Insurrection Paxton

Tom Paxton - Original Album Series (1964-70) [5CD Box Set] {2010 Rhino Remaster}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 956 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 434 Mb
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© 2010 Elektra Records / Rhino / Warner | 8122 798344
Rock / Folk Rock / Folk / Songwriter

In many ways a bridge between the late-'50s generation of folksingers like Dave Van Ronk and the early-'60s version posed by innovative songwriters like Bob Dylan and Phil Ochs, Tom Paxton managed to keep his integrity intact through it all, and if he didn’t exactly break new ground anywhere, he has always been a careful and thoughtful songwriter. This set brings together five of the six LPs Paxton recorded and released with Elektra Records between 1964 and 1972 (the sixth, New Songs Old Friends, released in 1972, was a retrospective live set), 1964’s Ramblin’ Boy, 1966’s Outward Bound, 1968’s Morning Again, 1969’s The Things I Notice Now, and 1970’s Tom Paxton 6. The end result is an almost complete collection from Paxton's peak middle years, the years when he wrote and recorded most of the songs on which his legacy rests.

In 1984, well-established Chicago folksingers Bob Gibson and Tom Paxton united with newcomer Anne Hills to form a trio called Best of Friends. For the next year and a half, they performed together, then went their separate ways. But they never recorded as a group. Two decades later, Appleseed Recordings unearthed this 1985 concert performance from Holsteins folk club in Chicago, taped for broadcast by WFMT's The Midnight Special radio show by its host, Rich Warren. Paxton explains that, while all three are essentially solo acts, occasionally they wonder what their songs will sound like with harmony, and this is a chance to find out.

Tom Paxton's first two studio albums, Ramblin' Boy (1964) and Ain't That News! (1965) are combined on this European two-fer CD, and they blend easily into one long album of Paxton's initial batch of songs. Growing up in Oklahoma from the age of ten, Paxton was steeped in the folk tradition of Woody Guthrie while also boasting a college education that introduced the brainy comic tone of Tom Lehrer to his work and a stint in the Army that made his critique of the American military closely observed.