The Best of the Decca Years

Artist: The Weavers
Label: Mca
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Format: Original recording remastered
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 008811146528
EAN: 0008811146528
ASIN: B000002P1S

Release Date: 1996-10-22

Related Categories:

General

| Folk | Styles | Music

Traditional Folk

| Folk | Styles | Music

General

| Pop | Styles | Music

General

| Miscellaneous | Styles | Music

Revival

| Folk | Styles | Music

Listmania:

Favorite albums of cowboy songs and folk songs

Tracks:

On Top Of Old Smokey
Hard, Ain't It Hard
Goodnight Irene
Around The Corner (Beneath The Berry Tree)
Old Paint (Ride Around, Little Doggies)
(The Wreck Of The) John B
The Roving Kind
Tzena, Tzena
Wimoweh (Mbube)
Kisses Sweeter Than Wine
So Long (It's Been Good To Know You Yuh)
The Midnight Special
Rock Island Line
Sylvie (Bring Me Li'l' Water, Silvy
Lonesome Traveler
When The Saints Go Marching In

Similar Items:

Best of the Vanguard Years
The Weavers - Greatest Hits
The Weavers at Carnegie Hall, Vol. 2
Songs of Protest
The Weavers Classics

Customer Reviews:

Bait and switch.......2002-07-12

Think of this album as The Weavers meet Mitch Miller and Lawrence Welk. I love The Weavers as a folk group.This recording,complete with its chorus,violins and big band backup is to folk music what Brittany Spears is to Joan Baez.

Sixties pop-folk, only ten years earlier!.......2001-12-25

Prior to purchasing this CD, I had heard one or two Weavers sides and hadn't formed any impression of the group. Now I can hear that they were remarkably ahead of their time when these sides were made (1950-1953), at least insomuch as 1960s groups like The Seekers were presenting almost exactly the same sound years later, with or without an orchestra and chorus. And the songs themselves are not out of keeping with other tunes of the early 1950s--for example, Terry Gilkyson's "Christopher Columbus," recorded by Guy Mitchell, or the novelty songs of Bob Merrill. It's true that The Weavers were rather rough-cut compared to the smooth pop sound listeners were used to hearing right after World War II. However, they were Vegas-smooth compared to quartets like The Chuck Wagon Gang, even if Pete Seeger, vocally, makes Wayne Newton sound like Placido Domingo. In a mass-mediated world, authenticity is one of the most relative of concepts.

At any rate, these are tremendously enjoyable sides made no less enjoyable by the Lawrence Welk feel provided on several sides by arranger Gordon Jenkins, whose Basie-style introduction to "Wimoweh" is both anachronistic and quite effective. (Listen for Pete Seeger's favorite chord throughout, the dominant 11th.) The Jenkins orchestra and chorus also greatly enhance the CD's best track, "Tzena, Tzena, Tzena," one of the shortest songs ever created, and here featuring a delightful mid-arrangement round. "(The Wreck of the) John B." predates The Beach Boys' "Sloop John B." by many years and is typical of pre-"Pet Sounds" renderings of the tune. All of the tracks are exceptional, and the sound is astonishing. The Weavers may not have started pop-folk (think Burl Ives, for example), but they appear to have established its conventions for a number of years to come.

Best of the Decca Years.......2000-12-21

For the Weavers lover, this is a must have. For someone wanting to discover the Weavers, the concert recordings are much better. On this album 1950s production met a small folk group and the result is very much a 50s sound. Big orchestra backing, instrumental choices that reflected the taste of the day rather than a folk approach. I prefer the Weavers as they stood on stage with their voices, their instruments, and their hearts out there for everyone to enjoy.

Excellent compilation of the Weavers' mainstream hits.......2000-06-05

Most of The Weavers' albums, recorded from 1955 forward, faithfully preserve the foursome's folk-music instrumentation and repertoire. This intelligent compilation, however, revives the group's pop hits recorded by Decca from 1950 to 1953. It's easy to see why The Weavers became "America's favorite folk singers;" the performances are tops, the tunes retain their folk origins, and Gordon Jenkins's arrangements for orchestra and chorus are admirable. The monster hit "Goodnight Irene" is here, and this writer thinks the B-side, "Tzena Tzena Tzena," is even better. Other great tunes include "Wimoweh," "The Midnight Special," and "So Long," and "Hard, Ain't It Hard" has a rousing vocal by Ronnie Gilbert. If you've heard The Weavers' albums on the Vanguard label, these big-band Decca sessions will impress you.

Original recordings that shook the world in thet earlly 50's.......1999-01-27

The Weavers were very good folk singers who changed their style to have mass appeal when the got the right manager & the right big band backing, They kept the mass appeal for about a year & a half. After thtat they went back to being folk singers. This record is the genuine original right stuff & has been hard to find.

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