VARIOUS ARTISTS; "Troubadours of the Folk Era, Volumes 1-3" (Rhino Records). * * *
At first blush, the "Troubadours of the Folk Era" series seems woefully and incorrigibly incomplete: no Bob Dylan, no Byrds, no Buffalo Springfield, no Dillards, no Simon and Garfunkel, no Mamas and the Papas, no Peter, Paul and Mary, no Grateful Dead.But looks - at least in this particular case - are deceptive. While it would be undeniably better to have included the above-named artists, once again Rhino Records has come through with a spectacular and ambitious retrospective that synthesizes an entire period of musical history and does it better than it's ever been done before.
"Troubadours of the Folk Era" is a three-volume set that brushes slightly on the 1950s roots of modern folk music ("Goodnight Irene," The Weavers; "This Land Is My Land," Woody Guthrie; "Tom Dooley," The Kingston Trio) before diving lovingly into the early- to mid-1960s folk movement.
Most of the great names are here: Tom Paxton, Joan Baez, Donovan, Ramblin' Jack Elliot, Eric Andersen, Tom Rush, Joni Mitchell, Richie Havens, Judy Collins, Phil Oches, Taj Majal, the Brothers Four, Jesse Colin Young, John Hammond, Pete Seeger and Ian and Sylvia.
The missing link, of course, is the role Bob Dylan played in that movement, in particular Peter, Paul and Mary's seminal cover of "Blowin' in the Wind" that pushed folk music out of the coffee houses and onto pop radio formats, where it subsequently became an integral part of rock and pop music. In fact, Ian and Sylvia's "Tomorrow Is a Long Time" is the only Dylan cover among the 54 songs in the collection.
Quite a number of tunes predate popular '60s versions, like Pete Seeger's "Turn Turn Turn," Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now," the Greenbriar Boys' "Stewball," Hedy West's "500 Miles" and Buffy Sainte-Marie's "The Universal Soldier," which became an anti-war standard for a host of late-1960s folk singers.
Most of the tunes are rarities recognizable to only the most devoted fans of folk and protest music (exceptions include the Rooftops' 1963 hit "Walk Right In," Donovan's "Catch the Wind" and Judy Henske's underrated "High Flying Bird"). Yet the lack of familiarity gives a refreshing edge to the collection that confirms both the validity and contemporaneity of good songwriting.
It's easy to pick out favorites as the trilogy works its way, for the most part chronologically, through the 1960s. Dave Van Ronk's "Cocaine Blues" is particularly good, as is Eric Andersen's "Violets of Dawn." And Carolyn Hester's lovely "I'll Fly Away" - I had never heard this version before - is incredible.
A few familiar names crop up. John Sebastian and Maria Muldaur join the Even Dozen Jug Band for a raucous "Take Your Fingers Off It," while Carly Simon (actually the Simon Sisters) contributes "Winkin, Blinkin & Nod."
Folk music was the impetus behind an entire generation of young people - and musicians - standing up and questioning traditional authority. There was the assassination of two Kennedys, the civil rights movement and Vietnam, all of which changed the face of American society for generations to come.
Then why is this collection politically soft? (Perhaps because Rhino already has a great retrospective of '60s protest songs?) While immensely enjoyable, the set lacks the urgency reflected better in the music of then-emerging songwriters like Dylan, Neil Young and Paul Simon.
But with all those weaknesses, the set is still remarkable and well worth the investment. And for fans of the folk genre, we can only hope more volumes addressing the late 1960s-early 1970s are in Rhino's bag of musical goodies.