House in The Village

These are the two most popular LPs by this Dixieland octet, which saw huge success in 1963-1964, including a number two hit single with "Washington Square." The albums stand better together than they did on their own - Washington Square was heavily weighted toward folk-based repertory, as a kind of Dixieland/folk revival crossover that worked well in early 1964. The dozen songs from their follow-up album are more derived from pop and jazz sources (though there is a Dylan tune thrown in). The bonus tracks, bringing the song count up to 26, are "From Russia With Love" and "Fiddler on the Roof," both modest hits that originally appeared on subsequent LPs, thus making this CD a kind of best-of, or at least a one-stop location for the group's most familiar records. The sound is excellent, the annotation is fairly complete, and it's unlikely there will ever be much more out on CD in connection with this group.