Customer Reviews

The Limeliters

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My father had this first Limeliters album when it first came out more than 40 years ago, and I learned to love the Limeliters at an early age. I was very excited when this album was released on CD. It is every bit as good as I remembers it being. I now enjoy listening to it with my two young daughters, 3 and 7, who now both request to hear songs from the CD while we ride in the car. "The Hammer Song" and "Charlie the Midnight Marauder" are my 3 year old's favorities, but I catch her singing "Zhankoye" to herself too. The Limeliters were a powerful folk group whose singing can be enjoyed by children of the 21st century just as it is enjoyed by me at 42, and as it was enjoyed by my father 40 years ago. Any Limeliter fan will need to own a copy of this, their first studio album. Anyone just interested in getting an interesting collection of folk tunes sung by a trio of great voices should also strongly consider this CD.

It took a long time, but this first Limeliters recording from Elektra Records finally was reissued in 2002, much to the delight of those of us who knew it well from its previous incarnation as an LP. This actually remains my favorite Limeliters recording, one that was played endlessly on our old family phonograph during my childhood. It still sounds terrific forty years later.

The distinctive Limeliters' sound involved a blending of fine individual voices. Perhaps best-known now is Glenn Yarborough, whose strong, high, soaring vocals were unique among folk artists. Also in fine form here is Lou Gottleib, previously established as one of the founders of the still largely underappreciated San Francisco group, The Gateway Singers.

As for the album itself, there isn't a bad track to be found. Many of the songs are humorous, including the upbeat, light-hearted rendition of "Malagena Saldarosa," "Gari Gari," "The Bear Chase," and the contemporary parody of suburban tract home life, "Charlie the Midnight Marauder." In a more serious vein, the group does fine interpretations of "Take My True Love By the Hand" and "Zhankoye," and Peter, Paul, and Mary fans will find interesting the Limeliters' earlier version of "The Hammer Song." Perhaps strangely, the most recognized tune on the album might well be "When I First Came To This Land," which the group subsequently redid as a Folgers' coffee commercial.

Overall, this is simply splendid music that harkens back to an apparently bygone era when folk music on occasion "crossed over" to become widely popular.

I very much enjoy the product (The Limeliters) and I appreciate how you handled my order. I would be interested to purchase more disks if available.

Best wishes,

Eytan Bentsur

It was great to revisit this music. I last heard it on my old vinyl.

Let me first say that I have been a Limeliters fan since they first appeared on the scene in the late 50's. I own every recording I can find of these guys. I recently purchased both "Chicago Tapes" with great anticipation. I have to say I was very disappointed. The recording quality is dismal. It sounds like the signal on the master tapes bled through to other layers, and we hear a distorted echo all through both CDs, and the vocals are poorly mixed. Lou Gotleib (rest his soul) sounds as if he did not survive his hippy days in the sixties with all his faculties intact. He rehashes the same old gag lines with limited audience response. If you are a diehard fan (like me), then you may still want these CDs, but don't look for the spark that used to make the Limeliters so exciting. The 1973 recording of Glen and the boys in concert contains most of the same material, and sounds much beter.