Washington Square Memoirs: The Great Urban Folk Boom [Box set]

Washington Square Memoirs: The Great Urban Folk Boom [Box set]

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
It was distinctly ironic: at the very zenith of America's postwar space-age love affair with TV, 3-D, and rock & roll (and other disposable cultural ephemera), a grassroots movement set out to recapture the country's lost musical heritage. These curious minds not only found it in a wealth of seemingly forgotten protest songs, spiritual blues, and country laments, but also forged new songs in its image. That this crusade sprang from lower Manhattan's Washington Square and the doorstep of New York University made the paradox all the sweeter. Ted Myers, the producer of this triple-disc anthology, grew up just blocks from the epicenter of that folk-quake, and his generous sense of place and time permeates this rich collection. Generally misunderstood and historically pigeonholed, the era finally gets its due, chronicled here by 72 tracks that extend far beyond the roots-conscious work of Woody Guthrie, the Weavers, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, and Pete Seeger on one hand, and the more popular material by the Kingston Trio, Limeliters, Joan Baez, and Bob Dylan on the other. Culturally, the Folk movement was the alt-rock of its day--if eminently more conscious of history and politically committed. Musically, it encompassed an ethos that enthusiastically blurred the boundaries between blues, Appalachian ballads, jug music, pure country, honky-tonk, work songs, and even unbridled novelty; this set explores them all, often with a palpable sense of discovery. Historically, the movement championed preservation at the same time it gleefully tweaked old sensibilities in pursuit of new inspiration. Listen and you'll hear music that became touchstones for artists as diverse as the Byrds, Roberta Flack, Rod Stewart, and--wittingly or not--every passionate coffeehouse minstrel who's strode on stage with a guitar ever since. --Jerry McCulley

Tracks:

Hard Travelin' - Woody Guthrie
Old Man Atom (Talking Atomic Blues) - Sam Hinton
Black, Brown And White - Big Bill Broonzy
Nottamun Town - Jean Ritchie
Darlin' Cory - Ed McCurdy
One Meat Ball - Josh White
Little Boxes - Malvina Reynolds
I Was Born 10,000 Years Ago - Oscar Brand
Midnight Special - Cisco Houston
Wasn't That A Time - The Weavers
Spanish Is A Loving Tongue - Glenn Yarbrough
Swannanonoa Tunnel - Erik Darling
Sportin' Life - Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee
South Coast - Randy Sparks
Molly Dee - The Kingston Trio
I've Been Driving On Bald Mountain/Water Boy (live) - Odetta
Raspberries, Strawberries - Bud & Travis
The Hammer Song (live) - Pete Seeger
Chase The Rising Son - The Journeymen
Don't Let Your Deal Go Down - The New Lost City Ramblers
Betty And Dupree (live) - Bob Gibson & Bob Camp
Coplas De Amor - Cynthia Gooding
San Francisco Bay Blues - Ramblin' Jack Elliott
The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face - Peggy Seeger
Greenback Dollar - Hoyt Axton
Swing And Turn Jubilee - Carolyn Hester
Another Man - Barry & Barry

Tracks:

Walk Right In - The Rooftop Singers
He Was A Friend Of Mine - Dave Van Ronk
Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream 0 The Chad Mitchell Trio
Nora's Dove (Dink's Song) - The Big Three
500 Miles - Hedy West
Four Strong Winds - Ian & Sylvia
I Can't Help But Wonder Where I'm Bound - Tom Paxton
Blowin' In The Wind - Peter, Paul & Mary
Fog Horn - Bob Gibson
High Flying Bird - Judy Henske
Boots Of Spanish Leather - Bob Dylan
You'se A Viper - Dave Van Ronk & The Ragtime Jug Stompers
Four In The Morning - Jesse Colin Young
Euphoria - The Holy Modal Rounders
There But For Fortune - Joan Baez
Take Your Fingers Off It - The Even Dozen Jug Band
Brother, Can You Spare A Dime? - Judy Roderick
Tear Down The Walls - Martin & Neil
Morning Dew (live) - Bonnie Dobson
Jordan's River - The Modern Folk Quartet
What's The Matter With The Mill - Koerner, Ray & Glover
Cod'ine - Buffy Sainte-Marie
Joshua Gone Barbados - Eric Von Schmidt
Take A Whiff On Me - The Greenbriar Boys
Get Together - Hamilton Camp

