Customer Reviews

Complete Vanguard Studio Recordings

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This box set is a special treat for fans of folk music & those who have well-worn vinyl recordings. The book in itself makes fascinating reading. Hearing the stories of Bob Dylan before he started writing as a singer who'd hit on women just to have a place to sleep rather than for romance gives a feel for the scene that spawned this great era. Then hearing what surprise Sylvia had when Dylan's songs were so good brings the legend some humanity. The bickering between the ex's is also pretty good with Sylvia talking about Ian's claim that he did songs just to please her, "That's a crock!"

The main attraction is the music, a diamond that still sparkles these nearly 40 years later. Some of my favorites are "C.C. Rider" where Bill Lee's bass runs gleefully amok over the arrangement. "Un Canadien Errant" has such a sad, lovely melody. Of course, "You Were On My Mind" and "Some Day Soon" are classic tunes. "When I Was A Cowboy" is one great folk boogie, bursting with energy. "Lonely Girls" is a strong song, nice to revisit. I loved the Bacharach/David "24 Hours from Tulsa" even though I often recall Gene Pitney as I hear it. (The book lists the author as "David" Bacharach!?!) Ian & Sylvia's recording of fellow Canadian Joni Mitchell's "Circle Game" helped launch that legendary career. Sylvia's "Hold Tight" has a melody that pops like a jack-in-the-box while Ian sounds Dylanesque on vocals. "Cutty Wren" has been one of my favorite folk tunes since college, and one of the most violent since "3 Blind Mice." "How will you cut her up? said Millner to Mollner..." I love Ian & Sylvia's rendition of Dylan's "This Wheel's On Fire"; it has energy and strength that propel the melody. Sylvia's dramatic "Southern Comfort" is wonderful, "Didn't I lie, lie, lie, didn't I?" The amazing thing about this music is that it is aging so well; it still sounds vital and relevant these decades later. Vanguard's done a wonderful job with this box set. Enjoy!

It is indeed a pleasure to have all of Ian & Sylvia's Vanguard albums in one neat box set as well as the handsome booklet with notes by Colin Escott (though many of them are derived from his 1994 Ian Tyson Auto/Biography "I Never Sold My Saddle"). While, for the most part, this set is a welcome alternative to my well-worn vinyl versions, at times the digital transfers reveal limitations not apparent in the analog versions. The album Play One More, for instance, sounds thin (on disc 3) in a back-to-back comparison with the vinyl. And the "previously unreleased" track "Je T'aime Marielle" turns out to be a version of disc 3's "Si Les Bateaux" without the strings. On the other hand, the 20-bit transfer of Nashville (a much-underrated album and the duo's last for Vanguard)is far superior to the CD version issued previously by the label.

Of course, I'm a big Ian & Sylvia fan, and the set brings back many fond youthful memories of listening to the duo on my parents' living room stereo and of seeing them perform live at the legendary Cellar Door in Washington, DC. With the availability of this set, and (either domestically or as imports) both MGM albums, the first Great Speckled Bird, and the first Columbia album, perhaps someone can be persuaded to reissue 1972's You Were on My Mind, so we can have a complete record of Ian & Sylvia searing and soaring harmonies, as well as their quirky innovations in both folk and country-flavored rock.

