Following on from Jingle Jangle Morning: The 1960s US Folk Rock Explosion, When Will They Ever Learn is an even more extensive 4-CD collection of 100 classic and obscure recordings from the era, a time when folk artists were fully flexing their protest and social comment wings with the advent of names such as Paxton, Collins and Ochs.
Compiled and annotated by Mick Houghton, Disc one opens with the Pete Seeger anti-war classic, performed here by The Kingston Trio, their time slowly coming to an end, who released it as a B-side in 1961, initially believing it to be a traditional song. Seeger himself is represented with ‘ The Bells Of Rhymney’ but while the disc includes Simon & Garfunkel (‘Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream’), The New Christy Minstrels (hayride throwback ‘Green Green’), Hoyt Axton (‘Bring Your Lovin’), Anita Carter (‘Fair And Tender Ladies’), Odetta (‘Long Time Gone’), John Koerner (‘Southbound Train’), Tom Paxton (‘I Can’t Help But Wonder Where I’m Bound’) and Malvina Reynold’s seminal version of ‘What Have They Done To The Rain’, it mostly showcases either lesser known names or recordings, notably The Big Three’s take on ‘Come Away Melinda’, The Simon Sisters – Carly and Lucy (Motherless Child’), pre Mamas and Papas recordings by John Phillips with The Journeymen (‘All The Pretty Horses) featuring Scott McKenzie and Cass Elliott in The Mugwumps (‘I Don’t Wanna Know’) and one of two versions of Bonnie Dobson’s ‘Morning Dew’, this by Martin and Neil (Fred), which changed the opening line to the now standard “Walk me out in the morning dew”. Alongside tracks by the Jim Kweskin Jug Band, Bob Gibson and Dave Von Ronk, a standout is Peter La Farge’s original recordings of his self-penned ‘Ira Hayes’ (subsequently covered by Johnny Cash) telling the tragic fate of the Native American immortalised in the Iwo Jima flag statue.
Moving to Disc two, there’s four evergreens with Paul Simon’s ‘The Sound Of Silence’, Tim Rose’s ‘Hey Joe’, Dylan’s ‘Mr Tambourine Man’ and Barry McGuire’s ‘Eve Of Destruction’ but it’s the more cult and less celebrated names and recordings that are of most interest, an obscure number by Judy Collins (the first recording of John Phillips’ ‘Me And My Uncle’), Judy Henske’s ‘High Flying Bird’ (Billy Edd Wheeler’s original is also included), Fred Neil’s slow, world-weary version of the traditional ‘The Water Is Wide’, original versions of two songs that became hits for The Searchers (Jackie de Shannon’s When You Walk In The Room’ and PF Sloan’s ‘Take Me For What I’m Worth’), the first of two by Dobson (‘Country Girl Blues’), David Blue’s ‘Grand Hotel’ and a pre-Southern soul-rock Boz Scaggs with ‘Baby Let Me Follow You Down’. It ends with We Five and ‘You Were On My Mind’, though it’s not a patch on the UK hit cover by Crispian St Peters.
Disc three serves up the bulk of the well-known names and hits with the likes of The Lovin’ Spoonful (‘Rain On The Roof’), The Mamas And The Papas (‘Creeque Alley’), Phil Ochs (‘There But For Fortune’, there’s also a cover of ‘Changes’ by Jim & Jean), Fred Neil (‘Everybody’s Talkin’’), Tim Hardin (‘Reason To Believe’), Bobby Darin (‘If I Were A Carpenter’), Nico (‘I’ll keep It With Mine’), The Youngbloods (‘Get Together’), The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (‘Buy For Me The Rain’) and Norma Tanega (‘Walkin’ My Cat Named Dog’). They’re balanced with lesser known tracks from familiar faces such as Gordon Lightfoot’s ‘ For Lovin’ Me’, The Byrds’ ‘I Come And Stand At Every Door’ and ‘Like An Old Time Movie’, Scott McKenzie’s flop follow-up to ‘San Francisco’ while other names and rarities include Gene Clark, Doc Watson, Bob Lind, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Tim Buckley and, for the diehard obscurantists, acid folk pioneer Pat Kilroy with ‘Cancereal’.
Disc four rounds things out in similar fashion, opening with John Stewart’s ‘You Can’t Look Back’, pushing the folk rock boundaries with Johnny Cash & June Carter (‘Pack Up Your Sorrows’), Porter Wagoner And Dolly Parton (‘The Last Thing On My Mind’) and Mickey Newbury’s psych-folk ‘Just Dropped In’ (later to be covered by The First Edition) as well as H.P. Lovecraft’s psychedelic ‘Spin, Spin, Spin’. Those, though, are offset by a clutch of classics in Jerry Jeff Walker’s ‘Mr Bojangles’, Arlo Guthrie’s ‘Coming In To Los Angeles’, Townes Van Zandt’s ‘Tecumseh Valley’ and Dobson’s own ‘Morning Dew’ (the rather less effective “Take me for a walk in the morning dew, my honey”) and nuggets like The Dillards with ‘Close The Door Lightly’, Karen Dalton’s ‘Little Bit Of Rain’ (she languished in obscurity until the 2006 reissue of her debut album), Tom Rush’s ‘Tin Angel’ and Linda Ronstadt & The Stone Poneys with their cover of Tim Buckley’s ‘Wings’. By way of sleight of hand, while Eric Andersen is represented by ‘(We Were) Foolish Like The Flowers’ it’s curiously left to Anne Murray to round the compilation off with an over-orchestrated cover of his seminal ‘Thirsty Boots’.
When Will They Ever Learn is another hugely impressive collection that roots deep in the genre’s undergrowth as well as selecting prize blooms, and even if you’re a genre fan there’ll be the tracks and artists here you’re likely to have never encountered, I mean, hands up anyone who’s heard of Len Chandler let alone his track ‘Shadow Dream Chaser Of Rainbows’!
Mike Davies
‘Where Have All The Flowers Gone’ – The Kingston Trio – official video:
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