Customer Reviews

The Best Of The Chad Mitchell Trio: The Mercury Years

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The Chad Mitchell Trio (CMT) was far and away the best folk group of the 60's, and being trained as classical singers probably had a lot to do with that. Like many of their peers, the members of CMT (Chad Mitchell, Joe Frazier and Mike Kobluk) met in college, but despite their young ages, their arrangements and harmonies are the most stylized and professional of all the artists of that era, outclassing fellow folk groups such as The Kingston Trio and Peter, Paul and Mary by an extremely wide margin.

While their first three albums on the Kapp label are good, they were just appetizers for what was to come. The CMT really came into their own when they moved to Mercury, greatly expanding their range, which this collection covers fairly well. Some wonderful examples of this incredible part of their career include "Four Strong Winds", "African Song", and "Bonny Streets of Fyve-IO", and biting satires like "Barry's Boys", "Alma Mater" and "Your Friendly Liberal Neighborhood Ku-Klux-Klan" are good but sound somewhat dated today.

Unfortunately, this CD is missing several outstanding tracks from the Mercury albums, particularly the many traditional folk, gospel and blues tunes they recorded (like "Tell Old Bill"). It's great to see "Marvelous Toy" and "Draft Dodger Rag" here, but other classics such as "The Last Thing On My Mind" and "The Hip Song" are sorely missed. Even when Chad Mitchell left the group to pursue a solo career in 1966, the group soldiered on with John Denver, who although he could never replace Chad, still managed to create stunning efforts with the group. Their version of The Beatles' "She Loves You" is a prime example, and the best cover of that song I've ever heard!

The Kapp records have all been re-released on CD, but unfortunately the ones from Mercury have not, which is most unfair. If you're not familiar with any of the CMT's catalogue, either "best of" collection is a good place to start (see also The CMT Collection: Original Kapp Recordings), but I would highly recommend spending some time in used record shops looking for copies of the Mercury LP's. You'll have to dust off that phonograph that's been sitting in your closet for years of course, but it's well worth the effort.

Since John Denver is my favorite recording artist, I thought it would be good to get an album that contained some of his very early recordings. Boy, was I surprised! The CMT recordings without JD are excellent as are the early ones with JD. A good blend of serious & humorous songs. Many of the songs are right on track with the serious political issues of the era. I recommend this CD to CMT, JD and non-CMT fans alike.

My first exposure to this great, under-appreciated group was hearing "Lizzie Borden" on the Dr Demento radio program. I then made a point of searching out the album on which that song appeared. When I finally found it and listened to the rest, I was hooked. I eventually obtained all the Kapp albums but never heard any of the Mercury recordings until this collection came out. What a gem! This quickly became one of the most played CD's in my collection. Their voices blend so beautifully, it's like they were born to make music together. I disagree with another reviewer who says they were a cut below the Kingston Trio and Peter, Paul and Mary. These guys are every bit as good, if not better in some ways. And the musicians backing them were among the best in the business. I find it difficult to understand why they never really enjoyed the popularity and fame that other folk artists achieved.
This collection is a delightful blend of their whimsical pieces (Dubarry, Stewball, a Dying Business), their political songs (Barry's Boys, Friendly Liberal Neighborhood KKK, What Did You Learn in School) and their more touching, sentimental songs (Marvelous Toy, Four Strong Winds, In the Summer of His Years). I see now they have released the full albums from which some of these songs were taken. You can bet they'll be on my Christmas list this year.

When I was a small child in the 60's, I listened to whatever old albums my parents had at the time. One of my favorite records to listen to would be those by the Chad Mitchell Trio. I remembered the songs,and even at a young age, memorized some.

When I listened to this CD a few days ago, you could have floored me. For a time, I was a kid growing up again. The audio was great, and the songs well preserved. The memories of sitting in my room listening to the "Trio's" LP's was once again alive. A time when all you had to worry about was being a kid.

The Chad Mitchell Trio began recording with Mercury Records in 1963, after releasing their first four albums on Kapp Records (the best of which was their live album, "The Chad Mitchell Trio at the Bitter End"). The group recorded six albums for Mercury, the last two of which saw Chad Mitchell leaving the group and being replaced by a young John Denver (Mike Kobluk and Joe Frazier were the other members). As folk singers the Chad Mitchell Trio was a notch below the Kingston Trio and Peter, Paul & Mary, which is still pretty good. Besides, these guys covered "Blowin' in the Wind" first; the problem was their label delayed releasing it and PP&M beat them to the punch, which is why they jumped to Mercury.

