Peter, Paul and Mary may not have pleased the folk purists very much, but the trio did as much as anyone to bring folk music to a commercial peak in the early '60s, and by championing new songwriters like
Bob Dylan,
Fred Neil, and
John Denver, among others, and sticking up for rock (even though rock wasn't even close to what they did), the group showed a sharp sense of time and era. The trio toured Japan in December of 1967, with concerts in both Tokyo and Kyoto, and released a live album there drawn from the two shows -- the album was never released in the U.S. This two-disc set makes up for that, with the original album on disc one and a dozen additional tracks from the two shows that were discovered on the original master tapes making up the second disc. It's a pretty standard
Peter, Paul and Mary set for the time, featuring the trio's signature versions of "Puff, the Magic Dragon,"
Pete Seeger's "If I Had a Hammer," and
Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind," among others, including a nice version of
Fred Neil's "The Other Side of This Life," and it's nicely recorded, full of good will, energy, and the trio's trademark vocal harmonies. ~ Steve Leggett