Search - Kingston Trio :: Nick Bob John

Lots of Memories

Frederick M. Marvin | Louisville, KY | 06/14/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This album- I use the term because I've known it since vinyl was the only option- was part of the Trio's newer material when I first listened to it with my Dad. I cut my musical teeth on the Trio before the British invasion, before we even had an AM radio in the car! Now almost forty years later, it's still great to get out the tapes I've made to enjoy them. I gave it only four stars because I had to leave room to rate some of their other albums that I enjoyed even more. This particular LP/CD has one of their best, "Midnight Special," a song that was later an early hit for Creedence Clearwater Revival. The Trio's version of the song is of course more acoustic than CCR's and the lyrics are slightly different, but it doesn't lose anything for the difference. I think it was Joni Mitchell who had a hit with another cut from this album, "Someday Soon." In another bridge across generations, I played the tape for my teenagers a few years ago and they loved "More Poems" by Mason Williams. This song is just plain good, silly fun at any age. My only regret about this song is that if it's "More Poems," where are the first "Poems"? It's amazing how soothing the beautiful harmony of their three voices is especially when they are accompanied by the calming background of the acoustic guitars and banjo. As I've read in reviews of their other albums, groups like the Beach Boys who were known for their great harmonies owed a lot to the Trio. This comment comes from a guy who grew up loving the power of electric guitars even though they often drowned out the lyrics, something that thankfully never happened with the Trio. "Love's Been Good to Me" is a fine example of this type of harmony as are "Gotta Travel On" and "Hope You Understand." "Farewell" is probably the prettiest song on the album, another harmonic masterpiece. The only somewhat political song on the album, "Little Play Soldiers," is a poignant comparison between the innocence of little boys playing soldier and the reality of a soldier's life and death. Another song, "My Ramblin' Boy," also deals with death, this time the death of a friend, in a sweet tribute-style way. The Trio had a way of capping their albums with what I'd call a "power ballad," with a little more driving tempo and stronger vocals than most of the songs had. "I'm Going Home" is as fine an example of this as any of their songs including "The New Frontier" from the album of the same name. As often happens when vinyl becomes CD, there have been two additions to the original playlist on CD, the last two songs listed. I'm not familiar with these two songs, but if they're anything like the rest of this excellent album, they're certainly worth a listen. If not, at least they're at the end and can be easily skipped. This album is an excellent addition to any serious collection of Kingston Trio recordings, but by itself it does not do justice to their legacy. That can only be done by one or more of the Greatest Hits formats and even those only scratch the surface."

One of My Favorite KT Albums!

Jeff, Young Old-Timer | Lakeland, Florida United States | 01/27/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I rate this album 5 stars, not only because I'm a huge KT fan and relish anything by them, but because of the sheer scarcity of this album. I transfered my vinyl copy to CD to preserve as much of the sound as I could. I got good results, too. My record is in very good shape, which is a true miracle of Biblical proportions considering I've played it so much. I have very few noticable pops and scratches!

The cuts on the original album are as follows:

Midnight Special, 2:08

Love's Been Good to Me, 3:05

Some Day Soon, 2:50

Gotta Travel On, 3:17

Hope You Understand, 2:18

Little Play Soldiers, 2:20

Love Comes A Trickling Down, 2:46

My Ramblin' Boy 3:44

More Poems 1:45

Farewell, 3:14

I'm Going Home, 2:25

Total vinyl album time: 33:15

I don't have the CD version, so I never heard the 2 bonus tracks on it. I can only critique what I have.

To answer reviewer Frederick M. Marvin, "Them Poems" are on the KT's "Back In Town" album, now only availible on Amazon on the double album cd "Something Special/Back In Town". "Back In Town" was the KT's second recording at the Hungry i. Yes, that is supposed to be a lower case i. Also, Judy Collins, not Joni Mitchell, was the one who made a big hit with "Some Day Soon". By the way, if you think this album is hard to get, just try to get your hands on the KT's Once upon a Time 2-record set recorded in Las Vegas toward the end of the John Stewart era. I was lucky enough to get it on a cassette tape and get it tranferred to CD before the tape went bad. That was a close one! I put the Nick-Bob-John album pretty much in the same catagory since it's so rare and causes me to cherish it that much more. Those of you who have Nick-Bob-John on any format, you hang onto to it real tight if you're even a fraction of the KT buff I am. Enjoy it to the max. I don't consider any tracks not good, though I do have my faves, Midnight Special, Love Comes A Trickling Down, and I'm Going Home. To me it's pure KT gold."

Good Stuff!!

Gerald J Reynolds | Stevenson Ranch, Ca United States | 12/05/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The Trio's first album for Decca in 1964. If you're a fan of their more well known material from the Capitol years, you'll like this one. Songs like "Love's Been Good To Me", "Someday Soon" and "Hope You Understand" are as good as anything the Kingston Trio ever recorded. Don't be put off by the unusual "Folk Era" label; the sound on this CD is great, all tracks clean stereo as was the original Decca LP."