Folk music has been attracting more interest from both ends of the critical spectrum. Vanguard had good reason to reissue this 4 CD set of one of the greatest folk duos of all time. On the other hand some critics have reacted to the recent interest in the period (as indicated by the movie, A Mighty Wind) to poke gentle fun at or write off folk music and its key players as out of date (f ex the Sunday Times of London, which referred to the music of the era as "better left dead and buried" and Ian & Sylvia as "an obscure Canadian folk singing group" ).There's no better way to decide where you are on the divide than to buy this terrific collection and give it the many hours of listening that are due. To be clear, Ian & Sylvia were never part of the Burle Ives, Kingston Trio faux folk scene. They were and always have been, all apologies to the Kerry campaign, the Real Deal. Here's why : the music - a collection of originals from their best albums by both Ian and Sylvia, who continue their excellent songwriting today, traditional songs, covers of Dylan and other artists, and progressive expansions into folk rock and country music, has lasted and it endures. The quality, uniqueness and professionalism of Ian & Sylvia were compelling in its time and continue to captivate listeners globally ; and indeed there are very few duos out there today which have this range or depth in vocals and energy. Since the music itself is primarily traditional, what separates Ian & Sylvia from the rest is their distinctive combination of voices, their sublime harmonies, and their studio work, which was flawless. You can hear a number of these songs by other folk artists, but few of them stick to the mind and soul as these versions do, and their own classics such as "Some Day Soon" and "Four Strong Winds" continue to resonate through their own recordings and those of artists who covered them. This set succeeds in preserving and promoting for the future a powerful legacy of remarkable music which the group's many fans (as can be seen on numerous web sites on the group)and newcomers will appreciate. And if you are interested in what happened since their break up, take a look at Ian Tyson's remarkable career as a country and cowboy song artist starting with his Canadian platinum "Cowboyography" album throuhg the latest "Live at Longview" and Sylvia's work as leader of the all women Canadian group 'Quartet'. The combined work over 40 years including this seminal collection is simple awesome.

Listen to their ascending harmonies at the end of the southern folk classic "Old Blue" and you'll hear two parallel lines of even tone that perfectly express the paradox of loss: the simultaneous joy and sorrow inside the aching arc of remembering an animal companion.

They sing folk songs they way they were meant to be sung: purely, but without affecting a "traditional" (whatever the hell that was, or is) stance and without pandering to then-contemporary musical tastes.

From old-time music to gospel, French-Canadian chanson, work songs, cowboy laments and more, their readings of these songs have stood the test of time.

As interest in both folk music and the last folk revival (in the early to mid-1960s) returns, Vanguard gives us a boxful of everything Ian and Sylvia recorded for that label between 1963 and 1968. Though the Tysons went on to record mostly unmemorable records for MGM and Columbia, it was on Vanguard that Ian and Sylvia did their finest work -- a dizzying range of songs exploring, largely successfully, Anglo-Celtic ballads, blues, spirituals, cowboy songs, country, originals, Dylan, and more.

By Nashville, their last (most of Disc #4), artistic exhaustion is setting in, though it also has Ian's powerfully rendered tragedy "The Renegade." But before the Tysons ran out of energy, there was no better duo on the folk scene, and few more accomplished writers than Ian. It's hard to believe that his very first composition was "Four Strong Winds" (one of two nontraditional cuts on Disc #1; tradition is mistakenly credited as writer of "Royal Canal," actually penned by Dominic Behan).
In Disc #2, still traditional in good part, we're hearing more originals, including the great old-sounding "Four Rode by." The Tysons were among the very first artists to cover Gordon Lightfoot, introducing the still marvelous "Early Morning Rain" and the still shockingly misogynistic "For Lovin' Me."

Ian and Sylvia never abandoned traditional music, but by #3 originals and covers dominate. Among the former it's one wonderful song after another: "Short Grass" (anticipating the later, solo Ian Tyson, balladeer of the modern West), "The French Girl," "Lonely Girls," "Wild Geese," and more. There's also the lovely cover of Phil Ochs's "Changes" and the bluegrass-inflected "Molly and Tenbrooks" (Steve Gillette and Linda Albertano's rewrite of a 19th-Century ballad best known through Bill Monroe's recording).

Nearly everything they touch turns to gold. Among the dross is Bacharach/David's "Twenty Four Hours from Tulsa" (#3), a faux country song which demonstrates only that country songs should be left to the professionals. The psychedelic-folk David Rea song "90 Degrees by 90 Degrees" on Disc #4 is as pretentious and unlistenable as always, and the Tyson/Tyson collaboration "Ballad of the Ugly Man" (#4) is merely depressing. The basement-tape Dylan songs ("The Mighty Quinn" and "Wheels on Fire"), also on #4, are decent but undistinguished.

Occasional missteps aside, this collection is almost shockingly crowded with first-rate songs and, what's more, first-rate performances. Colin Escott's liner notes, which offer a he-said/she-said perspective from the long-divorced couple, are an added delight.

