Track Listing

1. Blowin' in the Wind
2. Too Much of Nothing
3. Lemon Tree
4. Stewball
5. Early Mornin' Rain
6. 500 Miles
7. I Dig Rock and Roll Music
8. Leaving on a Jet Plane
9. Puff (The Magic Dragon)
10. For Lovin' Me
11. Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
12. If I Had a Hammer (The Hammer Song)
13. Day Is Done

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #75954 in Music
• Released on: 2008-08-04
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Dimensions: .22 pounds

From Amazon.com
Warner Bros. did with the CD release of the 1970 vinyl LP 10 Years Together: Best of Peter, Paul & Mary what every label should do with CD reissues of vinyl compilations. They took into account the longer length of CDs and added tracks. The original release of 10 smash hits has been fleshed out here with three additional tracks, including a melodic take on Dylan's Basement Tapes rarity "Too Much of Nothing." Otherwise, it's hits and nothing but hits, ranging from definitive folk interpretations ("If I Had a Hammer") to pop ("I Dig Rock 'n' Roll Music") to Dylan and Gordon Lightfoot covers that compete with the originals and first brought such material to the mainstream. Only "Cruel War" is missing. --Bill Holdship

Customer Reviews

All the essentials from great sixties folk-pop trio
This trio sometimes wrote their own songs, but most of the songs they are famous for are covers. Not just any covers - often they selected songs by people who were unknown at the time, but who became famous partly as a result of Peter Paul and Mary's hits.

So it was that they were among the first to record Bob Dylan's songs. Of those, Blowing in the wind, Too much of nothing and Don't think twice its all right are included here.

Gordon Lightfoot is represented by two songs - Early morning rain and For loving me, while John Denver was extremely grateful to Peter Paul and Mary for their recording of Leaving on a jet plane. It became their biggest hit and helped to get John's solo career going. Pete Seeger was already a legend by the time Peter Paul and Mary had a hit with his song If I had a hammer.

Stewball is a lovely song about a racehorse. British skiffle singer Lonnie Donegan also recorded a song with the same title and clearly about the same horse, but the lyrics are different. If there ever was a racehorse called Stewball, I'd like to learn more about her, although the story may be pure fiction.

Of the songs they wrote themselves, Puff the magic dragon is one of the finest children's songs ever written, while Day is done is a great, upbeat way to round off this collection.

I dig Peter, Paul & Mary
PP&M were an assembled group, like the Monkees, with Peter Yarrow as the handsome one, Paul Stookey as the funny one, and Mary Travers as the blonde chick up front. Contrived or not, they made a real impact throughout the 60s. Television-friendly and family-safe, they captured the optimistic idealism of the time and did much to define the decade their music spans. As a cultural phenomenon, the 60s didn't really get going until 1963 or 64, so PP&M anticipated this slightly and their style has much of 50s skiffle in it. Individually, they were competent rather than great singers or musicians. Mary was no Judy Collins or Joan Baez. But their ensemble sound was very listenable and their major contribution was to help introduce great songwriters like Bob Dylan and John Denver. Both Yarrow and Stookey went on to demonstrate songwriting abilities, and Stookey's The Wedding Song (There is Love) became something of a classic.

This music is the bridge between 50s skiffle and late 60s folk-rock, and between Pete Seeger/Woodie Guthrie social awareness and mid-60s protest songs. A stroll across that bridge is undemanding, warm and pleasant. Relax and enjoy it. But if you're buying new, check out "The Very Best of Peter, Paul and Mary". It's much better value.

Expensive but worth it...
Eclipsed at the time by their more "serious" peers and increasingly forgotten as the subsequent decades have passed, Peter, Paul & Mary were one of the 60's most popular groups for good reason... they were great singers, who sang great songs. Hampered by the fact that they didn't write most of their material and too "middle of the road" for hard core folk and folk-rock fans, time has now pretty much labelled them as "lightweight" also rans. Which is a very unfair outcome, for not only did they produce some excellent music but, as is also increasingly forgotten, they were instrumental in breaking several major folk artists into the mainstream, in particular Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger & Gordon Lightfoot.

With no retrospectives now available other than a huge, "for committed fans only" boxed set, "Ten Years Together" is the only introduction to their music currently on offer. The bad news is that it's unfairly expensive. The good news?... It's packed full of perfectly executed, exquisitely sung, tunes including stunningly good versions of "If I Had A Hammer", "Don't Think Twice It's All Right" & "Early Mornin' Rain" plus their beautiful interpretation of John Denver's "Leaving on a Jet Plane" and their wonderfully tongue-in-cheek Mamas & Papa's tribute, " I Dig Rock and Roll Music". Worth every penny.