Monday 28 March 2016

Tall Tales Legends & Nonsense – THE NEW CHRISTY MINSTRELS****

The Oldtimer/Billy’s Mule/Susianna/In The Hills Of Shiloh/Beaucatcher Mountain/Songs Of The Pious Itinerant/ The Cat/Down To Darby/Julianne/Jimmy Grove & Barbara Ellen/Treasury Of Nonsense

US folk group The New Christy Minstrels achieved their second US top twenty album success with Tall Tales Legends & Nonsense. The group was founded by Randy Sparks and featured an ever changing line up of singers and musicians. (US:20)

"The central component of The Minstrels' style is complicated vocal arrangements, featuring parts and counterparts juxtaposed against multiple lead singers."

"Some folk purists decried popularized versions of traditional songs, but The New Christy Minstrels' fashionable form of folk music was never intended for them."

"A generous sampling of the group's infectious harmony and complex choral arrangements, which serves as a fine introduction to popular folk music made at the height of the American folk revival."

"Making this album seems to have been fun for the group, and you can feel it when listening to it."

"Randy Sparks was continually able to create masterful re-workings and arrangements of tracks as disparate as Song Of The Pious Itinerant or The Old Timer."

Jimmy Grove & Barbara Ellen is a real tear jerker. It's interesting how they weave several solos into this and yet bring out beautiful harmony in other places. These guys were talented."

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