Washington Square Memoirs

by

Various Artists

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I can't write about this CD in the third person as the other reviewers have because many of the songs bring up vivid memories of the singers and other events happening at the time that were related to those songs. I'm listening to this CD at work, and I would have gotten through all three CDs if I didn't keep repeating some of the songs endlessly. As one who owned about half of these songs on LP, if I were to create a CD with representative songs of the era, many of the same songs would be on it.

Some of my all time favoritesongs are included like "Pack up your sorrows," "Thirsty boots," and "I can't help but wonder where I'm bound." These are on CDs I've already bought, but it is still great to have them all in one place. Other's enter my CD collection for the first time. Finally "Reason to believe," "Suzanne," "Hard Traveling," "Euphoria," "Sing and turn Jubilee" and "The motorcycle song" can be played in the car.

If you are new to this music or this era, this is just a sampling. Some of these artists you will probably want in more depth. When they play "Cod'ine," I want to run home to also hear Buffy Sainte-Marie sing "Pineywood hills" and "Until it's time for me to go." But start here, it's a great introduction. It's hard for me to listen to "Four strong winds" without also hearing "Early morning rain," but if you've never heard Ian & Sylvia, this is one of the two best songs to start with.

If you grew up/old with this music too, how can you resist?

I have posted a lengthy analyis of this three-CD set on the Cisco Houston fan appreciation website, so if any readers are detail-oriented, they can check that out. Here's the short version: One-third of the 72 tracks match the right singer or group with the right song. Those picks are perfect. Another third lets us hear worthy performers, but doing less than their best work. The final third features minor-league artists and groups doing minor league "folk songs." I lived through the folk boom years chronicled by this product, and there simply were not 72 acts worthy of preservation in that era. Maybe there were not even 72 endearing and enduring songs. I believe the intentions of the producers of this set would have been better aimed at having 36 artists showcased with two songs each. As for the narratives included, they don't add all that much information of value. Again, a third of the comments about the era and these singers and these recordings are useful, a third are interesting but trivial, and a third are offensive or unnecessary. Therefore, I suggest that if the reader can find a used copy of this set for about $15, it will be a great bargain. Much more than that, and one might decide that the price would be better spent on reissues by the singers one really already likes.