Customer Reviews

Cowboys and Indians

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This may not be the best known of all the superb New Christy Minstrels albums, but it exemplifies all that is wonderful in the music and songs of this incredibly talented and amiable ensemble. Here's the chance to hear such memorable but underplayed classics as "Ida Red" and Barry McGuire's rollicking "Three Wheels on my Wagon." But, as the man says, that's not all! There's an amazing 11 NCM bonus tracks on here that have been practically impossible to get before now. That alone is worth the price of this long-awaited CD. The songs are clear, crisp and they will have you wistful one moment and tapping your feet the next. This album is certainly a hidden treasure for all fans of folk, and for those fans of the NCM like me, who have been waiting a long time to finally see this Cowboys and Indians collection on a CD. Great liner notes make this a simply awesome package.

Great job, Tom! All the bonus tracks make this CD a "must" for all NCM fans!

It's performed by The New Christy Minstrels. That, alone says how great it is. There will never be another singing group like the NC minstrels.

With the right management, the New Christy Minstrels might have achieved so much more than they actually did. They nevertheless had a lot of success with their brand of folk music in the early sixties. By the time this album was recorded, the strains were already beginning to show, with many group members not happy for one reason or another. While western-themed music had been popular in previous decades, with the likes of Bing Crosby, Gene Autry, Tex Ritter, Frankie Laine and others having considerable success, 1964 seemed to be the wrong time to be recording such an album. Nevertheless, the resulting album is very good, and its twelve tracks are here augmented by eleven bonus tracks that are well worth hearing in their own right but have absolutely nothing to do with the original album.

Focusing on the original album's twelve tracks first, the standout is Three wheels on my wagon, a distinctive novelty song with Barry McGuire singing most of the vocals and the other singers providing backing vocals as required. I was surprised upon discovering that Burt Bacharach co-wrote this song, as it's not exactly the kind of song you expect from him, and I don't remember it appearing on any compilation or tribute album based on his songs. However, I regard this as one of the best novelty songs I've heard, and I've heard plenty. The remaining songs mostly credit group member Nick Woods and two of his songwriting friends as co-writers, but at least some of them are traditional songs that these three men adapted to the group's style. Highlights among them are Ida Red and They gotta quit kicking my dog around, but there are a lot of great songs here. It's certainly different from any other western-themed album you're likely to hear.

The first four bonus tracks were released on various singles in 1964, but didn't do much business commercially. They therefore became rarities, but the next three bonus tracks were never released at all until they appeared here, The last four bonus tracks are foreign language recordings aimed at markets in Ital and France.

This is a fascinating collection that nevertheless signalled the beginning of the end for the New Christy Minstrels as a commercial force in popular music. Barry McGuire left soon afterwards and had a major international solo hit with Eve of destruction, while staff turnover among group members continued.

I just like the sound and style of the New Christy Minstrels. The Cd's have excellent sound quality THe style is great. I recommend this cd if you like that style of folk music.

This CD brings back a lot of memories for my family. Weeks of traveling across the United States (we are retired military) playing these songs in the car. I gave it to my son (now 30) for Christmas this year and he was pleasantly surprised and immediately put it into the Bose to play. What fun!

By last "real" NCM album, I mean the real last professional folksingers in the group and possibly the last one where Grief and Garris didn't start screwing things up. A collection of folksongs, mainly oriented toward "the Old West," a clunker or two here and there, but well worth the price.