Customer Reviews

New Frontier/Time to Think

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4 star:		(2)
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This twofer is one of the best deals you can get by the Kingston Trio. The album New Frontier is considered one of their best anyway and is worth the price of this selection. Add another album and you have a steal. I'm just glad to see that something besides greatest hits collections are being released by the Kingston Trio. They should be heard not just for the hits. These guys can play guitar and banjo pretty fine also. Plus their harmonies are not too shabby. Overall, this is a good buy.

How wonderful that original Kingston Trio albums, in their entirety, are being issued affordably as two-for-one packages with original cover artwork. These albums are from the John Stewart period (1962-67) of the Trio, and his songwriting skills were quite an asset. "Song for a Friend" was inspired by the then recent assassination of President John F. Kennedy. "The First Time" later became a top hit for Roberta Flack. "Greenback Dollar" was controversial among radio DJs, who bleeped the word 'damn' from the lyrics during airplay. These albums were released near the end of a much more civil period in our history than the time which soon followed. The gentle sounds and thoughtful lyrics are to be treasured.

If you own those three albums above and these two albums..."The New Frontier" and "Time to Think"...then you own the very best of the Kingston Trio...."The New Frontier" came out when JFK got elected and "Time to Think" within a month or so after JFK was gunned down.....It is like a musical history lesson for the early 60's. "Time to Think" is the most mature and truly emotion laden albums the Kingston Trio ever did...regardless of the groups composition. I consider it one of the top five folk albums EVER made and certainly the Kingston Trio's ultimate achievement and finest contribution to truly American folk music. I got this album as a Christmas present in 1963 when I was 15 years old...a sophomore in high school in L.A. Just about every single song on both these albums is great on the first listen...the quality of the recordings especially on "Time to Think" is about as good as it gets even by today's standards so these translate to CD very well.

With all the mediocre music being popped out today....to find TWO albums like this for one low price is certainly the bargain of the year! These two albums MUST be part of your collection for folk music in gereral and certainly for the Kingston Trio. "Time to Think" was member John Stewart's finest moment ever in his long singing career since he is prominent on many songs on this album...

In my humble opinion, the Trio gave it all up for the remainder of their careers on this one album and to some extent "The New Frontier" which is crafted with exteme skill also...

Again ..the quality of the recording on "Time to Think" is superb....these two albums will stand the test of time for decades to come. Spend the money and buy this double album....

Out of all the twofers reissued by the great folks at Collector's Choice Music, this is the best one. The Kingston Trio were arguably the best folk group ever, and these songs are so wonderful, vivid, sincere, and real you can't help but love them. The Trio proved that your music could be intelligent, tuneful, fun, and serious at the same time, and still be popular. All of these songs are worth listening to over and over and over again. Even the censored, "single" version of Greenback Dollar is kind of fun (the original is here too). Some of my personal favorites are Some Fool Made a Soldier of Me, The Patriot Game, and Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream. They're all anti-war songs, but they're not specific about what war, which is what makes them so effective. To Be Redeemed and My Lord What a Mornin' are amazing spirituals. Hobo's Lullaby is incredibly haunting. This is really a trememdous album. It's really incredible that this is later Trio, that they managed to top themselves with 2 magnificent albums. Thank you, gentlemen....

These two albums from '62 and '63 are probably the best of the John Stewart era (1962-67) of the The Kingston Trio -- brimming with the optimism of a new generation and JFK's New Frontier, and then forlornly ruminating in the aftermath of his assassination while still exuding an elusive glimmer of hope. One can probably say these hearken back to a more "civilized" time, but when heard in retrospect, they drip with strangely profound irony and timeless yearnings.

Personal favorites are "Greenback Dollar" (radio stations had to bleep the word "damn"), "The New Frontier", "Ally, Ally Oxen Free", "Hobo's Lullaby", "Coal Tattoo", "These Seven Men" (i.e., the Mercury astronauts), and "If You Don't Look Around".

There's also "Seasons in the Sun" (yes, that one, but sounding more "continental" here), and "The First Time" (later re-arranged for Roberta Flack and made a hit).