Tom Paxton - Original Album Series (1964-70) [5CD Box Set] {2010 Rhino Remaster}

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Tom Paxton - Original Album Series (1964-70) [5CD Box Set] {2010 Rhino Remaster}

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Tom Paxton - Original Album Series (1964-70) [5CD Box Set] {2010 Rhino Remaster}
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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.

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Tom Paxton - Original Album Series (1964-70) [5CD Box Set] {2010 Rhino Remaster}

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CD1 - Ramblin' Boy (1964)

Tom Paxton's debut album sounds rather dated these days, as do many of the releases from the folk revival's army of singer/songwriters (Bob Dylan aside), and often for the same simple reason: nothing grows old faster than topical material. What keeps Ramblin' Boy from being just another period piece from the 1960s are a trio of songs in which Paxton swings away from trying to be relevant and brings a kind of restless and romantic self-analysis to the table. "The Last Thing on My Mind," "Ramblin' Boy," and "I Can't Help But Wonder Where I'm Bound" all exhibit a classic, timeless appeal simply because they work to the positive side of emotional ennui. Being lost, confused, and uncertain out there on the Great Open Road is a scenario full of potential, because you're going somewhere whether you like it or not, but not quite yet, and that pause before motion or action is what Paxton captures so well in these songs. All three are classics of a special sort, but unfortunately the rest of the album has the feel of old headlines.

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Tom Paxton - Original Album Series (1964-70) [5CD Box Set] {2010 Rhino Remaster}

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Tom Paxton - Original Album Series (1964-70) [5CD Box Set] {2010 Rhino Remaster}

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CD2 - Outward Bound (1966)

It was 1966, but on his third album Paxton was still holding out against the overwhelming trend among folkies to electrify. Outward Bound features just him, second guitarist Barry Kornfeld, and bassist Bill Lee. Though it was just his third LP, it had the style and song mix that listeners already had come to expect from the singer. There is material meant to inspire social change and dissent ("Don't You Let Nobody Turn You 'Round"), subtle anti-war statements ("My Son, John"), gentle love songs ("One Time and One Time Only"), dated topical satire ("Is This Any Way to Run an Airline?" and "Talking Pop Art"), and tunes about roaming and wandering ("Leaving London," "Outward Bound" and "I Followed Her into the West"). What the album does not have are compositions on the level of his best early songs, like "The Last Thing on My Mind" and "Bottle of Wine." If you want earnest romantic folk, you're much better off with Gordon Lightfoot or Ian & Sylvia; if you want stirring protest folk, you'd do much better with Phil Ochs and early Bob Dylan; and if you want humor, the Holy Modal Rounders, or for that matter, Ochs and Dylan are preferable. The best overlooked tune here might be "I Believe, I Do," on which Paxton assumes (satirically) the role of the average unquestioning American with a fervor that is slightly chilling.

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Tom Paxton - Original Album Series (1964-70) [5CD Box Set] {2010 Rhino Remaster}

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Tom Paxton - Original Album Series (1964-70) [5CD Box Set] {2010 Rhino Remaster}

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CD3 - Morning Again (1968)

Paxton's fourth album occasioned his first, albeit quite tentative, ventures into tracks employing some full band backing and orchestration. Among the session musicians were some notable players, including David Grisman on mandocello, Paul Harris on keyboards, and Herb Brown on bass. His songwriting, too, was becoming more diverse, from character sketches ("Victoria Dines Alone," about a lonely elderly woman) to comedy ("The Hooker") to languid introspection ("So Much for Winning," which ran almost seven minutes). The expected political commentary was present in "Talking Vietnam Pot Luck Blues," and as much as U.S. involvement in Vietnam cried out for protest, this was a card that Paxton had arguably overplayed by this time. Unfortunately the best song, the odd "Mr. Blue" (whose protagonist is something of a Kafkaesque figure), isn't served too well by the almost tuneless arrangement and under-emoted vocals. The psychedelic cover by Clear Light (which actually preceded the release of Paxton's own version) absolutely tears it to pieces, and Judy Collins' interpretation (heard on a 1967 TV special, although not included on her albums) was also considerably superior. "Now That I've Taken My Life" rates as a highlight for its mordantly lighthearted and slightly surreal suicide note, complemented by mock-jaunty brass and orchestral fanfares. Another modest album, with modest updates on his original format, by a 1960s singer/songwriter whose very musical persona was defined, too much really, by modesty. Only one of these songs was selected for the CD anthology The Best of Tom Paxton, so if you're hungry for more from his Elektra era, this is one of the more desirable places to begin.

