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Snapshot!
Album Review

The new Kingston Trio 'live' double CD, "Snapshot," was recorded in November 1965, and captures the Trio at their hottest and best.  This has to be the best full-length 'live' release ever by the group, featuring 22 songs.  It compares favorably with the El Paso (I think it was) concert by the Guard Trio that was released by Folk Era in the '80s in presenting the group on a full-show energetic high, though with vastly superior sound here.  And it is better than the "Once Upon a Time" recordings in its accurate capture of the quality of the Trio's performance.  "College Concert" is probably my all-time favorite Trio album, but it's a drop in the bucket -- albeit a perfect drop in the bucket -- compared to this lengthy and passionate double disc.

John August Lee, the renowned Triofan of song and lore, engineered and refined this baby for years, smoothing out the sound from the original mono tapes of the 1965 show.  The Trio, as explained by John, had just returned from a tour of Japan, and were obviously hot to show the large crowd their mastery of the college concert venue they had virtually invented.

The sound and the energy jump off the discs.  Triofan did a super job of cleaning up badly deteriorated tapes after they'd sat in a box somewhere for forty years.  The superb effort was worth it.  This thing has the feel, for those of us who lived from one Trio album to another in the old days, of a brand new KT release.  I still get that 'new album' high listening to it.  And it's a great automobile CD -- it was built for speed.  It's been zooming me all over town.  John Stewart particularly leaps off the tracks with his energy -- opening both discs with his thundering vocal and banjo breaks on "Hard Traveling" and "Hard Ain't It Hard," and sustaining that edge all the way through to the closing "Saints Go Marching In," here presented in its best-ever form by the group.

Ditto their roaring rendition of "Wimoweh," which is highlighted by John surprisingly doing a Jaggeresque "I can't go nooo....satisFACtion"....near the end.  His banjo lead on MTA is so screaming hot that he leaves Nick and Bob -- the world's greatest acoustic rhythm force --in the dust, and has to wait for them to catch up so they can get to Nick's last verse.  "We think he's a witch," says Nick of John's exuberant banjo work.   There is a back-to-back-to- back run on the first CD of Greenback Dollar, Where I'm Bound (from "Stay Awhile") and Reverend Mr. Black that is just bam, bam, bam ... ass kicking.  John does Reverend Mr. Black with a thumping banjo lead, and sings it like he means it 20 times more than he did on the Trio's civilized hit single.

On the second disc is a pristine rendition of "Last Thing on My Mind," which perfectly presents Nick's aching vocal, as he did on the "Something Else" LP, of the lyric "please don't go ... aw, please don't go."  The same disc has surprisingly brisk and attractive renditions of 'Hanna Lee'
and even 'Parchment Farm' from the Trio's mid-60s Decca albums.  "Parchment" is presented in straight ahead style, with a heavy-rhythm banging beat, which rescues the song from its over-produced album treatment.  "I'm Going Home" follows, in certainly its best live version.  What a beauty of a song.  (And the crowd knows it, and obviously the Trio songbook too, breaking into healthy applause at the beginning of this sometimes overlooked Trio classic.)

If you love the Trio, and/or are a Stewart completist, this album is a must-have.  It's on Folk Era, a worthwhile combination of efforts by John Lee and Allan Shaw. 

As mentioned, "Snapshot" in many ways is the big live CD that "Once Upon a Time" should have been.  It preserves the Trio at the top of their game, with the guys working in earnest to sell the hell out of themselves and the songs.  No laughing on "Greenback Dollar" here. The throw-away quality to some of the OUAT renditions, in addition to the tossing in of studio
recordings disguised as live efforts, made OUAT a scattershot album, even with its many standout cuts.  This double CD is true to the sound and history of the group, worthy to stand as a definitive example of the Trio energy and magic in action.  Hot action.  If you like the Trio, you'll love this.

LF
Detroit

An Evening With The Kingston Trio
Album Review

If ever there was an act developed to play to live audiences, it was The Kingston Trio. Today, those few live albums, whether of the "Guard Trio" or the "Stewart Trio," are treasured by folks who fondly remember the Trio's live performances. The old studio recordings may rekindle fond memories, but the live recordings take you back to the Trio's heyday.

