles tribute album performed by a children's choir is enough to make classic-rock diehards and Gen-X parents sputter "Hello, Goodbye" in unison. Yet this thoroughly winsome 11-song CD, produced by indie-rock tunesmith Kevin Salem, has enough spark and sass to make John Lennon proud. (Lest we forget, the late Beatle enlisted the Harlem Community Choir to provide cooing vocal support for that holiday chestnut "Happy Xmas [War Is Over].")

Besides recruiting a bracingly saccharine-free kids' quartet, Salem tapped a passel of alt-rock vets (Marshall Crenshaw, Steve Conte of the New York Dolls) and up-and-comers (Rachael Yamagata, Jason Lytle of Grandaddy). The young 'uns sing out with verve on "Hello, Goodbye" and "Birthday"; elsewhere, Susanna Hoffs and the re-formed Bangles inject a tangy tartness into "Good Day Sunshine," and Yamagata's throaty near-whisper adds a wistful overlay to George Harrison's exquisite "Here Comes the Sun."

Replete with chunky percussion and gently burbling keyboards, the brawny but unobtrusive arrangements hew closely to the original orchestrations - but kid-friendly flourishes (barnyard animals on "Birthday," handclaps on "Good Day Sunshine") juice up the proceedings while evoking the Fabs' sonic experimentation. If only the accompanying booklet of poems matched the album's pizzazz: A better producer than versifier, Salem slips into clichéd homilies like "a frown's just a smile upside down." Such clunkiness is more than offset, however, by the captivating illustrations. As an educational bonus, the book offers up bite size info nuggets on the Liverpool lads (i.e., The foursome first called themselves the Quarrymen, after Lennon's high school). Minor caveats aside, this "Magical Mystery Tour" might just be your moptops' ticket to ride. A