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The New Christy Minstrels - Definitive New Christy Minstrels (1965)

Track listing:
  1. The Old Timer 2:45
  2. Green, Green 2:09
  3. Denver 2:59
  4. Miss Katy Cruel 2:35
  5. Liza Lee 2:09
  6. I Know Where I'm Goin' 2:39
  7. Three Wheels on My Wagon 3:00
  8. Natural Man 2:19
  9. Californio 2:10
  10. Saturday Night 2:21
  11. Deep Blue Sea 3:10
  12. Today 2:46
  13. Stormy 2:49
  14. Lily Langtry 3:12
  15. Song of the Pious Itinerant 2:27
  16. Jimmy Grove and Barbara Ellen 4:51
  17. Cotton Pickers' Song 2:33
  18. Gotta Get-A-Goin' 1:51
  19. This Ol' Riverboat 2:56
  20. Elijah Rock 2:37
  21. Oh, Shenandoah 2:29
  22. Bella Ciao 1:57
  23. Silly Ol' Summertime 2:14
  24. Le Printemps Sur La Colline 3:02
  25. Mighty Mississippi 2:29
  26. Se Piangi, Se Ridi 2:32
  27. Joe Magarac 2:50
  28. Go, Lassie, Go 3:00
  29. The Wheeler Dealers 3:06
  30. Chim Chim Cher-ee 1:58
  31. Julianne 1:47
  32. Springtime 2:22
  33. The Dying Convict 5:36
  34. It's Gonna Be Fine 2:36
  35. The Drinkin' Gourd 2:40
  36. Lark Day 2:26
  37. Wagoner's Song 1:39
  38. Freedom 2:33
  39. El Camino Real 3:30
  40. Mighty Big Ways 2:22
  41. The Far Side of the Hill 2:32
  42. This Land Is Your Land 2:16
  43. Casey Jones 2:03
  44. Last Farewell 2:41
  45. Ramblin' 2:44

Notes

Definitive New Christy Minstrels (1962-65)

Disc 1:
1. Old-Timer, The
2. Denver
3. Liza Lee
4. Three Wheels On My Wagon
5. Californio
6. Deep Blue Sea
7. Stormy
8. Song Of The Pious Itinerant
9. Cotton Pickers' Song, The
10. This Ol' Riverboat
11. Oh! Shenando
12. Silly Ol'Summertime
13. Mighty Mississippi
14. Joe Magarac
15. Wheeler Dealers, The
16. Julianne
17. Dying Convict, The
18. Drinkin' Gourd, The
19. Wagoner's Song
20. El Camino Real
21. Far Side Of The Hill, The
22. Casey Jones
23. Ramblin'

Disc 2:
1. Green, Green
2. Miss Katy Cruel
3. I Know Where I'm Goin'
4. Natural Man
5. Saturday Night
6. Today
7. Lily Langtry
8. Jimmy Grove And Barbara Ellen
9. Gotta Get A-Goin'
10. Elijah Rock
11. Bella Ciao
12. Le Printemps Sur La Colline
13. Se Piangi, Se Ridi
14. Go, Lassie, Go
15. Chim Chim Cher-ee
16. Springtime
17. It's Gonna Be Fine
18. Lark Day
19. Freedom
20. Mighty Big Ways
21. This Land is Your Land
22. Last Farewell

62 min.

Staff turnover eventually took their toll on the New Christy Minstrels, but this compilation only covers the period 1962 to 1965, their peak years. Even during this period, the number of line-up changes was staggering. The extensive liner notes show all the changes. Of all the pickers and singers who were members during this period, Barry McGuire (who was only a member for a few months) is surely the most famous - he later had a solo hit with Eve of destruction - but Larry Ramos, later of the Association, was also a member.

The group's founder, Randy Sparks, set out to design a group that had it's roots in folk, but was more pop-orientated, and avoided all the controversial topics so beloved of (say) Pete Seeger. He wanted a fun group out to have a good time. That is what he achieved. Even after he quit the group in 1964 (selling his interest in the group for a large sum of money), the basic ethos remained. Once the thing no longer became fun, that's when the fortunes of the group collapsed.

