Close-Up (Kingston Trio album)
Encyclopedia
Close-Up was the eleventh album by the American
folk music
group The Kingston Trio
, released in 1961 (see 1961 in music
). (The Capitol Years gives the release date as September.) It was the first release by the group after the departure of founding member Dave Guard
. The Trio now consisted of Bob Shane
, Nick Reynolds
and Guard's replacement John Stewart. Close-Up peaked at number three on the Billboard charts
. The lead-off single was "Coming from the Mountains" backed with a non-LP track, "Nothing More to Look Forward To". Close-Up was nominated for a Grammy award
in 1961 for Best Performance by a Vocal Group.
As was common on their previous albums, the group members again claimed authorship on Close-Up for songs that they didn't compose and that were in reality, in the Public Domain
.
Close-Up was nominated for a Grammy award
in 1961 for Best Performance by a Vocal Group.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
group The Kingston Trio
The Kingston Trio
The Kingston Trio is an American folk and pop music group that helped launch the folk revival of the late 1950s to late 1960s. The group started as a San Francisco Bay Area nightclub act with an original lineup of Dave Guard, Bob Shane, and Nick Reynolds...
, released in 1961 (see 1961 in music
1961 in music
-Events:*January 15 – Motown Records signs The Supremes.*January 20 – Francis Poulenc's Gloria receives its premiėre in Boston, USA.*February 12 – The Miracles' "Shop Around" becomes Motown's first million-selling single....
). (The Capitol Years gives the release date as September.) It was the first release by the group after the departure of founding member Dave Guard
Dave Guard
Donald David "Dave" Guard was an American folk singer, songwriter, arranger and recording artist. Along with Nick Reynolds and Bob Shane, he was one of the founding members of The Kingston Trio.Guard was educated in Honolulu, Hawaii, at Punahou School in what was then the pre-statehood U.S....
. The Trio now consisted of Bob Shane
Bob Shane
Bob Shane is an American singer and guitarist and, with Nick Reynolds' passing in October 2008, the only surviving founding member of The Kingston Trio. In that capacity, Shane became a seminal figure in the revival of folk and other acoustic music as a popular art form in the U.S...
, Nick Reynolds
Nick Reynolds
Nick Reynolds was an American folk musician and recording artist. Reynolds was one of the founding members of The Kingston Trio, whose largely folk-based material captured international attention during the late fifties and early sixties.- Early life :Growing up in Coronado, California, his...
and Guard's replacement John Stewart. Close-Up peaked at number three on the Billboard charts
Billboard charts
The Billboard charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs or albums in the United States. The results are published in Billboard magazine...
. The lead-off single was "Coming from the Mountains" backed with a non-LP track, "Nothing More to Look Forward To". Close-Up was nominated for a Grammy award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
in 1961 for Best Performance by a Vocal Group.
History
After the departure of Guard, a replacement was sought by the remaining group members and their manager Frank Werber. Stewart, previously a member of The Cumberland Three, had written two songs recorded by the Guard-era Trio ("Molly Dee" and "Green Grasses") and was also a long-time fan of the group. He was hired and began his career with the group prior to the recording of Close-Up in August of 1961. After the departure of Guard, the Kingston Trio name was owned by Shane, Reynolds, and Werber. Stewart was never a full-fledged partner in the Kingston Trio, but instead was on a salary ($500/week) his entire tenure. There was no mention on the packaging that Stewart was a new member of the group.As was common on their previous albums, the group members again claimed authorship on Close-Up for songs that they didn't compose and that were in reality, in the Public Domain
Public domain
Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
.
Reception
Allmusic music critic Bruce Eder praised the album, writing: "the album showed the trio to be in solid musical shape, harmonizing beautifully, and with a new songwriting talent in their midst in the guise of Stewart, whose haunting, slightly bluesy ballad "When My Love Was Here" was the highlight of the record. Close Up, although not as groundbreaking as the trio's self-titled debut three years earlier, showed a surprisingly undiminished group and is a good representation of where popular folk music was in late 1961... this melodic and aesthetically pleasing album was perfect for its time and still evokes that relatively innocent and calm period in our past."Close-Up was nominated for a Grammy award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
in 1961 for Best Performance by a Vocal Group.
