Search - The Weavers, The Kingston Trio, The Limeliters :: Troubadours of the Folk Era, Vol. 3: The Groups {Various Artists }

Contains seriously flawed version of Banana Boat Song

John Gardner | Houston, Texas | 06/01/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"If you're interested in the Banana Boat Song by the Tarriers, pick up Eric's Hard To Find 45's On CD Volume 3. The version on the Rhino CD appears to have been digitally mastered from a damaged tape. It contains numerous crackles and pops. The version on the Eric CD is flawless.The Rhino compilation otherwise is a pretty good."

Good folk

Beth | Mesa, AZ United States | 09/29/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This collection depends on ones perspective of folk. This cd mostly focuses on the large joyous sounds of groups such as New Christy Minstrels. A lot of people ridiculed this sound saying it wasn't true folk but I like it. This cd introduced me to groups I didn't even know existed like The Big Three, the group Mama Cass belonged to before the Mamas and the Papas. Also on this cd is the one hit wonder group Rooftop Singers' catchy "Walk Right In" and Even Dozen Jug Band's irritating but lovable "Take your Fingers Off It."
The only inclusion that is questionable is Gotta Travel On by Au Go Go Singers, as that group is only remembered now for Stephen Stills involvement. But still it fits well in the middle of the mix."

Folk music is really popular by the time we get to Volume 3

Lawrance M. Bernabo | The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota | 02/20/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"One of the things that is most impressive about the "Troubadours of the Folk Era" series is that we get all the way to Volume 3, "The Groups," before I find that I already have half of the 18 tracks on the album. I have been working on building up the folk music section of my music library so that I can put together the ultimate 12-CD collection of folk music, which would be both comprehensive and thematically elegant. So finding two CDs full of "new" songs in the three CDs of this series is pretty impressive, but also exactly what we have come to expect from the people at Rhino.



There is actually something of a theme to this look at "The Groups" of folk music, as we see how the traditional folk music of the hills got transformed into hits at the top of the pop charts. Both of the folk songs that made it all the way to #1 on the Billboard singles chart are here, "Tom Dooley" by the Kingston Trio in 1958 and "Michael (Row the Boat Ashore)" by the Highwaymen in 1961. However, like the first two volumes in the series this third one begins with a Titan of folk music, as the Weavers get the first spot following Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger. But instead of folk singers who were being blacklisted during the 1950s, the 1960s saw groups of happy, peppy folksingers on the charts, from the Rooftop Singers ("Walk Right In") to the New Christy Minstrels ("Green, Green"). For those who like more authentic sounding groups we also have the Limeliters ("Hard, Ain't It Hard"), the Au Go-Go Singers ("Gotta Travel On"), the Greenbriar Boys ("Stewball"), the Brothers Four ("Greenfields"), and Jim Kweskin's Jug Band ("Mobile Line").



Most of the time in this collection the artists you do not recognize are real old school; traditionalists who have been forgotten although we probably know the songs they were singing because they were covered by somebody else. On Volume 3 there is actually as sense of looking forward. The Springfields ("Silver Threads & Golden Needles") consisted of Mary and Dion O'Brien, who changed their names to Dusty and Tom Springfield. The Big Three ("Rider") were Tim Rose, James Hendricks, and Cass Elliott. As long as we are talking about singers who go on to successful solo careers we can toss in Glenn Yarbrough of the Limeliters and Barry McGuire from the New Christy Minstrels. Of course, things still go back to the beginning when both the Weavers ("Goodnight Irene") and the Big Three are doing songs originally written by Leadbelly. That is why this is a pretty good collection for those with a solid folk music collection and pretty great for anyone who has ignored this part of their musical heritage."