Ralph’s World

Ralph Covert & the Bad Examples are one of those great bar bands that few people outside of Chicago have heard. So it’s funny that Covert, as Ralph’s World, is making a much larger mark as a kid’s music act, recording for the kiddie division of the vaunted indie-pop label Minty Fresh (the Cardigans, Veruca Salt, et al.). Here Covert, who will appear locally at two Borders Books outlets, has made a really fun They Might Be Giants record without the smirking irony on this, his second kiddie effort. From weaving outlaw bikers and existentialism into “Itsy Bitsy Spider” to covering The Banana Splits theme and Sinatra’s “Fly Me to the Moon” to reworking the Robert Johnson/Elmore James gutbucket chestnut “Dust My Broom” as “Clean My Room” to such sparkling originals as “The Coffee Song,” Covert has made a smart album that doesn’t talk to kids like they’re future consumers.