Customer Reviews

Capitol Years

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I was somewhat disappointed by this collection. It is great hearing the Trio's music remastered and on CD rather than on 40+ year old mono recordings. But the selector chose to spend equal time on the Trio's entire Capital career rather than highlighting their best work. This approach might be justified if the Trio's outstanding works, such as "The Kingston Trio," "College Concert," or "Live From the Hungry I" were available. But they are not, and thus the decision to include marginal songs or outtakes simply because they are novel will disappoint many fans. For example, why include Guard's badly recorded version of "Fast Freight" and not the revised and far superior version? Why leave off classics such as South Coast or Zombie Jamboree or They're Rioting in Africa and include the six lugubrious dirges that begin Disc 3? Unfortunately, this collection only partially conveys the Trio's very considerable talent. Whoever did the selection did them a disservice.

There are a few things you should know about this set, and then you should buy this set if you love the Trio.

Having read the other reviews, I am reminded that I was first very disappointed by this set. I had already seen the play list, so I knew what was (and was not) on the set.

Some of the remastering choices surprised me. My major surprise was the total lack of reverb on the cuts from College Concert, one of my favorite albums, which unfortunately, is not available on CD. One primary reason I bought this set was to get CD quality versions of songs from College Concert and Time to Think, "Stewart era" albums I particularly enjoy. The College Concert cuts sound strange without reverb, but it is also apparent that the reverb was added to the mix in post production. Had the room sound picked up in the mikes at the concert, it could not have been taken out.

And boy was I surprised at the EP version of Patriot Game which includes the spoken verse FIRST, and then the rest of the song.

However, after initial shocks like these, which took a while to get past, I realized that the quality of recording on this set is the best I have ever heard for Trio material. No, I'm not refering to the funky version of Fast Freight (which is a pre-Trio recording), but on the whole these recordings are of unbelievable quality. It is hard to imagine that recording of this fidelity is forty years old.

I guess I have failed to mention performance quality, but that is a given with the Trio. I agree that the song selection is slightly problematic, but only in relation to what is NOT here. I second the vote of the previous reviewer who would like To Be Redeemed to show up on CD.

Overall, this set is a gem. Whenever I have a friend over and want to impress them with what these guys did back in the 50's & 60's, these are the discs I use. I only hope we can get another release of this quality, and if we get the Stewart Era cuts that were missing (all respect to Dave, it's just that John's era has been neglected), I'll pay another $50 bucks.

Now that I have had Time to Think, maybe that's what Capitol has been planning all along. I can hope.

I've been a rabid Trio fan since 1962 (when I was 10 years old). As my turntable went the way of the dinosaur, I had to be content with listening to the Guard-era "double album" CD's, and the occasional compilation CD that was worth a damn (yeah, I know they had to overdub that word in "Greenback Dollar", but times have changed). When I first played "The Capitol Years", it gave me a rush that I hadn't had in a long time. There were favorite songs that had been forgotten, and unreleased versions that added to the personality of the Trio.

Some may quibble over song selection (I missed "To Be Redeemed", for example), but hey..... when over 100 songs are selected, it will be noone's "perfect" list. I found the selection outstanding.

This is probably the best money I have ever spent on CD's.... I recommend it without reservation.

In fall 1963 I was 10 years old living in Washington State. My mom bought three albums for me~ "Andy Griffith" "Rick Nelson" and...."21" by the Kingston Trio. (I still listen to Nelson, John Stewart, and, of course, the Trio) How glad I am to have many of the best cuts from that worn-out lp on this CD. "Try To Remember" "Run The Ridges" "Run River Down" take me back to when JFK was president, and the world was quite different, indeed. Thanks to the producers, and thanks to the Kingson Trio.

The Kingston Trio's music has been universally recognized to be a major influence in the popular folk music renaissance of the 50's and 60's. The superb blended harmonies, impeccable instrumentation, and pure, unadorned sound (save the overdubbed choruses which they employed to great effect later on) still please and satisfy critical listening.