So, what you get here is 45 tracks of great entertainment, including their big hit (Green green), novelty songs (Three wheels on my wagon), classic folk (This land is your land) and much, much more. The number of different singers (which also included a few ladies) also adds to the variety.

Sixties music was about many things, but above all else, it was about having fun. You certainly get that with this collection.
Amazon

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:7sj20rnac48n~T1

Review by William Ruhlmann

This two-disc set, containing 45 tracks with a running time of two hours, is the most thorough retrospective of the New Christy Minstrels. In assembling it, the compilers have looked beyond the group's two Top 20 hits, "Green, Green" and "Today," to all six of their chart singles, including a couple, "Saturday Night" and "Silly Ol' Summertime," that didn't get onto their albums. Also included are four non-album B-sides, a couple of foreign singles sung in French and Italian, and the previously unreleased track "Elijah Rock." Of course, the bulk of the material comes from ten of the 11 albums the group released between 1962 and 1965 (there's nothing from Merry Christmas), including six tracks each from their debut album The New Christy Minstrels, the gold-selling Ramblin', and Land of Giants. Today, their only Top Ten LP, is underrepresented, and In Person, their live album, deserved more than three excerpts, but otherwise there is a good balance, and the selections are reasonable. Since Tom Pickles' liner notes painstakingly detail the many personnel changes in the nine- or ten-member group, it's odd that the compilers have not presented the selections chronologically to make it easier for the listener to delineate the resulting alterations in the Christys' sound, opting instead to mix up the tracks. Maybe that's because, as Pickles acknowledges, the group declined over time, and that would have been more apparent in such a sequencing. As it is, however, The Definitive New Christy Minstrels lives up to its name.
AMG


The Definitive New Christy Minstrels
This collection draws from all 10 of their Columbia albums and their various (Barry McGuire, Gene Clark) lineups, offering loads of tracks that the paltry releases in print don’t touch. A 'Collectors’ Choice Music' release! Includes 'The Old Timer; Denver; Liza Lee; Three Wheels on My Wagon; Californio; Deep Blue Sea; Stormy; Song of the Pious Itinerant; Cotton Pickers’ Song; This Ol’ Riverboat; Oh Shenando; Silly Ol’ Summertime; Mighty Mississippi; Joe Magarac; Julianne; The Wheeler Dealers; The Dying Convict', and more.


Male-female folk group. Best known songs include "Green, Green" (1963), "Saturday Night" (1963), and "Today" (1964). Key members included Barry McGuire (of "Eve Of Destruction" fame), Kenny Rogers, and Kim Carnes (best known for the 1981 hit, "Betty Davis Eyes"). One-time members included Keith Barbour (of "Echo Park" fame). Group leader Randy Sparks also went solo and released several songs in the mid 1960s that were minor hits.


New Christy Minstrels include: Randy Sparks, Gene Clark, Nick Woods, Art Podell, Jerry Yester, Barry McGuire, Ann White, Barry Kane, Karol Dugan, Gayle Caldwell, Karen Gunderson, Paul Potash. Recorded between April 1962 & April 1965.


NEW CHRISTY MINSTRELS
Large commercial folk group formed '61 NYC by Randy Sparks (b 29 July '33, Leavenworth KS), named after the mid-19th-century Christy Minstrels. They were successful because their big sound was refreshing at the time and because members contributed original material, such as their biggest hit 'Green Green' (no. 14 '63), by Sparks and Barry McGuire. Their only other top 40 hits were 'Saturday Night' and 'Today' '63--4 (the latter from the comedy western Advance To The Rear '64 for which Sparks wrote the music) but they had nine hit LPs '62--5, of which Ramblin' (incl. 'Green Green') and Today '63--4 were the biggest. They played at the White House and had a TV show mid-'64; Sparks sold them to a management group and continued as manager for a while; they continued touring and recording for some years. Mike Settle was mus. dir. mid-'60s until he left, taking others incl. Kenny Rogers to form the First Edition. Sparks also formed the Back Porch Majority, did studio work, wrote special material for Burl Ives, John Denver etc; became a rancher '70s and toured as Randy Sparks and the Patch Family.


http://www.tsimon.com/newchristy.htm