I won't bother to duplicate Richard Flynn's review. I think he is right on target. The music, as always, is a pleasure to listen to. However, some of the digital remastering is a bit on the cool and thin side, lacking the warmth of the original vinyls. On too many songs, the voices are placed too far forward and some of the very fine guitar work by Monte Dunn and John Herald takes a back seat. I believe this is only noticeable with a really good sound system. Most people will not notice.

Nevetheless, I will have many more hours of enjoyment from this wonderful duo and will no longer have to listen to the crackle of my worn out vinyl records. The notes are first rate.

What distinguished Ian and Sylvia was a driving respect for music, and Ian strong roots in real Western music, and a musical integrity and ingenuity that surpassed that of most "folksingers" of their period. They never drifted off into the direction of smooth pop oriented singing. There might have been the usual attempt to take them in a "folk rock" direction in the last years they were together, something they did take seriously and made fun of from the stage of their performances in the late 1960s.

However, these recordings have a strength of their commiment to music that has the bite, the twang, the strength, and the snap of real folk music and of folk originated blues and country music. The standards of production particularly their work with the great guitarists Johnny Herald and Monte Dunn, not to mention Ian Tyson's own developing skill with the guitar, and the tastefulness of the ensembles has not been matched since in acoustic music.

Ian and Sylvia's music works now even when the pop folk sensibility that surrounded them has deservedly withered away. I spend a lot of time talking with, playing with, hanging out with people who treasure completely traditional folk music which is not at all what Ian and Sylvia ever pretended to play, although especially at the beginning it was one of their most important sources. I have found even three or four decades after the duo ended, that a tremendous respect and a lot of listening goes on to Ian and Sylvia which is not true for other folkies like Joan Baez or Bob Dylan.

Of course, Ian Tyson continued a great career of his own, longer and actually larger than what happened with Ian and Sylvia as a writer of songs rooted in his Canadian Western origins. The skills unveiled in songs like "You were on my mind" and "Four strong winds" have won Ian a bunch of Grammies and Junos (the Canadian equivalent). He is still out there performing, making great albums and being who he has always been, a straight shooter, a no bs artist.

Sometime in the 1980s, an urban legend appeared that is still strong that Sylvia Fricker had died, killed herself, or otherwise left this life. She is very much alive, still singing, and over the years has done great folk oriented shows for the CBC.

Oh, one thing I forgot.

Aside from all this analysis, Ian and Sylvia are just so darned good that anyone with ears desperately needs to have as much of their music as they can either afford or steal!

Listen to their ascending harmonies at the end of the southern folk classic "Old Blue" and you'll hear two parallel lines of even tone that perfectly express the paradox of loss: the simultaneous joy and sorrow inside the aching arc of remembering an animal companion.

They sing folk songs they way they were meant to be sung: purely, but without affecting a "traditional" (whatever the hell that was, or is) stance and without pandering to then-contemporary musical tastes.

From old-time music to gospel, French-Canadian chanson, work songs, cowboy laments and more, their readings of these tunes have stood the test of time.

Although I already owned all the albums from Vanguard that Ian and Sylvia have produced, I purchased this one as soon as I saw that it was available. Their music was without parallel and with the remastering and clearer cd sound it is well worth the cost to add it to your collection. I know that for many a cd just doesn't compare to the old LP's and to an extent I agree, but to have this much music on just four discs is irresistible. An awesome collection from an awesome pair of singers.

If you've seen the folk music mockumentary 'A Mighty Wind' you'll remember Mitch and Mickie, the canadian duo that had that perfect chemistry and created some of the folk 'anthems' of their generation - well, Ian and Sylvia are their real-life counterparts. This CD box-set covers every I&S Vanguard release. The songs are a great mixture of originals, covers (early Dylan, Lightfoot, among others), and traditional (blues, appalachian, british isles). Over the course of these four discs Ian & Sylvia evolve from tradional acoustic folkies to singer-songwriters making country-tinged electrified rock. The sound quality of this collection is excellent. If you are or Ian & Sylvia - or Mitch & Mickie - you need these DCs.