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Paul and Mary Peter - Album 1700 Audio CD

A fair review of the Paul and Mary Peter "Album 1700" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Paul and Mary Peter reviews here, or go back to the Paul and Mary Peter tabs.

Paul and Mary Peter Band: Paul and Mary Peter
Title: Album 1700
Rating:
Release Date: 1991-07-23
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Rolling Home 2: Leaving on a Jet Plane 3: Weep for Jamie 4: No Other Name 5: House Song 6: Great Mandala (The Wheel of Life) 7: I Dig Rock & Roll Music 8: If I Had Wings 9: I'm in Love With a Big Blue Frog 10: What's Her Name 11: Bob Dylan's Dream 12: Song Is Love

At their peak
These are actually a fine value, because you usually get the equivalent of about two original albums in each collection. For PP&M there's never been any shortage of "greatest hits" collections - and even "pretty good hits" collections.

But if you want to hear what PP&M really sounded like, you want the original releases. And Album 1700 pretty well represents the peak of their musicianship.

Just a few years later, personal disputes would tear PP&M apart. Colleagues of mine who were backstage at their concerts in the 1980s wince as they speak of Mary Travers, rest her soul - painfully, destructively shrill; furious and infuriating. Peter Yarrow was the gentleman and the peacemaker, but Noel Stookey seems to have wedged his religion into the trio's widening rifts and hammered it home.

PP&M patched things up in the late 1970s, but to my ears they never again reached the level of musical collaboration or involvement they achieved on this album. (Indeed, after recording their 1978 "Reunion" album they effectively disengaged themselves from it, turning it over to a rock producer. To this day Yarrow refuses to release the - shall we say - highly produced "Reunion" on CD. )

The big hit of Album 1700 was the John Denver tune they gave wings, "Leaving on a Jet Plane. " The other one, Stookey's "I Dig Rock and Roll Music," is slight and dated, but still fun. His "The House Song" is far more moving and timeless, and "No Other Name" is unforgettable.

Since her death, much has been written about Mary Travers's social consciousness, but note that it was Peter Yarrow who gave us "The Great Mandella. " This piece is as compelling today as it was at the height of the Vietnam War in 1967. Even if you heard the re-spelled reprise in "Lifelines," check out the original here.

There are only a couple of other covers besides Denver's. To my ears, Eric Andersen's "Rolling Home" is more successful than "Bob Dylan's Dream. " It makes a great opener, too.

From what I understand, Peter Yarrow is a quiet perfectionist when it comes to the audio quality of the CD transfers in their reissues, so I was surprised and disappointed to hear quite a bit of distortion in this album's louder passages. I almost deducted a star from the 5-rating for that grating grunge. To me it sounds like analog distortion, not digital. Perhaps there's some hope that the original multitrack masters are clean and a future remix will improve the sound. This album is worth that level of effort.

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tenderness
PP&M break out to newer songwriters, new sounds. Beautiful now as it was then. Tenderness attached me at the social times when the right and left drew away from each other. I stayed here in this moment. Compassion, the very concept, drives some among us to apoplexy. For me, thank you, PP&M, it set me on a path of gentility, kindness and service to those who need a hand.
Namaste' , my sweet road companions!.


Just as Fresh as in Childhood!
It's just as fresh as when I listened to it 35 years ago in childhood. This is a great CD. PP and M, a much greater influence on me than I ever realized! :)


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Making a Statement
I want to respond to those reviewers who classified Big Blue Frog as a "silly children's song. This is my favorite Peter, Paul & Mary album; it's one I've listened to my whole life, many, many times. " I hear it as a very clear commentary on inter-racial marriage. "The neighbors are against it and it's clear to me, and it's probably clear to you -- they think value on their property will go right down, if the family next door is blue. " As in The Great Mandela (an anti-war song), and I Dig Rock & Roll Music (a parody), PP&M are making a statement, as they did with many of their songs. Another reviewer said they were pop more than folk. While folk music became popular music when the album first came out, they certainly carry on the folk tradition of telling it like it is and taking a stand on issues.


My favorite PP&M album
What makes it great is the complete lack of any frivoluos songs. "The House Song" is my all time favorite song by them, yes they wrote it. This is the second must have album, along with "Live", in the entire PP&M catalogue. 'I Dig Rock and Roll' and 'Big Blue Frog' are probably the best "pop" songs they sang, but this album is as close as you are going to get to their best studio album.


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