This collection features 27 tracks, including songs written by Tom Paxton ("The Marvelous Toy") Phil Ochs ("That's the Way It's Gonna Be"), and even Lennon & McCartney ("She Loves You"). However, while they offer up the same sort of cheerful harmonies that characterized popular folk music in the Sixties, the Chad Mitchell Trio tended to more in the forefront of providing songs that were political and/or satirical in nature. "Barry's Boys" is about 1964 Republican Presidential nominee Barry Goldwater, "Alma Mater" is about the integration of college campuses, while "Your Friendly Liberal Neighborhood Ku Klux Klan" and "The Draft Dodger Rag" need no further explanation. Only seven of these tracks feature John Denver, but he wrote three of the songs, including "For Bobbi."

My own quibble with the selections is that it does not include the group's cover of "Mr. Tambourine Man," on which Denver sang the lead (how can you pass up the one example out there of "Denver does Dylan"?). For the first half of the music career of the Chad Mitchell Trio there is a Knapp collection from 1963 called "The Best of the Chad Mitchell Trio," while this album, "The Best of the Chad Mitchell Trio: The Mercury Years" more than adequately covers the second half.

I first heard most of these songs in college and while in military service in the early 60s. The blending of voices appealed to many of us used to the Kingston Trio, the Limelighters, the NCM and the Serendipity Singers. But the CMT was different--the Draft Dodger Rag, Alma Mater amd Barry's Boys dealt with what we thought we were all about. Dying Business and Marvelous Toy spanned the spectrum from our childhood joy to how much it really should matter and, more imporantly, how we looked at both toys and death. The song that we all drank to when alone and reached a bit deeper was "Can't Help But Wonder Where I'm Bound." As I listened to it after thirty plus years, I know where; but it brought back many dreams and ideals well worth revisiting.

I had a few CMT albums years ago and wound up purchasing this disc as a substitute for a comprehensive anthology which, amazingly, seems to be nonexistent. How can this be? Though this production weighs in at a generous 69+ minutes, a glaring omission for me is "If I Gave You". On the positive side, the songs offered herein sound wonderful and, in my opinion, solidly represent what the Mitchell Trio was about. I'd just rather have it all if you don't mind.

Even after more than thirty years, I have never found anything to compare to the harmonies of the Chad Mitchell Trio. Chad, Mike, and Joe combined their voices with a richness that no other folk trio could quite manage. Their off-the-wall sense of humor didn't hurt anything either!

This disc contains 25 original cuts representing a nice sampling of the CMT - Mitchell, Kobluk, Frazier (18 cuts) and MT - Kobluk, Frazier, Denver (7 cuts). Albums represented include: Singin' Our Minds, Reflecting, Slightly Irreverent, Typical American Boys, That's The Way It's Gonna Be, Violets of Dawn, and Beginnings. Remastered from the original tapes, these songs will rekindle some pleasant memories; they did for me. Brief four page liner history by the renowned Ben Blake.

Not a CMT/MT fan? Check out a legendary group from the 60's folk era, when the performers really could sing!

This CD was exactly what I was looking for, as it contained several of my favorite songs that do not appear on any of the other of the Trio's CDs that I own. I was fortunate to see them "live" during my college's Homecoming weekend in 1962 or '63, so it was an instant nostalgia trip for me. Best of the best -- "The Marvelous Toy", "Bonny Streets of Fyve-io", "Four Strong Winds", and "The Banks of Sicily" brought back some poignant memories. Other goodies were "I Can't Help But Wonder Where I'm Bound" and the Draft Dodger Rag". The Vietnam War was raging at the time and starting to become very unpopular on campus, so it brought the entire fieldhouse to its feet, laughing and applauding. I still LOL when I listen to it. Two songs on this Disk that touched me were "Cherry Tree Carol" and "She Loves You". The latter is a down-tempo rendition of the Beatles hit, presented more like a love song than the Beatles version and is quite enchanting. I highly recommend this CD to any of the Trio's fans.

-- Barry