This is a colourful album. So colourful, I thought it was a children's piece because the cover is full of balloons and kids wearing rabbit suits and a man in a big red suit with striped socks and a crown on his head singing at the top of his lungs on a floating green chair.

Excuse me for being mistaken. At first the songs appear haphazard and quirky. At a second listen they still do, but pieces of them gather together to stay in your mind. The music is all well done, the production great, and Joel Kraft has a very pleasing voice. I'm left trying to catch what's gong on here, and the more I look there's more to see. However, growing up is a strong theme of the songs, and the music is filled with a verve and wonder that comes directly from the spirit of childhood. The lyrics are often bright, but there's often a dark thread that tugs at your consciousness.

The closest musical description is a cross between the Beatles' "Yellow Submarine" and Simon & Garfunkle. "Eow" begins softly like S&G's "Sounds of Silence" but soon ranges into a heavy dirge about the end of the world. The music is smart and arranged in good form.

There are wonderful lyrics on many levels, especially with such cool descriptions as "...and the music of feet / on a butter-yellow seat / of a blonde Cadillac / by a barn-red shack."

Delicious flavours are shared in the chorus of "Catalpas," "with plum and coconut delight." The phrase repeats and you practically taste this song.

Other splendid visions bring you to a place. In "Hymn for Sal" we "wander down / to the steelyards and bottom grounds / where the docks of downtown / press the river / and it's an uncertain space / where girders and iron braces / like cobwebs and lace / bind the twilight."

Kraft shows he's a master of moods and music with each cut, especially with "Rainsong, " a six-minute story with music to make you weep.

His catchy lyrics work well, voices are great, music is superb, but I just don't get it all. I do get some of it and to steal a line from Kraft's "Catalpas," I could say "nonsense ditties full of infinity" just might describe Big Ideas. If you're up for an adventure disguised as perky thoughts and music, this is for you.

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