Tracks:

The Wabash Cannonball (live) - The Limeliters
I Ain't Marching Anymore - Phil Ochs
Pack Up Your Sorrows - Richard & Mimi Farina
Drop Down Mama - John Hammons
Rag Mama - Jim Kweskin & The Jug Band
Bells Of Rhymney - John Denver
Early Morning Rain - Gordon Lightfoot
Thirsty Boots - Eric Andersen
Reason To Believe - Tim Hardin
Just Like A Woman - Richie Havens
The Motorcycle Song (live) - Arlo Guthrie
The Dolphins - Fred Neil
Wondrous Love - Kathy & Carol
Once I Was - Tim Buckley
The Circle Game - Tom Rush
These 23 Days In Semptember - David Blue
Candy Man - Taj Mahal
Then Came The Children - Paul Siebel
School Days - Loudon Wainwright III

Amazon.com

It was distinctly ironic: at the very zenith of America's postwar space-age love affair with TV, 3-D, and rock & roll (and other disposable cultural ephemera), a grassroots movement set out to recapture the country's lost musical heritage. These curious minds not only found it in a wealth of seemingly forgotten protest songs, spiritual blues, and country laments, but also forged new songs in its image. That this crusade sprang from lower Manhattan's Washington Square and the doorstep of New York University made the paradox all the sweeter. Ted Myers, the producer of this triple-disc anthology, grew up just blocks from the epicenter of that folk-quake, and his generous sense of place and time permeates this rich collection. Generally misunderstood and historically pigeonholed, the era finally gets its due, chronicled here by 72 tracks that extend far beyond the roots-conscious work of Woody Guthrie, the Weavers, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, and Pete Seeger on one hand, and the more popular material by the Kingston Trio, Limeliters, Joan Baez, and Bob Dylan on the other. Culturally, the Folk movement was the alt-rock of its day--if eminently more conscious of history and politically committed. Musically, it encompassed an ethos that enthusiastically blurred the boundaries between blues, Appalachian ballads, jug music, pure country, honky-tonk, work songs, and even unbridled novelty; this set explores them all, often with a palpable sense of discovery. Historically, the movement championed preservation at the same time it gleefully tweaked old sensibilities in pursuit of new inspiration. Listen and you'll hear music that became touchstones for artists as diverse as the Byrds, Roberta Flack, Rod Stewart, and--wittingly or not--every passionate coffeehouse minstrel who's strode on stage with a guitar ever since. --Jerry McCulley

Customer Reviews:

The BEST Folk Revival Collection PERIOD.......2005-01-12

I'm not one who is too fast to gush about a slick cd set but even after owning it for a couple years I can't say enough about this one.

First and foremost is the varied and intelligent song selection that blends, in chronological order, traditional, folk-blues, Cambridge jug band revival, early and later protest songs, and the birth of the singer-songwriter era. The selections seem to have been chosen for their musical integrity, not just to represent a certain sub-genre or for sentimental value. Out of 72 cuts, there's only about 5 that I don't like, often because they were performed with an earnestness seems silly today. Mericfully, there is no Kumbaya.

This set also mixes the best known icons of the era (Dylan, Baez, PP&M) with those who are well known to fans of the music but perhaps less so by the public (Ochs, Paxton, Odetta, Brand, von Ronk) and greater performers and writers who may be unknown to younger audiences because they've mostly been undeservedly out of print the last few decades (Hamilton Camp, Carolyn Hester, "Rick" (ha!) Von Schmidt, Hedy West, Judy Henske, Rounders).

Best of all, unlike pretty much all the other sets out there, this one has very few pop-folk songs mixed in. No doo-wop Wimoweh, Coca Cola commercials, or Gordon Jenkins string sections, not that those recordings can't be enjoyed on other terms. There is just so much more meat here than in the larger sets you may have seen on TV that it this set is worth the premium prices used copies are starting to sell for.

