Search - Peter Paul & Mary :: Very Best of

Hammering (not hammered) in the morning

Jean E. Pouliot | Newburyport, MA United States | 12/03/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This year's focus on the wild and rocky Woodstock music festival makes it easy to forget that the 1960s didn't start with rock as much as with fervent folk music.

Where the byword of the later 60s was "Sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll" the bywords of the earlier part of the decade were "freedom and equality." The music of Peter, Paul and Mary perfectly exemplified the age's gentler aspect.



For those who lived through those times and resonate with the struggle of blacks and migrant farmers and others to achieve fairness, this CD of PPM's greatest hits will bring back the heady feeling of those glorious days. When they sang "If I had a Hammer," there was a palbable and still-stirring sense that freedom was achievable. The wistful whimsy of "Puff the Mahic Dragon" and the softened, harmonized versions of Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind" were so characteristic of the longing and dreams of the age.



But If I had to buy an PPM greatest hits, I might be tempted to skip this one and pick up "The very best of Peter, Paul and Mary. It contains pretty much all the tunes from this CD, plus others, like "Where have all the flowers gone?" and "Wedding Song (There is love)" that are missing from this one."