College Concert


College Concert is the twelfth album by the American folk music group the Kingston Trio, released in 1962. 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.

History

The Trio recorded the single version of "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" in a New York studio November 14, 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".

Reception

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

Side one

  1. "This Little Light"
  2. "Coplas Revisited"
  3. "Chilly Winds"
  4. "Oh, Miss Mary"
  5. "Laredo?"
  6. "O Ken Karanga"

    Side two

  7. "Roddy McCorley"
  8. "M.T.A."
  9. "500 Miles"
  10. "The Ballad of the Shape of Things"
  11. "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?"
  12. "Goin' Away for to Leave You"

    Personnel