The Kingston Trio Albums (31)
'Once Upon a Time'
Release Date 1/1/2007
Tracks 40
Label Collectors' Choice Music
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
In July of 1966, the Kingston Trio began a three-week engagement at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel in Lake Tahoe. The trio and their manager considered it the beginning of their final 12 months as an active group, and had the tape recorders running -- the idea was that upon the announcement of their farewell tour, a double-LP live set would be in the can and ready to be released. But as it turned out, neither their current label, Decca Records, nor their prior label, Capitol Records -- which had issued three complete concert albums by the group -- was interested in issuing the farewell album. Instead, the record remained on the shelf until 1969, when Bill Cosby's Tetragrammaton Records issued Once Upon a Time; amazingly, the album made it into the lower regions of the Top 200 albums for six weeks (which leads one to suspect that Bob Shane had been correct in his commercial instincts, in his resistance to breaking up the trio in 1967). Tetragrammaton folded in the early '70s, and the resulting double LP is one of the rarest in the Kingston Trio's output, which is sad -- the best of their concert recordings since those renowned live recordings of 1958, it captured the group ranging freely across its history and the folk landscape, including two songs associated variously with the Weavers and Leadbelly ("Wimoweh" and "Goodnight Irene"), a trio of Bob Dylan songs ("One Too Many Mornings," "Mama, You Been on My Mind," and "Tomorrow Is a Long Time"), and a Donovan song ("Colours"), and traveling back through their own history ("Tom Dooley," etc.) and giving their best Decca single ("I'm Going Home") a fresh airing. If there is a flaw here -- apart from the momentary appearance of the Sahara Tahoe Hotel orchestra on the introduction sequences on each platter -- it is the result of a desire not to repeat too much material off of the group's earlier concert albums, so that some songs, such as "Pullin' Away," are not present here. In compensation, listeners get a real live version of "Where Have All the Flowers Gone," which was represented on the College Concert album by a studio version with dubbed-on applause; their best piece of released topical humor, "Getaway John"; and "Ballad of the Shape of Things." The latter leads into the best version of "Greenback Dollar" ever issued by the threesome in any incarnation, and they're able to slide from that into a nicely wry intro to "Mama, You Been on My Mind" (as "Babe, You Been on My Mind") -- actually, their versions of Dylan songs here are a major breakthrough for a group that kept his music at arm's length (or further) for years, and show just how much further the trio could have gotten. In any case, the resulting 72-minute album runs circles around their last live album for Capitol (Back in Town), as well as most of their late Capitol work and a lot of their Decca sides, and it's worth tracking down. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide
'Everybody's Talking: The Houston Tapes, Vol. 1'
Release Date 10/16/2001
Tracks 25
Label Folk Era
See Album Tracklist and Review
'Children of the Morning'
Release Date 7/2/1996
Tracks 16
Label Folk Era
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Children of the Morning was the final studio album by the Kingston Trio in its original continuity -- they recorded a live album that Decca Records declined to release, which was eventually licensed to Tetragrammaton Records, but this was their last new work. At the time, as is recalled in the notes, music was changing around them almost faster than they could adapt. The Beatles' Rubber Soul was out, and We Five, managed by trio manager Frank Werber, was making the charts with songs like "You Were on My Mind." John Stewart wrote most of the songs on this album and did a lot of the singing, which makes this almost a transitional record to his solo career, which started up immediately upon the split in the group. Strangely, Children of the Morning doesn't really sound much like a Kingston Trio album -- there's relatively little banjo, and the mood is more the introspective one of a singer/songwriter than an upbeat folk trio. The title track is pleasing, and the group even does a decent if unexceptional job with "Norwegian Wood" and "A Taste of Honey." The four bonus tracks off of the group's Somethin' Else album sound more like the traditional Trio work, with a more outgoing feel to the singing and playing. As with their other Decca reissues, Folk Era have brought the tapes back to Capitol's studios and added the slight touch of reverb that everyone missed on the original Decca albums. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide
