College Concert
Encyclopedia
College Concert was the twelfth album by the American
folk music
group The Kingston Trio
, released in 1962 (see 1962 in music
). It was the group's third live release and the first live release with new member John Stewart
. College Concert peaked at number three on the Billboard charts
and was the largest-selling release by the Stewart-years Trio.
" in a New York studio in December 1961 and claimed authorship, but they took their names off when Pete Seeger
asked them to. The single, with "O Ken Karanga" as the A-side and "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" the B-side, reached #21 in the 1962 charts, as shown in the Billboard Hot 100. A single with "Chilly Winds" b/w "Roddy McCorley" was released in the UK
. An additional single was released in the US in April consisting of "Scotch and Soda" b/w "Jane Jane Jane".
Producer Voyle Gilmore
and engineer Pete Abbott recorded two performances at the University of California, Los Angeles
and edited the best performances from each night. College Concert was the last performance with the Trio by long-time bassist David "Buck" Wheat.
The original liner notes are attributed to the Trio's opening act Ronnie Schell
as "America's Slowest Rising Young Comedian".
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
group The Kingston Trio
The Kingston Trio
The Kingston Trio is an American folk and pop music group that helped launch the folk revival of the late 1950s to late 1960s. The group started as a San Francisco Bay Area nightclub act with an original lineup of Dave Guard, Bob Shane, and Nick Reynolds...
, released in 1962 (see 1962 in music
1962 in music
-Events:*January 1 – The Beatles and Brian Poole and the Tremeloes both audition at Decca Records, a company which has the option of signing one group only...
). It was the group's third live release and the first live release with new member John Stewart
John Stewart (musician)
John Coburn Stewart was an American songwriter and singer. He is known for his contributions to the American folk music movement of the 1960s while with The Kingston Trio and as the songwriter of The Monkees' #1 hit "Daydream Believer" and his own #5 hit "Gold", among several hundred original...
. College Concert peaked at number three on the Billboard charts
Billboard charts
The Billboard charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs or albums in the United States. The results are published in Billboard magazine...
and was the largest-selling release by the Stewart-years Trio.
History
The Trio recorded "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?Where Have All the Flowers Gone?
"Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" is a folk song. The first three verses were written by Pete Seeger in 1955, and published in Sing Out! magazine...
" in a New York studio in December 1961 and claimed authorship, but they took their names off when Pete Seeger
Pete Seeger
Peter "Pete" Seeger is an American folk singer and was an iconic figure in the mid-twentieth century American folk music revival. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead...
asked them to. The single, with "O Ken Karanga" as the A-side and "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" the B-side, reached #21 in the 1962 charts, as shown in the Billboard Hot 100. A single with "Chilly Winds" b/w "Roddy McCorley" was released in the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. An additional single was released in the US in April consisting of "Scotch and Soda" b/w "Jane Jane Jane".
Producer Voyle Gilmore
Voyle Gilmore
Voyle Gilmore was an American record producer and arranger. He was best known for his work with Frank Sinatra and The Kingston Trio on Capitol Records...
and engineer Pete Abbott recorded two performances at the University of California, Los Angeles
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...
and edited the best performances from each night. College Concert was the last performance with the Trio by long-time bassist David "Buck" Wheat.
The original liner notes are attributed to the Trio's opening act Ronnie Schell
Ronnie Schell
Ronald Ralph "Ronnie" Schell is an American actor, stand-up comedian and cartoon voice actor . Early in his career he appeared as himself as a contestant on You Bet Your Life opposite Groucho Marx, demonstrating a comic barrage of jive talk.-Life and career:Schell was born in Richmond, California...
as "America's Slowest Rising Young Comedian".
Reception
Allmusic music critic Bruce Eder, while criticizing the thin bass sound, praised the album as "One of the best-selling LPs ever recorded by the Kingston Trio, College Concert is also the album by the trio that holds up best in the decades since... the overall quality of the performance, from the exquisitely arranged "500 Miles" to the rousing version of "Young Roddy M'Corley," was the album's most alluring overall feature."Reissues
- College Concert was reissued along with Close-Up on CD by Collectors' Choice MusicCollectors' Choice MusicCollectors' Choice Music is a company primarily in two businesses. They are best known for re-issuing albums originally recorded in LP record form as compact discs...
in 1999. - In 2000, all of the tracks from College Concert were included in The Stewart YearsThe Kingston Trio: The Stewart YearsThe Kingston Trio: The Stewart Years is a compilation of The Kingston Trio's recordings when John Stewart was a member of the Trio along with Bob Shane and Nick Reynolds....
