Customer Reviews

Around The Campfire

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Peter, Paul, & Mary did a wonderful job on this album! It brought me back to the summers I sat around the campfire with my friends. I practically grew up with "Puff, The Magic Dragon:" in fact, that's the song that first got me interested in Peter, Paul, & Mary. I was looking for an answer to who originally sung "Puff,The Magic Dragon," after hearing it in one of my elementary school classes, and after I found out, I started hearing them on the radio a few years later, and after a while, I got hooked.

I love this group!

I feel guilty saying anything critical about Peter, Paul and Mary, but "Around the Campfire" was a little disappointing. In theory, it seems like a good idea to put out a double CD of the trio's most memorable songs, from the early sixties, up until their most recent releases, and even with a few previously unreleased songs. However, the album seems geared largely for children listeners as many of the songs are taken from recent children-oriented albums, such as "Peter, Paul and Mommy" and "Peter, Paul and Mommy, Too." Also, a few bad choices detract from the whole, such as including a recent live version of Puff instead of the classic studio version. Two of the new songs are religious folk songs, which might resurrect unpleasant memories of church camp -- or simply church, for that matter. Most disappointing is that time has not been kind to Mary's voice. Peter and Paul sound beautiful in their twilight years, but Mary has lost her high range and sounds raspy. The abundance of recent recordings on this CD makes one's awareness of this inescapable. Even if you buy this album principally for your kids - as I did - remember that you too need to listen to it.

This the definitive PETER,PAUL AND MARY CD.It includes all there great hits from puff the magic dragon to leaving on a jet plane!It includes 25 great tracks on 2 cds and as always you can count on songs that touch your heart from this dynamic trio.The lesser known right field tune will make us all smile as it brings us back to our childhood days.The song stewball will bring back memories of our younger days at the county fairs.There are alotta classic folk tunes in here rounding out this 2 cd set .They include this land is you land and where have all the flowers gone.Anybody who enjoys melodic tunes will enjoy this 2 cd set!I would just like to add one more thing for those of us who travel and long for home,you will enjoy the tune 500 miles ,it`s a classic.So for all you peter, paul and mary fans this is simply a must have!

This CD contains some of the best sing a long hits ever. It seems like a greatest hits CD for Peter Paul and Mary, set live, and with children's voices in the background of many tunes.
The classic songs about ending war are timeless and still ring true.
If you could never sing a long with a CD, this CD will break your silence. Excellent stuff for all ages!

The legendary folkgroup of Peter Yarrow, Paul Stookey, and Mary Travers may have become famous during the Protest Era of the 50's and 60's, but they have become great family entertainers. If you've never caught one of their performances for children, buy some tickets, offer to babysit the neighbors' kids, and take them! (If you can't make a live performance, at least bake some cookies and rent one of their performances on video.)

This double-CD intersperses a number of the group's old recordings of their early hits (such as "If I Had a Hammer," "Where Have All the Flowers Gone," "Blowin' In the Wind," and "Leaving On a Jet Plane") with some of their previous recordings of children's songs (including "Puff the Magic Dragon" and "The Marvelous Toy") and some new recordings of traditional campfire songs (such as "Kumbaya" and "Michael Row the Boat Ashore"). It makes for fun listening and a great sing-a-long. However, those looking for a typical "greatest hits" album of the trio should look elsewhere, since many of their most popular old numbers are not on this recording.

I've seen far too many adults stick a DVD movie in the back seat of the van to keep the little ones entertained during a long trip. They'd be better served to load up PP&M's Around the Campfire. This music, delivered by people whose voices are associated with many of the songs, is quite likely to generate family sing-alongs in the old style. (Though I'll warn you that a three-year-old stuck on Puff the Magic Dragon ("Again!" she screeched) can be a special form of hell.)

Even if you didn't sing all the songs on this album when you went to summer camp -- I did, but my Camp Quidnunc days were only 100 miles from Greenwich Village where these songs first earned fame -- you are sure to know and enjoy at least 90% of them. They're a sort of aural comfort food, I find, even if there's no one under the age of 10 in the vicinity.

I grew up listening to these guys when I was a kid in the 1960's. This was back when the radio stations played folk music on a regular basis (Yes, they actually did!).
Many of these songs bring back a lot of wonderful memories. Some of them are, Puff the Magic Dragon, If I Had A Hammer, 500 Miles, and Where Have All The Flowers Gone, just to name a few. All of the great oens are here. It's truly great music from a troubled time in our history.
The only complaint I have is that there are only 25 songs here. Each disc is less than 50 minutes long. Peter Yarrow could have added lots of more great music to this collection. A better collection is the 4-disc set being offered by Reader's Digest. It has about 80 songs and also has some of the solo stuff they did. So kt's the better anthology between the 2.
But, for the money & the memories, this one still does a decent job. To a old folkie like me or to any new devotees to folk, I'd recommend this one.
God bless Peter, Paul, & Mary!!!

This is a great CD which I will use for my Girl Scout troop. I have been looking for songs like these. We listened to this CD at home and MY 2 girls just love it.

First of all, let me start by stating that I LOVE Peter, Paul and Mary. I can still shed a tear when I listen to "Puff the Magic Dragon," probably one of my favorite songs. Their folk songs are unquestionably, classics. "Peter, Paul, and Mommy" is one of my very favorite albums. I played it for my students on my record player many years ago and then, when my daughter was in kindergarten, I lent it to her teacher; it was played every day during naptime.

I feel that I am somewhat of an authority when it comes to camp songs. Although I sing them badly, I have sung them for many, many decades. I attended Girl Scout camp during the sixties in both Alabama and New Mexico. I remember singing all the songs with my sister during the long ride home every year. I have also been to Church camp (didn't sing many campfire songs, much to my dismay) and I was a counselor at a camp in northeast Georgia for two summers during college in the seventies. In addition, I was a Girl Scout Leader for ten years during the next two decades. So, as you see, I am somewhat of an expert when it comes to singing around the campfire....anyone remember "Barges"?

So, it was with great anticipation that I ordered " Around the Campfire" (without looking at the sound track). I was planning on 'cranking up the radio' and singing along with the trio in my car! Unfortunately, the only songs on the first CD that we ever sang were: "If I Had A Hammer" and " Where Have All The Flowers Gone"--two of ten. I had better luck on the second CD; we sang: " Kumbaya", " Michael Row The Boat Ashore", "Puff (The Magic Dragon)", "500 Miles", and "Blowin in the Wind."

Only seven of the twenty songs were familiar to me from my camp days; if I had inspected this album before ordering, I would never have bought it. Even though I have 'buyer's remorse,' the singing is typical of Peter, Paul and Mary, just fabulous.

These 2 CD's have children singing along on some pieces. Typical campfire fun. I bought it for my granddaughter, who never heard Peter, Paul and Mary in their early years and she loves it. I had to have the CD's for myself. I work in an assisted living facility and have a chorus of 80 & 90 year olds and they love to sing along. These songs are ageless. Love them all and play in my car, makes sitting in traffic fun. Perhaps other drivers wonder why my head bobs around and I seem to be having fun. Treat yourself to some good listening.