Trini Lopez at PJ's [Live]

Trini Lopez | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 9, 2001)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Live
• Label: Reprise
• ASIN: B00005MHUJ
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #194,205 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. A-Me-Ri-Ca

2. If I Had a Hammer

3. Bye Bye Blackbird

4. Cielito Lindo

5. This Land Is Your Land

6. What'd I Say

7. La Bamba

8. Granada

9. Medley: Gotta Travel On

10. Down by the Riverside

11. Marianne

12. When the Saints Go Marching In

13. Volare

14. Unchain My Heart

Editorial Reviews

Includes his hit version of If I Had a Hammer, A-me-ri-ca, Bye Bye Blackbird, Cielito Lindo, This Land Is Your Land, What'd I Say, La Bamba, Granada, Medley: Gotta Travel On/Down by the Riverside/Marianne/When the Saints Go Marching In/Volare, and Unchain My Heart. 14 tracks. 2001 release.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "If I Had a Hammer" makes Trini Lopez a folk singing star, March 24, 2004

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Trini Lopez at PJ's (Audio CD)

With the release of this album in April 1963 Trini Lopez became one of the more unusual singing stars of the Folk Revival. "Trini Lopez at PJ's" made it to #2 on the Billboard charts and stayed in the Top 40 for about a year while the single "If I Had a Hammer" became Lopez's first hit. Lopez was actually the singer and guitar player for a folk trio that had Dick Brant on bass and Mickey Jones on drums. A key part of this album is that it is a live performance, which played to Lopez's strengths as an infectious and likeable performer. Not that Lopez was an overnight sensation. Buddy Holly had tried to get Lopez signed with his label, but prejudice against his ethnicity killed that deal and it was not until Frank Sinatra signed Lopez to his personal label, Reprise, that Lopez was able to record his first album under his own name.

Lopez's reputation as a folk singer was made on the strength of "If I Had a Hammer," which eventually sold five million copies and made it to #1 in over two-dozen countries around the world. A fair share of the songs here are indeed folk songs, such as as "This Land Is Your Land" and his medley of "Gotta Travel On" and "Down by the Riverside," but Lopez also plays on his Latin heritage by doing "A-Me-Ri-Ca" from "West Side Story," his own versions of "La Bamba" (the song that greets you at Lopez's official website), "Cielito Lindo," and "Granada." He even throws in a little Ray Charles by covering "What'd I Say." The common denominator for all these songs is Lopez's high energy.

Hoping to repeat the instant success of this album a second LP, "More Trini Lopez at PJ's" came out in August of that year, but it represents more of a shift away from folk and towards rock. Trini Lopez is one of those artists where his best album was the first one, and if you pick up anything beyond one of his better hits collections this would be the album.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Trini Lopez Memories!, June 27, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Trini Lopez at PJ's (Audio CD)

As a child in the 60's, I fondly remember listening to my parent's Trini Lopez albums. By the time I was old enough to play them myself, they had the familar scratching sounds that almost all our records had! When I was in college in the late seventies, I still had this great desire to listen to Trini Lopez. I went to all the resale shops in town and bought all the old Trini albums I could find! Years later, we now have the luxury of capturing Trini at his best on CD! I never thought the day would come that I could find Trini Lopez on a clear CD! Trini Lopez at PJ's brings back all the cherished memories of my childhood. Now when I listen to the CD, I imagine the PJ patrons sipping their drinks and clinking their glasses to the Latin beat. Yes, we have many new Latin-style singers, but none can compare to Trini's combination of Folk, Latin, and pure fun. No one can sing Bye Bye Blackbird the way Trini can. If you have Trini memories, this CD is a must!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Trini Lopez at P.J.'s, February 15, 2000

By 

STORCH (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Trini Lopez at PJ's (Audio CD)

For Trini Lopez fans, this is Trini at his absolute best. On this CD, you can hear the audience keeping time to Trini's tunes with their cocktail glasses, fists and feet. If you love Trini Lopez, this is a must have!