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The Kingston Trio (John Stewart), SOMETHING SPECIAL and BACK IN TOWN (live).
Curiosity and Glen Campbell. I like the Ktrio, but nothing special about collecting them. The Kingston Trio was the biggest and most consistent "folk" calypso act that burst onto the scene in late '58 when their three guys strumming guitars and bongos collegiate act album singing old public doman songs (cost $1500 in the studio) sold 750,000 copies and blew up the genre'.
Dave Guard broke with the Kingston Trio in '61 wanting to make more artistic music and was replaced by John Stewart. Dave Guard's WHISKEYHILL SINGERS album, Capitol T/ST 1728, didn't do so much business (Billboard panned it because it was too much like a folk album), while the Trio's new lineup with John Stewart rolled along near the top of the album charts with CLOSE UP, T/ST 1642, COLLEGE CONCERT, T/ST 1658, and then Capitol closed the door on the Dave Guard years with a hits comp, THE BEST OF THE KINGSTON TRIO, T/ST 1705. It looks like the Ktrio and Capitol wanted to update the new John Stewart Kingston Trio's sound in early '62 by taking the group more middle-of-the-road strings and brass orchestra white pop with SOMETHING SPECIAL, Capitol T/ST 1747. Apparently the album didn't get commercially received all that well and the new Trio reverted to making a succession of the same albums for another year, with some minor evolution, like the new echo chamber and borrowing four songs from Billy Edd Wheeler's ODE TO THE LITTLE SHACK OUT BACK album on Kapp for hit singles ("The Reverend Mr. Black," "Greenback Dollar," and "Desert Pete," plus "Ann" on the BACK IN TOWN live album in '64).
Two songs on this SOMETHING SPECIAL are covers, "The Legend of Brown Mountain Light" was a Cash Box country chart hit for Sonny James on RCA and Tommy Faile on Choice. "Pullin' Away" here was covered on track one, side one, of the Serendipity Singers' debut Lp on Phillips Records, as "Waggoner Lad."
1964's BACK IN TOWN, Capitol T/ST 2081, their last new Capitol Lp. Consider that the Beatles' MEET THE BEATLES was Capitol T/ST 2047, and the immediately prior Capitol Lp was THE BEATLES SECOND ALBUM, T/ST 2080, which marked the end of Manifest Destiny folk dominating the pop charts. Per a box set, THE KINGSTON TRIO, THE CAPITOL YEARS, Glen Campbell is an uncredited guitar on this live BACK IN TOWN album (you can hear his lead 12-string guitar on most of the tracks; the CAPITOL YEARS box has stage patter and his introduction at the concert's taping), and there's also a ghost bass player on this live set, too. Buck Wheat had been the Ktrio's fourth member on the earlier albums, which makes the concert by the Kingston Quintet here. Right after this the Kingston Trio had several releases on Decca which didn't sell all that well and purportedly suffer from a "flat" sound recording for Decca.
- Audio CD (July 11, 2000)
- Number of Discs: 1
- Label: Collector's Choice
- ASIN: B00004TZZJ
- Average Customer Review: 11 customer reviews
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Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
#244,734 in CDs & Vinyl (See Top 100 in CDs & Vinyl)
- #160964 in Pop (CDs & Vinyl)
- #4356 in Traditional Folk (CDs & Vinyl)
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