Piece of folk history, but the other CD is a better buy...
William E. Adams | Midland, Texas USA | 09/21/2003
(4 out of 5 stars)
"The Almanac Singers were a commune, collecting some superbly talented artists like the young Lee Hays, Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie, joined by a rotating group of competent supporting musicians. In 1940-41 they had several recording sessions and performed mostly for labor union rallies and left-wing political meetings. This CD features their versions of traditional sailor songs and agricultural ditties, rather than the controversial union stuff and pre-WWII neutrality songs and early WWII anti-facist tunes. For one-take sessions, done on the lowest of budgets, these renditions are pretty wonderful. If you just want to have a sample of what the Almanacs, who pioneered the folk recording group genre, and paved the way for The Weavers a decade later, were like, it will do nicely. However, if you want an Almanac CD which presents 29 of the total of 35 tracks the group ever preserved, and includes the union and political stuff along with these songs, too, then go buy the disc titled "Songs of Protest." It is a great value. (By the way, the sound quality on both of the available Almanacs CD's is surprisingly good.)"