'Live at the Crazy Horse'
Release Date 11/15/1994
Tracks 16
Label Silverwolf
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
This may be the latter-day Kingston Trio, but two of the original members -- Bob Shane and Nick Reynolds -- are here, along with 20-year veteran George Grove, and they do sound very good. Interspersed with the expected classic group repertory -- "Hard Ain't It Hard," "Three Jolly Coachmen," "Chilly Winds," "Sinking of Reuben James," "The M.T.A.," "Worried Man," "The Reverend Mr. Black," "They Call the Wind Maria" -- are relatively recent addition to their song list, including a very poignant rendition of ABBA's "The Way Old Friends Do" (which is done in memory of Dave Guard and the other departed members of the Kingston Trio family) and the George Grove-sung "Jocko and the Trapeze Lady." The singing, all un-retouched, is superb, and the playing is spot-on -- the trio has aged well, they've retained a sense of humor about themselves and what they do, and a good deal od spontaneity, despite the 40 years of history behind them at the point from which this show dates. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
As they did with the Nick-Bob-John album, Folk Era has gone back and added the trace of Capitol Records echo-chamber ambience that lent the group's Capitol-era recordings their special resonance. This was a pretty strong album to begin with, some strong songs by Tom Paxton ("Where I'm Bound," "Bottle of Wine") and Rod McKuen ("Rusting in the Rain"), juxtaposed with bluegrass (Rodney Dillard's "Dooley") and one song ("Hanna Lee") more closely associated with cowboy singers like Marty Robbins and Johnny Western. And then there's the title song, an original in which The Kingston Trio sound a lot like Pete Seeger and singers of his generation. It's all surprisingly memorable, coming out of a period in which the Trio's records simply weren't selling, but the producers have added significantly to the CD, throwing on four bonus tracks from the group's never-reissued Something Else album, among them superb versions of Mason Williams' "Dancing Distance," Gordon Lightfoot's "Early Morning Rain" and Tom Paxton's "Last Thing On My Mind" (one of the four best versions this reviewer knows, the others being from The Seekers, Paxton himself, and the Move), and have also replaced the original album cut of "Yes I Can Feel It" with the superior single version. The result is a CD every bit as good, and perhaps better than many of the group's classic Capitol sides. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
The title of this album -- their second concert recording in barely a year -- explains its initial appeal, as an early live stereo document of the Kingston Trio's sound, at a time when stereo was new and a big selling point. The fact that many of the Trio's fans were college students who had availed themselves of the new players in order to enjoy classical and jazz in stereo only boosted the appeal of Stereo Concert, which was recorded at El Paso's Liberty Hall on Dec. 15, 1958, Another obvious appeal was that Capitol Records wasn't the prime mover behind the recording, A local record distributor, Lee Morton, recorded the show in the then-new dual channel process, with the knowledge of the group and their management. It was their manager, Frank Werber, who convinced the label that there was a release there. Capitol, in turn, bought the tape and released Stereo Concert exactly three months later. The show captured the original Kingston Trio at the peak of their powers, a year into their success with a considerable body of music well within their grasp. The entire repertory for the show was drawn from the group's prior albums, including what scholar Ben Blake regards as the best of the Trio's various extant renditions of "Raspberries, Strawberries." Folk Era Records has reissued this show with bonus tracks and a different cover from the original, which was prepared so hastily that Capitol simply re-used the photo from the cover of the Trio's debut LP, which was still on the charts at the time and resulted in considerable confusion for fans and retailers, not to mention interested parties trying to absorb their history in the decades that followed. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
The Kingston Trio had just become superstars when they performed this 12-song set at the Newport Folk Festival. Including well-known features of their repertoire such as "M.T.A.," "Scotch and Soda," and "All My Sorrows," it's a good-sounding and well-executed performance, but only necessary for major fans. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide
