The Kingston Trio, Once Upon a Time (Collectors' Choice, 2007)
The Kingston Trio, Twice Upon a Time (Collectors' Choice, 2007)
The Kingston Trio started recording the year I was born. I didn't realize how much they and the Weavers had shaped my childhood tastes until, as an adult, I finally found out where the songs my parents loved had come from. I'm sure you can imagine how fast I jumped at the chance to review Once Upon a Time and Twice Upon a Time when they entered the Green Man building.
The cuts on these two albums are from sessions recorded live at the Sahara Tahoe in July 1966, not too long before the group split. Founding member Dave Guard had already been replaced by John Stewart alongside Bob Shane and Nick Reynolds.
Once Upon a Time is a reissue of a two-record album first issued in 1969, after the breakup. It was never terribly popular, and it was nearly 40 years before Collector's Choice reissued it. While preparing the reissue, producer Ron Furmanek discovered alternate recordings of several songs, along with others not used in the original at all. Thus Twice Upon a Time was born.
Why would you want both CDs, if they're from the same recording sessions? Well, Twice Upon a Time includes several songs that aren't on the other album, such as "They Call the Wind Maria," "The Merry Minuet," "Reuben James" and several others. These other cuts are among my favourites between the two discs. On the other hand, it doesn't have "Early Mornin' Rain," "One Too Many Mornings," "Tijuana Jail" or a few other great pieces. If I could only go with one, I'd want Twice Upon a Time. What I'd really have preferred would be one CD with all the songs and none of the patter.
That's the only thing I hate about these CDs - those wretched intros. If I'm playing an entire CD on the same equipment, I shouldn't have to fiddle with the settings for each cut. If I can understand the lyrics, why shouldn't I understand the between-song patter? Some of what I can't hear is apparently hilarious, at least based on the amount of laughter. Of course, the CDs are remastered from the old recordings, so I suppose it shouldn't be a surprise, but don't they have ways to fix that now that they didn't have in 1966?
So if you can afford both, get both, and if you can't, look at both and see which songs you like best. What I'm going to do when I get a bit of time is put just the songs on my iPod and drop the intros.
Incidentally, while Once Upon a Time has "Tomorrow is a Long Time" as a cut, Twice Upon a Time includes it as a bonus video.
The Kingston Trio's Wikipedia entry gives an extensive discography.
