Customer Reviews

An Evening with the Kingston Trio

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This CD captures the Kingston Trio as only an onstage recording can. Witty remarks, even unplanned asides, take the listener back to the showmanship that rocketed this group to the top. Classics are included such as "Tom Dooley," "Wimoweh," "MTA," Where Have All the Flowers Gone" and "Scotch & Soda" as performed by Bob Shane, Nick Reynolds and John Stewart. This CD is great for the K-Trio fan.

My mother probably will have something to say about me calling her music "oldie". As a young child my parents would play a lot of the Kingston Trio. They had most of the Trio's albums, if not all of them, on vinyl. As soon as I learned how to work the record player, it was the Kingston Trio (along with my dad's Herb Alpert albums) that I played. Fortunately, as I grew older, my love for the Trio never stopped.

My favorites have always been the Trio's live albums. Their live albums are part music, and part standup comedy act. "An Evening with the Kingston Trio" keeps with the form. The space between songs is almost always segued with a joke or two. The Trio has fun for the entire night as you can hear in their voices.

The recording is not top quality, and can be recognized even more so on cd, and...it's in mono. Ugly, to say the least, but then again it was recorded live in 1962. Trio fans that used to listen to their albums on vinyl won't even notice the noise, and my even find it a bit nostalgic.

Most of their classics appear on this album. "MTA", the comical "The Shape of Things", "Coplas", and, yes, even "Tom Dooley". The only thing I find missing from this album are "Bandua" and "Greenback Dollar" (probably because they hadn't recorded it yet). Nick Reynolds, Bob Shane, and John Stewart (replacing Dave Guard) put together a great show that any Trio fan should own and love. They take liberties with their songs, which makes listening to the live versions different and fun.

This CD is a mono soundboard check of a concert intended to help new member John Stewart and Nick and Bob get ready for what would become their College Concert LP. The same songs are there, minus Voyle Gilmore's overdubs and reverb. Also a few cuts that are live here for the first time ever, such as Wagoner Lad (Pullin'Away). It is a fascinating look at a group breaking in a new member and trying out new material. The talking is hilarious (such as the best intro to Tom Dooley ever recorded!) I was rolling after that one! It is what it is (hardly a commercial release, and almost like one of those famous pirated recordings people sold in plain covers), but very enjoyable.

I've loved the Kingston Trio since I first heard MTA when I was in grade school. I had several of their vinyl albums all of which were recorded in the studio. I'm not a fan of live onstage recordings because of the usually poor recording quality. This album is no exception.

Most songs are performed with remarks I'm sure some people find witty but changing words to songs such as MTA and The Merry Minuet was very disappointing for me. Maybe if I had seen them on stage, I might have found this album more enjoyable. But the mangling of most of the songs was a great disappointment for me.

In short, I'm sorry I spent my money on this one.