folk

Our Good Times Are All Gone: a compendium of The Mitchell Trio

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TMT

Before rock ‘n’ roll. Before my besotted fanaticism for Creedence. Long before I knew country music was worthwhile. Epochs before the blues were indispensable to my life. Even before Bob Dylan, my musical world was built upon The (Chad) Mitchell Trio. 

Our family musical library in the late 60s probably included 50 LPs, tops.  60% would have been classical (Western and Indian), 20% religious (Morman Tabernacle Choir; Negro Spirituals) 10% ‘jazz’ (Al Hirt; Eddie Calvert; Herb Alpert and the TJB) and 10% Chad Mitchell Trio. 

Those records were seminal to the development of my musical character. For several years between the only non-classical, secular music I knew was the Chad Mitchell Trio.  As youth tend to do, I played the same 4 or 5 records over and over. Everyday.  Unlike today when fresh streams of music are a basic need on a near daily basis, at the age of 9 and 10, I never tired of the singing of these three white boys from the suburbs of North America.

Here are the top 10 reasons I still love The Mitchell Trio. [And why you sceptics might want to discover a new guilty pleasure.]

10. They loved melody and sang with gusto. Note especially a track like number Maladyozhenaya (The Young Ones) an exuberant rendition of a song from a Stalin-era comedy (!) film (Volga Volga). That they sing it in Russian is so cool too!

09. They could harmonise like the bomb. This is where I discovered the thrill of not just wonderful harmony but the special harmony of men’s voices. Almost any song will have really expertly delivered harmonies but my favourite (of so many choices) is the closer Four Strong Winds.

08. They had great material. The afore-mentioned Ian and Sylvia classic is just one example. But they were early promoters (’63, ’64) of Bob Dylan and also covered a number of Tom Paxton songs too. I grew up thinking these were ‘Chad Mitchell songs’ but in fact they were introducing me to the wider world of folk music.

07. They had three unique strong voices. Chad Mitchell, Mike Kobluk and Joe Frazier could each take the lead (with aplomb) as well as sing back up and harmonies. It’s a group that really is a trio of voices unlike say, The Supremes, who were rightly called, Diana Ross and The Supremes.  I grew to love each one of them. And so, when I discovered The Band I was used to different voices in one group.

06. They were (semi) lefties. I have often tried to figure out why I have always leaned to the left side of politics from a very young age. My brothers had something to do with it I’m sure but they were much older than me.  I reckon it was these guys who planted an irreverent political seed in my heart. There are several of their ‘political’/social commentary songs included here: The John Birch Society; What This Country Needs is Another Movie Star (both still very applicable to American /GOP politics) and of course, Your Friendly, Liberal, Neighborhood Ku Klux Klan. It was through these guys that I first heard the names of Barry Goldwater, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Hoffa, LBJ, Ku Klux Klan etc.  I had no idea who they were or what they represented but I enjoyed hearing them made fun of.

05. They always had great musicians behind them. Paul Prestopino was as much a part of the group as the three lads. His work on guitar and banjo is fantastic and added a real aural atmosphere to every song.  He also worked with Judy Collins, Peter Paul & Mary, Tom Paxton as well as Alice Cooper, Edgar Winter and Loudon Wainwright III.  Roger McGuinn also backed the boys from time to time. 

04. The Trio broke new talent.  When Chad Mitchell left to follow a solo career in 1965 he was replaced by a cheery faced John Denver. While hard core fans (me included) felt the Trio was never the same again, the years have proven that he added a fresh dimension to the group. He contributed his own compositions (Leaving on a Jet Plane) and his high clear tenor was perfect for many songs (Tambourine Man).  When Fraizier and Kobluk left, Denver recruited Michael Johnson, a Minnesota immigrant who went on to have several top 40 hits in the late 70s/early 80s.

03. They were unashamed to do comedy. I general cringe at most comic folk music but TMT did songs like James, James, Morrison Morrison, The Draft Dodger Rag, and A Dying Business with such gusto it was hard not to laugh. And they never let the musicality or art of singing be sidelined. Each of these tracks is a good folk song done with professionalism. Not a throwaway novelty.

02. Their ballads are achingly beautiful. Gusto, of course. Exuberance, love it. But when they turned the lights down they could take a ballad over and quiet a room quicker than E.F. Hutton. 

01. They were the best folk group of their era. Sure the Kingston Trio had the big hits and Peter, Paul and Mary were pretty damn good (actually effing great) but for their variety of material, their political and social consciousness, their harmonies, their ‘sound’ and their inner sympathy with each other, it is hard to beat The Mitchell Trio.