This recording, An Evening With The Kingston Trio, is a live album of the "Stewart Trio," although not one previously released. Recorded in 1962, it was a crucial time for the Trio. The story of the Trio's split and Dave Guard's departure had been well publicized. It left many fans wondering if the Trio would survive. Although new member John Stewart, who replaced Dave Guard, was a more than worthy successor, the fans eyed him with suspicion. As far as they were concerned, this was a new act that had to prove itself again.

And, as exemplified in this recording, the Trio succeeded admirably. Deftly re-creating the Trio's past hits, like "Tom Dooley", "The MTA" and others, and combining them with fresh new songs, like the hilarious "The Shape Of Things," and one of John Stewart's most lasting compositions from the Trio days, "Chilly Winds," this concert brought the audience the best of the old and the new. The songs are interspersed with the sometimes humorous and sometimes informative (and sometimes both) patter that the Trio was so loved for.

Today, "An Evening With The Kingston Trio" is also the only live Kingston Trio album featuring the Stewart Trio that is commercially available, and with it's fifteen songs, demonstrates the performing power of one of the most popular folk acts of all time.

CHILDREN OF THE MORNING was the last studio album recorded by by the "Original" Kingston Trio of Bob Shane, Nick Reynolds and John Stewart before they broke up to go their separate ways.

The album was a triumphant farewell for the Trio's signature harmonies, style, and banjo and guitar instrumentation. With their striped shirts, clean-cut image, and fun-loving outlook, the Kingston Trio captured the hearts of several generations of music lovers in the 50's and 60's with their sound, songs, exuberance, and energy, all of which came together in the studio for a last time on CHILDREN OF THE MORNING.

The songs on CHILDREN OF THE MORNING were a snapshot of the Trio's direction as their heyday came to its close. Of the 12 songs on the original album, highlights included the Trio's rendition of "Norwegian Wood," and several of the songs that John Stewart was carefully honing as he prepared to leave the Trio to establish a solo career as a singer-songwriter. Fan favorites include "Hit and Run," "Lock All The Windows," and "Spinning Of The World," which John still performs in concert.

To the original album of 12 songs, four bonus tracks have been added from SOMETHIN' ELSE, the Kingston Trio's penultimate studio album. John Stewart's original liner notes from CHILDREN OF THE MORNING caught the spirit and time of the album when it was recorded, and are reproduced in the booklet, along with a few short notes from Stewart, written 30 years later and reflecting on his time with the Trio.

With a top-notch remastering job, CHILDREN OF THE MORNING is a stunning reissue package that both new and old Kingston Trio and John Stewart fans are sure to love.

Stay Awhile was the second album The Kingston Trio recorded for Decca Records in the late 60's. Originally released in 1965, Stay Awhile featured a host of fine songs, many penned by Mason Williams, as well as two classics, "Where I'm Bound," and "Bottle Of Wine," from Tom Paxton. The cover choice is an alternate shot from the same time period as the original cover, but the original cover is used inside the liner notes in such a way that fans can chose to use whichever cover they prefer.

To this reissue, four cuts from the Kingston Trio album "Something Else" have been added, namely Tom Paxton's "Last Thing On My Mind," "Dancing Distance," "They Are Gone," and "Early Morning Rain." The Kingston Trio also recorded an alternate take of "Yes I Can Feel It," that was used on a 45 r.p.m. single, and it is this version used on this CD.

Finally, despite the initial reaction of Kingston Trio fans to the initial release of the Decca albums, many felt that they lacked the sound quality of the Kingston Trio albums recorded at Capitol Records. Believing there was something to this, the master tape for Stay Awhile was taken to Capitol to be remastered and digitalized by the same engineer who remastered and digitalized the Kingston Trio's Capitol CD reissues. The tracks were also run through Capitol's echo chambers to add the slight amount of echo that Capitol used on their Kingston Trio releases, and the results here are astonishing. The songs on Stay Awhile now jump out and show the Kingston Trio at their best like never before.

Following the break-up of the "original" Kingston Trio, lead singer Bob Shane formed the New Kingston Trio with himself, Jim Connor, and Pat Horine. Although the sound differed, all the elements that made the Kingston Trio sound special remained. Of the many songs recorded, most were never released. The act disbanded and the master recordings disappeared -- until now. Finally located, here for the first time, are the "Lost Masters" of The New Kingston Trio.

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