The booklet has intersting notes on the songs and performers, although some seem to be recylced and not original to this set. And there are sine pictures that melted my heart. A teenage Mary Travers with friends in WSP in 1955 (may she have a speedy recovery from her health challenges)!

Finally, the sound quality is mostly very good. I have several of the original pressings and generally the versions on this set sound better.

Oh yeah, The Motorcyle Song is the hard to find long talking verion!

Best folk revival anthology ever!!.......2001-11-10

Since CDs started predominating the form in which music is available to the consumer, there have been many folk reissues. But this one is by far, the best collection of reissues I've seen or heard. It's only problem -- if it's even a problem -- is that after you've listened to all 72 tracks, you're left wanting more. The sound quality too is excellent. Go for it!

A Satisfying Compendium.......2001-07-20

About 6 years ago, I bought Rhino's "Troubadours of the Folk Era" CD's. They introduced me to many folk singers whom I now know intimately. Taking that one better, Rhino now has this 3 CD set with pictures, liner notes and personal essays. Buyer beware, if you do have the Troubadours CD's, you may be disappointed to learn that many of the same recordings do pop up here. The good news is that there is a wealth of other material here to select from. Joni Mitchell is explained as not appearing due to licensing restrictions in this collection, yet oddly, she appeared on the Troubadour series. Conversely, Dylan appears here although he was not on Troubadours. The times are a'changin' I guess. I do have some minor quibbles with the material selected... "There but for Fortune" is not, in my opinion, the best Joan Baez choice for this collection, as it was released later in the 60's and doesn't have as much of that Washington Square flavor as say, "We Shall Overcome" or any of her broadside ballads do. Also, why do they select "Codine" from Buffy Sainte Marie, which is one of the hardest songs of hers to appreciate at first listening? Also, with lesser known artists such as Judy henske whose older material is NOT available on CD, why do we have "High Flying Bird" yet again, as on Troubadours? It's an amazing song, but for those of us starved for Henske, another selection would have been adequate.

That said, this is still worth having, for its historical impact and musical pleasure. Enjoy!

Boomer nostalgia trip.......2001-07-07

I can't write about this CD in the third person as the other reviewers have because many of the songs bring up vivid memories of the singers and other events happening at the time that were related to those songs. I'm listening to this CD at work, and I would have gotten through all three CDs if I didn't keep repeating some of the songs endlessly. As one who owned about half of these songs on LP, if I were to create a CD with representative songs of the era, many of the same songs would be on it.

Some of my all time favoritesongs are included like "Pack up your sorrows," "Thirsty boots," and "I can't help but wonder where I'm bound." These are on CDs I've already bought, but it is still great to have them all in one place. Other's enter my CD collection for the first time. Finally "Reason to believe," "Suzanne," "Hard Traveling," "Euphoria," "Sing and turn Jubilee" and "The motorcycle song" can be played in the car.

If you are new to this music or this era, this is just a sampling. Some of these artists you will probably want in more depth. When they play "Cod'ine," I want to run home to also hear Buffy Sainte-Marie sing "Pineywood hills" and "Until it's time for me to go." But start here, it's a great introduction. It's hard for me to listen to "Four strong winds" without also hearing "Early morning rain," but if you've never heard Ian & Sylvia, this is one of the two best songs to start with.

If you grew up/old with this music too, how can you resist?

Was it that long ago?.......2001-06-28

It is encouraging that this set may have been prompted by success of "The Best of Braodside" out on Folkways last year. In this case you get a pretty panoramic look at folk based music in the early 60s and people are certain to disagree on what is good or bad, should be in or should be out. The bottom line is that no matter what your point of view there is a lot of high quality music here and a good look at how folk music planted seeds for a lot of what is still happening in contemporary music. It was a great time, it was (and is) great music and one thing that can be agreed upon is that having Judy Henske's "High Flying Bird" back in print is a real important plus.

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