Def Leppard

These CDs that take hard rock and metal songs and turn them into kids' lullabies are, obviously, kind of fun if you're a rocker parent. If you're an under slept and stressed-out parent, do what I did: ignore your family for a while, put this on the headphones and pass right out listening to reworked, instrumental, muzak versions of Def Lep material. The classics sound best, of course, especially in a blissful state of half-consciousness. "Hysteria," "Bringin' on the Heartbreak" and "Photograph" are highlights, which is more like Def Lep unplugged and instrumental as, unlike other rock-songs-as-lullabies discs, this is all done with rock instruments and even features guitar work from actual Leppards Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell. So, this is basically Def Lep for the real young, the real old or the real tired (or the elevators). And, you know, it's goofy but no one can deny that it actually sounds good and serves two purposes: it might shut screaming kids up and definitely reminds the parent that, despite our relentless heckling and teasing over the years, Def Lep write good songs.