Peter Paul & Mary - Carry It On
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Free Music Notes for Carry It On
Free Music Review: Peter, Paul and Mary
Hit: 5 Stars
Excellent recording. I highly recommend it to anyone of any age. Your grandchildren will love it!Free Music Review: Wonderful Career Retrospective - ****1/2
Hit: 4 Stars
Hearing - and reading and watching - this boxed set reminded me how much I loved this group. Yes, they were indeed the most commercially popular folk group ever (a dozen Top 40 singles, including the #1 "Leaving on a Jet Plane", as well as "Puff" and "Blowin' in the Wind", both of which reached #2, and nine Top 20 albums, including two #1's). But more than that, their fame was deserved, because they were musically outstanding, especially their three-part harmony, shout-out vocal style. They made socially-conscious music not only hip but marketable as well. (The most successful folk song prior to this was "Goodnight Irene", a "safe" traditional tune by the very politically-progressive Weavers.) Moreover, they practiced what they preached, and are active to this day supporting important social and political causes. They were, individually and collectively, very good songwriters, but they also had an uncanny knack for picking songs from future greats like Bob Dylan, John Denver, Laura Nyro and Gordon Lightfoot. (Their "Blowin' in the Wind" was the first Dylan song to hit the Top 10.) And as the live tracks and videos prove, they were often galvanizing in concert.
The boxed set is a handsome book-style package, with lots of photos and background on the group's formation and its three members' careers. (For instance, I always knew that Paul was the funniest member of the trio, but I never knew that he was a successful standup comic on the Greenwich Village circuit before joining the band.) The song selection, a chronological program mixing their biggest hits with rare and live performances, is just about perfect, as is the sound quality. Frankly, though, four discs of career-spanning music (right up to 2003) may be a bit much for the casual fan. The "bonus" DVD contains about a half-hour of archival and more recent video performances. The historical highlight is their appearance at the 1963 March on Washington to sing "If I Had a Hammer." Musically, their best performance is a 1969 appearance on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, when they did a roof-raising version of "If I Had My Way."
My only complaint is the too-clever and very inconvenient placement of the "hidden tracks", which can only be accessed by hitting "reverse" on the CD player as the first track begins, and "rewinding" the track to the beginning Even then, if you don't stop the rewind at the beginning of the track, you're reset back to Track 1. These early, pre-PP&M performances are interesting but hardly worth the trouble. I also noticed slow loading and inaccessibility to the hidden tracks on Windows Media.
The bottom line, though, is that this is a generally excellent collection, a thorough and deserving career retrospective for a group whose music helped define a whole generation.
Free Music Review: This review is about the Bonus Tracks
Hit: 4 Stars
Peter Paul and Mary are my favorite group. I rate their music 5 stars; some people do, some don't. 'Nuff said about that. What I want to address is the bonus tracks. Another review mentions that one must cue them up in a not-obvious way. Let me elaborate on that review: You cue up a bonus track at the beginning of each of the 4 cds (the 5th, bonus disk is dvd) by cueing up song one, then pressing reverse until you come to the bonus track. Well! This method is totally bizarre (if it is not bizarre enough to provide bonus tracks that are hard to figure out how to play in the first place--and the directions as to how to play bonus tracks are in tiny, obscure print within the printed book that accompanies the 5 disk set.) This backtracking-from-song-one method of cueing up a song works better or worse on various cd players. On mine, it is virtually impossible to hear the bonus tracks in completion, because pushing the reverse button "scrolls through" the song quickly. It is impossible to lift your finger from the button exactly at the beginning moment of the bonus song. If you don't stop pushing the button at exactly that magical moment, you either hear only a portion of the bonus track, or you have pushed too long and don't hear any of it and you must start a second effort at pushing the button until the perfect moment. Like I say, bizarro.
I suppose it is some marketing exec's idea of a cutesy gimmick. Peter, Paul and Mary, I hope you read this review. You have enough sense that you should have caught this dumb idea and nixed it. It's dumb and offensive. How fun is it, really, to sit over your cd player trying to push a button effectively. Come on, you guys!! Why don't you three write a meaningful song about the lunacy of this aspect of modern button-pushing life. (Ha!) Okay, I've spoken my piece on that! Except for the bonus tracks, it's a nice boxed set.
Free Music Review: A Must If You Are any Kind of PP&M Fan
Hit: 4 Stars
Okay, why 4 of 5 stars? Because even though this is an extraordiary bargain when you compare the price of this box set to to the individual albums on CD, which don't have bonus tracks for the most part, there are still some songs I feel should have been put in and a few that could have been left out. Also, there is a song listed at the beginning of each disc that the CD player doesn't recognize. More on that later. Overall, I admit I'm pleased. Of the PP&M vinyl records (and one open reel tape) I have, this set includes all but 46 tracks. That's still impressive. Just to name a couple of my missing favorites, "Talkin' Candy Bar Blues" from the "A Song Will Rise" album is a hilarious narrative by Paul on the consequences of offering a boy a candy bar simply so it won't go to waste. There is also "Very Last Day" from "In The Wind", "When the Ship Comes In" and "Ballad of Spring Hill" both also from "A Song Will Rise. I could go on. Maybe if we're all realy lucky, the other songs might come out in another box set. I'm not holding my breath though. Overall, the 99 tracks on this set are certainly worth it. There was one thing that really bugged me. Maybe someone can help me out here. At the very beginning of the listings for each CD, there is a bonus unreleased track listed, but no CD player in the house (3) recognizes it, and it starts off with the next song. For what it's worth, those "first" songs are written in a different color ink to highlight it. So, what gives?
Anyone wanting to get a good foothold of some the very finest folk music that made the 60s the best era for music, I highly recommend this set.
Free Music Review: The Times Are Still Blowin' in the Wind
Hit: 4 Stars
The remastering of these classic folk rock songs is nothing short of spectacular. The 1963 classic, "If I Had a Hammer" made famous by Trini Lopez, Pete Seeger, the Weavers and, in 1968 by Robert Kennedy for the presidential campaign song is sure to evoke strong memories.
That is what this collection of songs is all about. These songs are deeply woven into the fabric of history and our listening consciousness. The additional dvd is a bonus treat and will certainly be listened to with pleasure by many.
You will also want to get the Readers' Digest 3-CD box set to accompany this one. The Readers' Digest set does not include all of the songs, but it does have a cleaner, richer, purer sound.
Still, this will bring a lot of joy to those listening to it. Strum along with it, hum along, sing along and for those who were part of the 1960s history, these songs will rekindle that activist passion. Add to it this is just a darn good collection.