Reissues
- Close-Up was reissued along with College Concert on CD by Collectors' Choice MusicCollectors' Choice MusicCollectors' Choice Music is a company primarily in two businesses. They are best known for re-issuing albums originally recorded in LP record form as compact discs...
in 1999. - In 2000, all of the tracks from Close-Up were included in The Stewart YearsThe Kingston Trio: The Stewart YearsThe Kingston Trio: The Stewart Years is a compilation of The Kingston Trio's recordings when John Stewart was a member of the Trio along with Bob Shane and Nick Reynolds....
10-CD box set issued by Bear Family RecordsBear Family RecordsBear Family Records is a Germany-based independent record label that specializes in reissues of archival material ranging from country music to 1950s rock and roll to old German movie soundtracks.-History:...
.
Track listing
Some early issues of the album incorrectly labeled some of the songs. "The Whistling Gypsy" was mis-titled "The Gypsy Rover", "Oh, Sail Away" was simply "Sail Away", "Glorious Kingdom" was "Oh Baby Boy", "Coming From the Mountains" was "Wherever We May Go", and "Weeping Willow" was mis-titled "Beneath the Willows".Side one
- "Coming from the Mountains" (John Stewart)
- "Oh, Sail Away" (John PhillipsJohn Phillips (musician)John Edmund Andrew Phillips , was an American singer, guitarist, songwriter and promoter . Known as Papa John, Phillips was a member and leader of the singing group The Mamas & the Papas...
, Dick Weisman) - "Take Her Out of Pity" (Arranged by Reynolds, Shane, Stewart)
- "Don't You Weep, Mary" (Arranged by Reynolds, Shane, Stewart)
- "The Whistling GypsyThe Whistling GypsyThe Whistling Gypsy, sometimes known simply as The Gypsy Rover, is a well-known ballad composed and copyrighted by Dublin songwriter Leo Maguire about 1950....
" (Leo MaguireLeo MaguirePatrick Leo Maguire, was an Irish singer, songwriter, and radio broadcaster.Born in Dublin's inner city, Maguire trained as a baritone under Vincent O'Brien, John McCormack's voice teacher. For many years he performed with the Dublin Operatic Society.Maguire was a prolific composer, writing over...
) - "O Ken Karanga" (Maurice Baron, Lionel BelascoLionel BelascoLionel Belasco was a prominent pianist, composer and bandleader, best known for his calypso recordings. According to various sources, he was born either in Barbados or in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago; he grew up in Trinidad, the son of an Afro-Caribbean mother and a Sephardic Jewish father...
, Massie Patterson)
Side two
- "Jesse James" (Arranged by Reynolds, Shane, Stewart)
- "Glorious Kingdom" (Arranged by Reynolds, Shane, Stewart)
- "When My Love Was Here" (Stewart)
- "Karu" (Arranged by Reynolds, Shane, Stewart)
- "Weeping Willow" (Arranged by Reynolds, Shane, Stewart)
- "Reuben JamesReuben James (Woody Guthrie song)“Reuben James” is a song by Woody Guthrie about the sinking of the U.S. convoy escort, the Reuben James, which was the first U.S. naval ship sunk by German U-boats in World War II. Woody Guthrie had started to write a song including each name on the casualty list of the sinking...
" (Woody GuthrieWoody GuthrieWoodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie is best known as an American singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional and children's songs, ballads and improvised works. He frequently performed with the slogan This Machine Kills Fascists displayed on his...
)
Personnel
- Bob ShaneBob ShaneBob Shane is an American singer and guitarist and, with Nick Reynolds' passing in October 2008, the only surviving founding member of The Kingston Trio. In that capacity, Shane became a seminal figure in the revival of folk and other acoustic music as a popular art form in the U.S...
– vocals, guitar - Nick ReynoldsNick ReynoldsNick Reynolds was an American folk musician and recording artist. Reynolds was one of the founding members of The Kingston Trio, whose largely folk-based material captured international attention during the late fifties and early sixties.- Early life :Growing up in Coronado, California, his...
– vocals, tenor guitar, bongos, conga - John Stewart – vocals, banjo, guitar
- David "Buck" Wheat – bass
Chart positions
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1961 | Billboard Pop Albums | 3 |