10-CD box set issued by Bear Family RecordsBear Family RecordsBear Family Records is a Germany-based independent record label that specializes in reissues of archival material ranging from country music to 1950s rock and roll to old German movie soundtracks.-History:...
.
Side one
- "This Little LightThis Little Light of Mine"This Little Light of Mine" is a gospel children's song written by Harry Dixon Loes in about 1920. Loes, who studied at the Moody Bible Institute and the American Conservatory of Music, was a musical composer, and teacher, who wrote, and co-wrote, several other gospel songs. The song has since...
" (Arranged by Reynolds, Shane, Stewart) - "Coplas Revisited" (Arranged by Reynolds, Shane, Stewart)
- "Chilly Winds" (John PhillipsJohn Phillips (musician)John Edmund Andrew Phillips , was an American singer, guitarist, songwriter and promoter . Known as Papa John, Phillips was a member and leader of the singing group The Mamas & the Papas...
, John StewartJohn Stewart (musician)John Coburn Stewart was an American songwriter and singer. He is known for his contributions to the American folk music movement of the 1960s while with The Kingston Trio and as the songwriter of The Monkees' #1 hit "Daydream Believer" and his own #5 hit "Gold", among several hundred original...
) - "Oh, Miss Mary" (Phillips, Stewart)
- "Laredo?Streets of Laredo (song)"Streets of Laredo" , also known as the "Cowboy's Lament", is a famous American cowboy ballad in which a dying cowboy tells his story to a living one. Derived from the English folk song "The Unfortunate Lad", it has become a folk music standard, and as such has been performed, recorded and adapted...
" (Arranged by Reynolds, Shane, Stewart) - "O Ken Karanga" (Maurice Baron, Lionel BelascoLionel BelascoLionel Belasco was a prominent pianist, composer and bandleader, best known for his calypso recordings. According to various sources, he was born either in Barbados or in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago; he grew up in Trinidad, the son of an Afro-Caribbean mother and a Sephardic Jewish father...
, Massie Patterson)
Side two
- "Roddy McCorleyRoddy McCorleyRoddy McCorley was a United Irishman and a participant in the Irish Rebellion of 1798.-Life:...
" (Traditional) - "M.T.A." (Bess Lomax HawesBess Lomax HawesBess Lomax Hawes was an American folk musician, folklorist, and researcher. She was the daughter of John Avery Lomax and Bess Bauman-Brown Lomax, and the sister of Alan Lomax.-Early life and education:...
, Jacqueline Steiner) - "500 Miles500 Miles"500 Miles" is a folk song made popular in the United States and Europe during the 1960s folk revival. The simple repetitive lyrics offer a lament by a traveler who is far from home, out of money and too ashamed to return...
" (Hedy WestHedy WestHedy West was an American folksinger and songwriter.West was of the same generation as Joan Baez, Judy Collins, and others of the American folk music revival. Her most famous song "500 Miles" is one of America's best loved and best known folk songs...
) - "The Ballad of the Shape of Things" (Sheldon Harnick)
- "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?Where Have All the Flowers Gone?"Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" is a folk song. The first three verses were written by Pete Seeger in 1955, and published in Sing Out! magazine...
" (Pete SeegerPete SeegerPeter "Pete" Seeger is an American folk singer and was an iconic figure in the mid-twentieth century American folk music revival. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead...
, Joe HickersonJoe HickersonJoe Hickerson is a noted folk singer and songleader. For 35 years he was Librarian and Director of the Archive of Folk Song at the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress...
) - "Goin' Away for to Leave You" (Phillips)
Personnel
- Bob ShaneBob ShaneBob Shane is an American singer and guitarist and, with Nick Reynolds' passing in October 2008, the only surviving founding member of The Kingston Trio. In that capacity, Shane became a seminal figure in the revival of folk and other acoustic music as a popular art form in the U.S...
– vocals, guitar - Nick ReynoldsNick ReynoldsNick Reynolds was an American folk musician and recording artist. Reynolds was one of the founding members of The Kingston Trio, whose largely folk-based material captured international attention during the late fifties and early sixties.- Early life :Growing up in Coronado, California, his...
– vocals, tenor guitar, bongos, conga - John StewartJohn Stewart (musician)John Coburn Stewart was an American songwriter and singer. He is known for his contributions to the American folk music movement of the 1960s while with The Kingston Trio and as the songwriter of The Monkees' #1 hit "Daydream Believer" and his own #5 hit "Gold", among several hundred original...
– vocals, banjo, guitar - David "Buck" Wheat – bass
Chart positions
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1962 | Billboard Pop Albums | 3 |