The monkeys are breaking out of the zoo!

Yes, they are: at least, after Belle & Sebastian's Mick Cooke decided to get together with some other groups such as The Flaming Lips and Snow Patrol (whose Gary Lightbody "is an astronaut", covering Marty Wilde) to put together the children's record Colours are Brighter.

Having been unable to find a place for "The Monkeys are Breaking Out of the Zoo" ("where are the monkeys? They're skipping down the street!") on Belle & Sebastian's last record, it's been put together with a group of songs for children and adults that include Franz Ferdinand's Jackie Jackson - which is about a boy who eats cakes until he bursts ("he'd stopped eating cakes, but only because he'd run out of cakes"). Kind of a public health warning (kinda appropriate given Scotland's expanding waistline).

The Divine Comedy, taking a different tack, have put together a medley of excerpts from AA Milne's Winnie the Pooh. Four Tet's "Go Go Ninja Dinosaur" is immense (download via the Colours are Brighter website).

And the best bit of it - the proceeds are to go to Save the Children's Rewrite the Future Campaign, which plans to provide education for children in areas caught in conflict and warfare.

You can buy the record via the colours are brighter website, where you can also listen to some of the tracks being streamed; you can also play a game based on monkeys escaping the zoo (addictive), and download a colouring sheet. Given that I have yet to finish the Roman Army colouring book that I bought last year, I think that I'll hang on for that one.

The myspace page is here.

You can buy the record from play.com, amazon.co.uk, and a handful of tracks are available from itunes UK. US buyers can get an import from amazon.com. It's great, and it's a worthy cause, so get a copy today!


Track listing:

1. Four Tet featuring Princess Watermelon - Go Go Ninja Dinosaur
2. Rasputina - A Skeleton Bang
3. Franz Ferdinand - Jackie Jackson
4. Snow Patrol - I am an Astronaut
5. The Divine Comedy - Three Cheers For Pooh, Cottleston Pie, Piglet Ho
6. The Kooks - The King & I
7. Half Man Half Biscuit - David Wainwright's Feet
8. The Barcelona Pavilion - Tidy Up Tidy Up
9. Jonathan Richman - Our Dog is Getting Older Now
10. Ivor Cutler Trio - Mud
11. Belle and Sebastian - The Monkeys are Breaking Out the Zoo
12. The Flaming Lips - The Big Ol' Bug Is The New Baby Now
13. Kathryn Williams - Night Baking