The Kingston Trio

As they did with the Nick-Bob-John album, Folk Era has gone back and added the trace of Capitol Records echo-chamber ambience that lent the group's Capitol-era recordings their special resonance. This was a pretty strong album to begin with, some strong songs by Tom Paxton ("Where I'm Bound," "Bottle of Wine") and Rod McKuen ("Rusting in the Rain"), juxtaposed with bluegrass (Rodney Dillard's "Dooley") and one song ("Hanna Lee") more closely associated with cowboy singers like Marty Robbins and Johnny Western. And then there's the title song, an original in which The Kingston Trio sound a lot like Pete Seeger and singers of his generation. It's all surprisingly memorable, coming out of a period in which the Trio's records simply weren't selling, but the producers have added significantly to the CD, throwing on four bonus tracks from the group's never-reissued Something Else album, among them superb versions of Mason Williams' "Dancing Distance," Gordon Lightfoot's "Early Morning Rain" and Tom Paxton's "Last Thing On My Mind" (one of the four best versions this reviewer knows, the others being from The Seekers, Paxton himself, and the Move), and have also replaced the original album cut of "Yes I Can Feel It" with the superior single version. The result is a CD every bit as good, and perhaps better than many of the group's classic Capitol sides. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide