The Kingston Trio was one of the biggest pop acts of the late '50s and early '60s, with no less than 14 Billboard Top Ten albums, including five that reached Number One. The two-time Grammy® award-winning group jump-started the folk movement, with hits such as "Scotch and Soda" and "Tom Dooley" paving the way for artists such as Peter, Paul & Mary, The Highwaymen, The Limelighters, and Bob Dylan.The Essential Kingston Trio collects 40 of the group's biggest hits and fan favorites, all recorded during their prime years of 1958 to 1964.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, folk was one of the hottest trends in pop music--particularly among listeners who considered themselves too mature for teen fare--and the Kingston Trio were the hottest act in folk. The success of the trio's clean-cut, fun-filled, depoliticized presentation inspired lots of imitators (the Brothers Four, the Highwaymen, the Chad Mitchell Trio, etc.), but it also precipitated a backlash among those who considered such collegiate acts sterile and hungered for folk music that was more authentic and socially conscious. This comprehensive two-disc anthology puts the Kingston Trio's accomplishments in perspective but also suggests that they were something of a period piece. With their rousing harmonies, engaging personalities, and ear for catchy material, the trio earned their popularity through favorites such as "Everglades," "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?," and "Greenback Dollar" that still sound fresh today. Yet some of the humor directed toward their source material (Mexicans and rural Southerners) wouldn't pass contemporary standards of taste, while their ode to a not-very-attractive woman, "Take Her Out of Pity," is simply cringeworthy. Though the Kingston Trio were derided for their lack of authenticity, the more "credible" Peter, Paul & Mary were even more of a manufactured act, while even Bob Dylan soon ran afoul of the folk purists. Judged on its musical merits, the best of the Kingston Trio still sounds pretty good. --Don McLeese
More Kingston Trio
Close-Up/College Concert | 
The Kingston Trio/...from the "Hungry i" | 
The Capitol Years |
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