The Golden Age of American Popular Music: The Folk Hits [PA]

Performer: Various Artists
Distributor: Infinity Entertainment Gr

Notes: Liner Note Author: Rob Finnis. Arrangers: Seeger, Petersen + Marsalis; Frank Hamilton; Frank Warner; Guy Carawan; John A. Lomax; Alan Lomax; Zilphia Horton. Part of Ace Records' excellent ongoing series of various artist anthologies covering various musical styles of the 20th century, THE GOLDEN AGE OF AMERICAN POPULAR SONG: THE FOLK HITS also functions as a concise introduction to the collegiate folk revival of the 1950s and '60s. The collection's starting point is songs that hit the Billboard charts, including such popular favorites as the Rooftop Singers' "Walk Right In," the New Christy Minstrels' "Green Green," and the Kingston Trio's "Tom Dooley." Where some anthologies boost their hipster cred through rarities and obscure tracks, this fine set is more geared for newcomers to the style. Although Ace's extensive Golden Age series is the best such series of compilations ever undertaken for the golden age of rock & roll (covering approximately the mid-'50s to just before the Beatles had their first U.S. hit), this is weaker and more ill-defined than any previous volume. According to the blurb on the back cover, these 28 tracks are "mainstream American popular music that transcended rock'n'roll and the British Invasion," though the verb "transcended" seems ill-fitting here. More accurately, these are chart pop hits -- some big, some only reaching the bottom half of the Top 100 -- from 1956-1964 that were only tenuously related to early rock & roll, and were so quaint in style that they'd be totally washed out to sea by the British Invasion. These aren't non-rock-related "pop" hits, however, in the sense that Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin's were; by and large, they have some links to rock & roll and the teen audience, if only faint ones. So you get hits by also-ran teen idols (Tony Orlando's "Bless You," Paul Petersen's "My Dad"); forgotten hits by celebrities more known for acting than singing (Petersen, Anthony Perkins); pop balladeers who nonetheless crossed over to teen-oriented radio (Johnny Mathis, with "It's Not for Me to Say"); and harmony groups and solo singers with the mildest of R&B doo wop influences. Truth be told, it's pretty wimpy stuff for the most part; when the Tempos' "See You in September" and Gene McDaniels' "Tower of Strength" stand out as by far the most memorable, forceful tunes, you know you're not exactly dealing with hard-hitting rock & roll, even of the poppiest sort. To its credit, this compilation does include numerous chart hits that aren't commonplace on CD anthologies (or oldies radio), Billy Grammer's "Gotta Travel On" and the Rover Boys' "Graduation Day" (which charted one place higher than the Four Freshmen's much more famous version) being among the most well-known such items. The annotation, as is customary for Ace, is thorough and informed as well. In general, though, it (perhaps unintentionally) summarizes the limpest, most forgettable pop to hit the radio during the golden age of rock & roll, and epitomizes the worst of the kind of music that drove many young adults away from rock & roll until the British Invasion, folk-rock, and soul lured them back in. ~ Richie Unterberger Though Ace's Golden Age series of discs was initially devoted entirely to rock & roll, after numerous such volumes it branched out with thematic installments covering other forms of music that experienced success on the U.S. pop charts between the mid-'50s and mid-'60s. The Golden Age of Popular Music: The Folk Hits is another such imaginative anthology, compiling 28 folk singles that reached the Billboard charts during the era. There are, as you'd expect, some of the biggest such smashes, including the Kingston Trio's "Tom Dooley," the Rooftop Singers' "Walk Right In," Peter, Paul & Mary's "If I Had a Hammer," Gale Garnett's "We'll Sing in the Sunshine," the Highwaymen's "Michael," the New Christy Minstrels' "Green, Green," the Springfields' "Silver Threads and Golden Needles," and the Brothers Four's "Greenfields." What makes this several cuts above the usual Time Life sort of collection of this material, however, is the inclusion of quite a few low-charting (or even barely charting) 45s that never get played on oldies radio, and give listeners a more rounded picture of the style than is commonly funneled through mainstream historical media. From well-known stars, for instance, there's Johnny Cash's cover of Bob Dylan's "It Ain't Me, Babe," Joan Baez's "We Shall Overcome," Pete Seeger's "Little Boxes" (his only chart single as a solo artist), and the Simon Sisters' "Winkin', Blinkin' and Nod" (featuring a young Carly Simon). There are also oddball items from less celebrated figures, like Bud & Travis' orchestrated, dramatic "Ballad of the Alamo"; Joe & Eddie's ridiculously exuberant "There's a Meetin' Here Tonite"; the Greenwoods' "Please Don't Sell My Daddy No More Wine," featuring C. Carson Parks, older brother of Van Dyke Parks; and the Shacklefords' "A Stranger in Your Town," co-written by group member Lee Hazlewood. If there are any grounds on which listeners might be mildly disappointed with this set, those would be that numerous major hits by the Kingston Trio and Peter, Paul & Mary are missing (though to be fair, each of those acts could easily fill an entire disc of hits on their own), and that there's a dated, cutesy pop-folk feel to much of the material. You certainly don't get earthy roots folk from the likes of Dave Van Ronk, Odetta, or a young Bob Dylan here, so it shouldn't be taken as a representative overview of the folk revival as a whole. But as far as providing a thorough single-disc compilation of the folk revival at its most commercially successful, it would be hard to beat, especially considering it's packaged with 32 pages of informative liner notes. ~ Richie Unterberger

Record Collector (magazine) (p.105) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "Gale Garnett's 'We'll Sing In The Sunshine' stands out....As a collection, this does evoke the feel of the time..."

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