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Tom Paxton - Original Album Series (1964-70) [5CD Box Set] {2010 Rhino Remaster}

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Tom Paxton - Original Album Series (1964-70) [5CD Box Set] {2010 Rhino Remaster}

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CD4 - The Things I Notice Now (1969)

Paxton's last 1960s album was his most musically ambitious of the decade, getting into both some full folk-rock arrangements and some orchestrated Baroque-folk or symphonic folk. The expansion of musical color was admirable, with contributions from some name players like David Bromberg, Richard Davis, and Hubert Laws. But Paxton was never the most adaptable of the folkies to rock, and the songs he came up with for the LP were not among his best. The rollicking, even a bit sloppy, folk-rock of "Bishop Cody's Last Request" sounded much more forced than his gentle ballads, like "Wish I Had a Troubadour." The 15-minute "The Iron Man" might be the most unusual 1960s Tom Paxton track of all, recalling slightly earlier overly ambitious Baroque-folk poem epics like Phil Ochs' "When in Rome" and Tim Buckley's "Goodbye and Hello," though without as much melodic or vocal distinction. Ultimately, the most satisfying track was the contemplative "All Night Long," which boasted the album's best tune and (courtesy of Joshua Rifkin) understated orchestral arrangement, and which Paxton has described as a lament for the troubled times of America in general in 1968.

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Tom Paxton - Original Album Series (1964-70) [5CD Box Set] {2010 Rhino Remaster}

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Tom Paxton - Original Album Series (1964-70) [5CD Box Set] {2010 Rhino Remaster}

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CD5 - Tom Paxton 6 (1970)

Six albums into his Elektra Records contract, Tom Paxton's songwriting muse does not fail him on the appropriately titled Tom Paxton 6. (Counting his poorly distributed debut live album I'm the Man Who Built the Bridges, it's actually his seventh LP, but never mind.) On the contrary, this is his best and most varied collection for the label yet. Paxton's primary influences remain obvious. The jovial "Forest Lawn," referring to the highly commercialized Los Angeles cemetery for celebrities, easily could have come from the pen of Tom Lehrer, complete with the sly rewrite of "Rock of Ages" in midsong. "Annie's Going to Sing Her Song," in which a man tells of a woman who keeps leaving him and coming back (and confesses that he always takes her back), is reminiscent of the work of Jacques Brel and comes off as a calmer version of Brel's song "Mathilde." But neither Lehrer nor Brel could have written the leadoff song, "Whose Garden Was This," a futuristic take on the logical results of disastrous ecological trends in which flowers exist only in pictures. Paxton may seem a bit prudish on "Molly Bloom," in which he mocks James Joyce's Ulysses and comes down on the side of those finding it obscene. But he remains a friend to coal miners on "Dogs at Midnight" and finds yet another way to decry war in "Jimmy Newman," about a wounded soldier who dies in the hospital. In every case, whether his tone is mocking or sincere, whether he's making fun or casting scorn, Paxton creates believable characters in striking situations using few words. He is abetted musically by keyboardist David Horowitz, who helps to create varying arrangements that range from chamber pop delicacy to jug band zaniness. But the songs would be just as good with only Paxton's voice and guitar, which is no doubt the way most listeners will hear them in concert.

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Tom Paxton - Original Album Series (1964-70) [5CD Box Set] {2010 Rhino Remaster}

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Tom Paxton - Original Album Series (1964-70) [5CD Box Set] {2010 Rhino Remaster}

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Tom Paxton - Original Album Series (1964-70) [5CD Box Set] {2010 Rhino Remaster}

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Tom Paxton - Original Album Series (1964-70) [5CD Box Set] {2010 Rhino Remaster}

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