| Track by Track Review
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| CD 1 |
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Turn! Turn! Turn! (Live) – Pete Seeger
This live recording is stark and potent. Seeger’s voice is trademark here. The audience sings along on the later choruses. |
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Wayfaring Stranger – Pete Seeger
Here we get an acappella song that’s quite strong. |
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John Henry– Pete Seeger
This classic folk song works really well here. |
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Union Maid – Pete Seeger with the Almanac Singers
As you might guess from the title, this bouncy number is a pro-union anthem. It has female backing vocals. |
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Deliver the Goods – Pete Seeger with the Almanac Singers
This song is a ‘join together for the war effort” song. It has backing vocals and is another energetic folk tune. |
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Liza Jane– Pete Seeger with the Almanac Singers
Another pro-union song, this is more of a country folk number. The funny thing is, the main message on this of the working man getting crushed by the system seems just as relevant today. |
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The Coast of High Barbary – Pete Seeger with the Almanac Singers
An old world sea shanty styled piece, this is fun. |
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Teeroo Teeroo – Pete Seeger
More of a Celtic folk tune, this is good, but not one of my favorites. |
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Erie Canal– Pete Seeger
Bouncy and fun, this is an old world styled folk song. |
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All I Want – Pete Seeger with the Almanac Singers
This is very much a bluegrass type song. |
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Casey Jones – Pete Seeger
An uptempo folk song, this one doesn’t do a lot for me. |
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Talking Union – Pete Seeger
This is a more stripped back number that’s another pro-union one. |
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The Sinking of the Reuben James – Pete Seeger with the Almanac Singers
Old timey folk music is the order of business here. |
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Wimoweh - The Weavers
This is definitely different. It’s a full on jazz treatment. It’s also the same song as The Tokens “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.” |
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Midnight Special - The Weavers
Another jazzy arrangement, this is a fun rocking piece. |
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So Long - The Weavers
A bouncy cut, this has a more full arrangement, too. It has almost a zydeco kind of vibe. |
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Lonesome Traveller - The Weavers
Another fully realized piece, this has a lot of country music in the mix, along with jazz and more. This gets incredibly powerful. |
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The Wreck of the John B. - The Weavers
This is a familiar tune. This version, with a jazzy arrangement, is different. I like it a lot. |
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Kisses Sweeter than Wine - The Weavers
Although this arrangement is more full than those on the first tracks, it’s more of a pure folk sound. It has several voices and some strings adding flavors. |
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The Roving Kind - The Weavers
This feels very much like musical theater. It’s a fun and bouncy piece. It definitely gets some jazz treatment. |
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I Know Where I'm Going - The Weavers
Another with a musical theater vibe, I can’t stand the warbling on the female vocals on the first half of this. It’s kind of a two-fer, though because it works out into the old traditional “Mockingbird Song.” That section is great. |
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On Top of Old Smokey - The Weavers
Here’s another classic old time song. The arrangement here works really well. |
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Tzena,tzena.tzena - The Weavers
The first time I heard this song, it was being done by Arlo Guthrie. It’s a bouncy and fun one. |
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Hard, Ain't It Hard - The Weavers
Hard, Ain't It Hard - The Weavers – With a full arrangement, this is a real bluegrass number. |
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When the Saints Go Marching In
This is a fairly traditional Dixieland styled arrangement of the tune. It’s not my favorite thing here, though. |
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| CD 2 |
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If I Had a Hammer – Pete Seeger
One of the songs for which Pete Seeger is best known, this is a great performance of it. |
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Where Have All the Flowers Gone? – Pete Seeger
This is a familiar piece. The arrangement is sparse on this one. |
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Red River Valley – Pete Seeger
Here’s another song that’s a traditional one. This treatment is stripped back and pure folk. |
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This Land is Your Land – Pete Seeger
A patriotic classic, this is a powerful folk song. |
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Shenandoah – Pete Seeger
This is a very stripped back folk arrangement. |
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Molly Malone – Pete Seeger
Another song that gets a traditional folk arrangement, there is a bit more to this one than there was to the last couple. |
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Talking Blues– Pete Seeger
Here we get a tune that’s more or less a bluegrass rocker. |
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Oh Susanah – Pete Seeger
Another traditional piece, this has a bluegrass meets folk sound to it. |
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Barbara Allen (Live) – Pete Seeger
This is an acapella song. |
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The Big Rock Candy Mountain – Pete Seeger
Stripped back, traditional folk music, this is bouncy and fun. |
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What Shall We Do with a Drunken Sailor? – Pete Seeger
More traditional folk, I’m not a fan of this song. |
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Time's a Getting Hard – Pete Seeger
There is a bit of a country edge to this. Whistling is heard later in the piece. It’s a better tune than the previous one as far as I’m concerned. |
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Foggy Foggy Dew – Pete Seeger
Intricate folk music, this works well. |
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Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier – Pete Seeger
There is an old fashioned blues element to this piece. |
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Rifleman of Birmingham – Pete Seeger
This is an energetic piece. |
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The Wreck of Old 97 – Pete Seeger
Here’s another superior folk song. |
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Delia's Gone – Pete Seeger
I’m familiar with Johnny Cash’s version of this tune. I prefer that one, but this is pretty good. |
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Around and Around Old Joe Clark (Live) – Pete Seeger
There is some amazing banjo playing on this thing. It’s very much a bluegrass like number. |
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I've Been Working on the Railroad – Pete Seeger
This traditional tune gets a traditional performance. |
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St. James Infirmary – Pete Seeger
A stripped back folk song, this one is rather fun. |
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Blue Tailed Fly (Jimmy Cracked Corn) – Pete Seeger
Speaking of fun, that’s what this traditional number more than anything else. |
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Wagoner's Lad – Pete Seeger
More traditional folk music, this is okay, but not all that special to my ears. |
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Living in the Country (Live) – Pete Seeger
This is quite pretty. It has a lot of energy and is an instrumental. It includes some whistling. |
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Ida Red – Pete Seeger
Energized folk that’s bluegrass related, this is kind of fun. |
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We Shall Overcome (Live) – Pete Seeger
The final song here is a live one. The audience puts in quite a vocal performance along with Seeger. |
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