Customer Reviews

In the Wind

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

If you are curious about Peter, Paul and Mary this is the place to start. A wondeful album that hits many chords for me personally. The way music was meant to be performed. Acoustically, able to be reproduced around a camp fire with little effort. Have guitar, will travel. And the harmonies are out of this world.

On a more personal note this album has touched many areas of my life, some I did not realize until later in life. My brother turned me on to Peter, Paul and Mary and made me a tape, of which this entire album was on, plus other songs. I did not realize the entire album was included until I bought this album. Then, I realized, that many of these songs we had sung in music class throughout elementary and junior high and I never knew they were Peter, Paul and Mary. And finally, this was the one tape that my dad and I could both enjoy together during a drive.

Trying not too make this review to personal I will turn back to the music. Taken individually the songs are very good. Take as a whole the album is great. A terrific indroduction to the music of Peter, Paul and Mary. One their greatest efforts ever and a contribution to any music collection.

"In the Wind" was the third album put out by Peter, Paul & Mary and was so successful that when it hit #1 on the Billboard album charts it dragged their two previous albums back into the Top 10 as well. The album was released in October 1963, which meant is was only a month before the assassination of JFK and a few months before the arrival of the Beatles heralded the British Invasion. But at this point in musical history the folk music revival was in full flower.

The first two singles from this album were also what popularized the music of Bob Dylan. "Blowin' in the Wind" made it to #2 on the charts while "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" made it to #9. PP&M also recorded a third and unreleased Dylan song, "Quit Your Low Down Ways." Their cover of "Stewball" was the third single released and made it to #35. The fourth single from the album, "Tell It on the Mountain" (#33), is an alternative version of the African-American spiritual "Go Tell It on the Mountain," that shifts the meaning from the Nativity of Jesus to the Exodus, with the refrain "Let my people go" easily adaptable to the Civil Rights movement.

Two of the other standout songs are the haunting traditional tune "All My Trials," and the opening track, "Very Last Day," which is a rare original song by the group. The only knock against PP&M is that they are popularizers of folk music rather than musical innovators, but when you listen to their three part harmonies and the earnestness they provide to each performance (in contrast to the peppy sound of groups like the New Christie Minstrels), that hardly seems to be negative idea.

This CD brings back all the power and excitement of the PP&M concert that introduced me to their music in the 60's. I bought the first of many guitars right after and I still play their original arrangements. I had all their albums but they got stolen and I hadn't replaced them. So, I just bought all the CD's. "Very Last Day" really shook me. And now, I just can't stop playing it and sharing it with friends. Truly, if you don't know their music or haven't listened for a while, play this track. Then, let the wonderful contrasts of successive tracks on this CD roll right on. Its an absolute treasure. Their best.

I have been a PPandM fan since 1963 when I was given their first album for my 14th birthday. They were the first singers/musicians I ever saw in concert. I saw them many times over the years.

This CD, In The Wind, is by far the best recording they have done. The harmonies are incomparable. Nobody after them sounded as good. The acoustic guitar playing is brilliant. Peter and Paul created a duo guitar style that has never been matched. The engineering is the best I have ever heard for acoustic instruments in over 30 years. Now that the music is on CD it is more beautiful and wonderful than ever. I still get goosebumps when I hear it today.

This CD is a treasure.

"In The Wind" has become one of my all-time favorite albums. As much as I love the debut, it is "In the Wind" that I love with a strong passion. This album hit #1 on Billboard's album chart it's second week on the chart. It should be noted that "Peter, Paul & Mary" and "Moving" were already in the Top 10 and had been when "In the Wind" was released. It did not drag the other two back into the Top 10; they had been there for months preceeding the release of this wonderful album, which went on to be one of the biggest selling albums of 1964. Deservedly so.

The vocals on this album are sublime-emotional, beautiful and dazzling. As always, Paul and Peter's guitar work is extraordinary (as is the bass work of Edgar deHaas). The songs they chose to record for this album are sung with conviction, belief and testimony, among them All my Trials; Tell it On the Mountain; Long Chain On; Very Last day; and Polly Von. Their versions of Dylan's Don't Think Twice, It's Alright and especially Blowin' in the Wind are definitive. Not one less than great track on this album.

This is an album I cherish and am under its spell each and every time I play it. With "In the Wind" Peter, Paul & Mary recorded an album that is spiritual and its impact everlasting.

I am rather proud to be able to say that this was the first record I ever bought-at the age of 12! Considering I lived in the land of the Beatles that says a lot for the powerful effect that PP&M's music had at the time. It became quite fashionable to write this trio off as urban folkies more in tune with Tin Pan Alley than 'real' folk music. But listen to this beautifully performed album. Despite their reputation for sugary versions, listen to the three Dylan tracks, beautiful renderings all. Stewball is a classic. They produced other fine albums during the 60's-in fact most of them were excellent but I guess this stands out as the perfect example of why PP&M were so popular. There is a freshness that is difficult to define.

Together with their first album this great album represents the best of Peter Paul and Mary's work. The harmonies on the Dylan classics are incomparable, giving the songs the classic stature that Dylan himself could not, but the real strength of the album is its depth, with the exception of Polly Von which is a little sappy, every song here grabs the listener with its great acoustic guitar playing and priceless arrangement, and they cover a range of styles and emotions, from the gritty but tongue in cheek Quit Your Lowdown Ways to the breezy Freight Train to the lament All My Trials to the near spiritual Long Chain On. I cannot imagine three voices ever again blending and weaving in and out the way PP&M do, and theirs was truly the voice of a generation.

I had forgotten how great Peter Paul and Mary are until I bought several of their CDs, which are extremely high quality remastered recordings. I think this album is the very best of the collection. It showcases the group at its finest instrumentally, vocally and as song writers. The Dylan classics on this album are superb, and the album includes some of the finest examples of PP&M's song writing: "Go Tell It On the Mountain", "Freight Train", "Very Last Day", and "Stewball". All in all, it is exceptional listening and a qualilty musical experience from the best of the folk singing groups when they were at their very best.

The original album and songs are just the greatest ever. So, I ordered the CD and on EVERY song, the very last part of each song is cut off before it is finished, which is so disturbing.

Great song selection, fabulous sonics, good cover artwork, what's not to love? Perhaps the best album of the Folk Era, and definitely PP&M's best work. I'm first, foremost, and forever a Kingston Trio fan, but this album is better than any one KT album,(sorry Bob, Nick and John)with the possible exception of "Time To Think" which was released at exactly the same time.
Maybe there really was something "In the Wind" then.