Search - The Kingston Trio :: The Very Best of The Kingston Trio

Lift up your head and listen.

Jack Maybrick | Shuttling between the streets of Whitechapel and t | 03/29/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This truly is the very best of the Kingston Trio.All of your favorites are included in this collection, including, of course, "Tom Dooley", "Hard Ain't It Hard" and "MTA".Unlike some other collections, the songs on this CD were not once part of an original album but were compiled for the express purpose of producing this CD for Time-Life and they overlap both the Dave Guard and the John Stewart eras of the Kingston Trio (after Guard left in 1961).Red Grammer simply was not as entertaining a tenor for the Limeliters as was the man that he replaced, Glenn Yarborough, but the Kingston Trio's transition from Guard to Stewart was made seamlessly enough. I can't tell any difference in the quality between the later and earlier recordings.I'm guessing, however, that most of these songs were recorded fairly early because they include a number of traditional folk ballads that were later made into rock-and-roll hits. In this album, they are sung AS folk songs, of course, and they are sung without comment - which leads me to believe that the "rock" versions have not yet appeared.These include the Trio's rendition of "Where Have All the Flowers Gone" and "Blowin' In the Wind" before they became protest songs, a fairly understated but intriguing version of "The Wreck of the John B" before it became a Beach Boys classic ("Sloop John B"), and "They Call the Wind Maria" before it was popularized by the Clint Eastwood movie "Paint Your Wagon".Most interesting of all is the rendition of the African lullaby "Wimoweh" before the Tokens arranged it to become "The Lion Sleeps Tonight".The rock-and-roll/movie soundtrack versions of these songs are good too, but this truly is "folk music" that has not yet been cookie-cut for commercial purposes and for distribution to a mass audience.Does it really take a worried man to sing a worried song? If I could sing and strum a banjo like a Kingston Trio member, I wouldn't give a damn about a greenback dollar. I'd do it for room and board and would have very little to worry about."

Muddy, muddy, muddy

R. Berman | Tennessee | 08/01/2010

(1 out of 5 stars)

"The songs are great. But these particular recordings are terrible, even considering their vintage. If you want to hear what the Kingston Trio sounds like, pick up a collection that doesn't sound like it was recorded in a storm sewer."