There are many, many high points on this collection (Hobo's Lullaby, Run The Ridges, Buddy Better Get On Down The Line, Señora, The Mountains O'Mourne, to name just a few).

When this collection first came out it was very valuable, due to Capitol's lack of CD reissues of the Stewart Trio material and the scarcity of the Guard Trio CD reissues at the time. Due to a plethora of new reissues, though there are now many options to hear the entire oeuvre of the Trio.

If you can only afford a few discs, and want to get a great overview of these artists' work, this is a good one to buy.

I found hours of rich enjoyment on these discs. Sure I wanted to skip some tracks, but the wheat far outweighs the chaff. Highly recommended. You'll appreciate the song selection and understand that the Kingston Trio were among the first popular artists to record many songs that were later made famous by other artists.

[Also: check out the Decca reissues for more wonderful material, especially Nick-Bob-John.]

Simply, The Kingston Trio was (is) the greatest folk group ever- period. This 4 CD is great but actually only skims the surface of their output. Their harmonies, musicianship and choice of material is tops. If you like music, particularly folk music, get every KT CD you can. They ARE that good.

I enjoyed this collection a lot. A perfect mix of good music and nostalgia. I recommend it for any middle-aged plus fan of the TKT. That said, I have to admit I was left wondering what motivated the set's selection committee to exclude "Everlades", "Cory, Cory", "South Coast", "San Miguel", "Those Brown Eyes", "O Wimoweh", all those songs from the South Pacific, and instead, include "Home from the Hill" that according to the insert, the Trio would not have chosen to even record; two cuts of "Pullin' Away", beautiful song, but one is enough; two tunes in German translation intended for audiences in Germany; scratchy demos of "Run Joe" and "Fast Freight"; cuts from John Stewart's, pre-TKT group, The Cumberland Three, and Dave Guard's post-TKT group, The Whiskey Hill Singers; and I did hate the space taken up on the discs for those 7-UP shticks.

This CD has all the best Kingston Trio songs. I only wish it had Old Joe Clark on it. It would be perfect. It is a terrific collection to have of the Kingston Trio. For the Kingston Trio
collector like me, it is a must.

The Kingston Trio--both the Guard/Shane/Reynolds and the Shane/Renolds/Stewart lineups-- were hugely influential on folk, and rock, music that was created in their wake.

Forget "Tom Dooley" for a second. They recorded "Wimoweh" live on Aug. 16 1958--39 months before the Tokens' version (as "The Lion Sleeps Tonight") charted in Billboard. Using that publication's rating system, they were 5th highest charters between 1955 and 1990. They found and recorded songs in (at least) 6 languages and from (at least) 12 countries, and during some of their many recorded live song introductions, they found amusement in mixing many of these sources together.

If one played the "Kevin Bacon" film trivia game (in which one proves an association between a randomly selected film actor, writer, director, cinematographer, soundtrack composer, etc. to Mr. Bacon through intermediate commonalities)in music, I think the Kingston Trio would be an even better choice than the Beatles or Bob Dylan for links.

Ben Blake's notes about each song make up for all the generally enthusiastic but uninformative back cover texts I read as a youth. Capitol also generously (but appropriately) put Ron Furmanek, Bob Norberg, Bill Bush and Paul Surratt on this project, and they excelled in bringing to our ears a collection worth the attention of true fans, dabblers, musicologists and those of us with very fond childhood memories.

I'm overwhelmed that "Run The Ridges", my favorite song from my favorite Kingston Trio lp, is a favorite of other reviewers before me!

This is one of my favorite albums, and one of the greatest box sets ever from arguably the greatest folk group the US ever produced. All the Trio's beloved songs are here, and there are some fine, gorgeous rarities (there are many live songs here, like Reuben James and They Call the Wind Maria, that are positively gorgeous and wonderful). The whole set is wonderful, with rarely a dull moment. Even the radio jingles for 7 Up are really fun to listen to. The song Tom Dooley is here, and despite having listened to it over and over and over again, it still haunts me and it's still a wonderful, quinessential folk ballad. This is a real treasure of a set. Anyone who loves American folk music and The Kingston Trio should pick this set up.