A vanguard is, by definition, a position at the forefront of new ideas or developments.  And in the fertile musical stomping ground of the early 1960s, some of the newest, most avant-garde ideas were being espoused on the Vanguard Records label.  Yet these so-called radical, even “dangerous” thoughts were being espoused in forms so traditional, they might have seemed as old as time.  Vanguard dived headfirst into the flourishing folk music scene in 1956 with The Weavers at Carnegie Hall, bravely defying the blacklist to issue the group’s 1955 Christmas performance.  Vanguard was rewarded with a best-selling title, and continued on a dogged path of recording albums by artists both socially and musically significant.  Ace Records’ new 4-CD box set Make It Your Sound, Make It Your Scene: Vanguard Records and the 1960s Musical Revolution (VANBOX 14, 2012) is a comprehensive chronicle of the Vanguard sound and style, taking in not only folk, but blues, gospel, country and even rock.  (The label’s jazz and classical forays, alas, shall have to wait until another day.)  As such, it’s a hugely impressive monument to a decade-plus of recordings that influenced a generation of blues-rock and psychedelic performers as the 1960s made way for the 1970s.  But it’s even more of a revelation, for good or ill, that the universal themes reflected in these artists’ works still resonate today.  This set isn’t for casual, background listening, but instead offers a serious (and seriously entertaining) glimpse back at a heady time for American culture.

Virtually from the start, Seymour and Maynard Solomon’s Vanguard Records took itself seriously, and quality was paramount.  High-fidelity sound was an important concern, and the company’s logo of a knight on a steed, lance proudly held high, trumpeted the motto “Vanguard Recordings for the Connoisseur.”  Intellectualism reigned at the company; producer Sam Charters was brought in after having written the tome The Country Blues, and it’s the passionate and erudite Charters who provides an introduction to the box set.  It’s otherwise annotated by the set’s producer, John Crosby.  Though the set’s purview is the 1960s, some tracks originate from the 1970s and beyond.  (The actual recording dates are sometimes absent in the discographical information.  As Vanguard mined its backlog of unreleased material for the CD era, a 1990s date will sometimes be attributed here to a vintage song!)

Make It Your Sound has been sequenced for mood, not chronology, roughly separated into “movements” of a particular genre in all of its many permutations and shifts.  The box makes a case that one of the most distinct American musical forms, the blues, is the root from which virtually all other music grows.  The first disc in the box concentrates on many performances based in this idiom, though the interpretations are greatly varied and blues can be found across all four discs.  The blues had a great renaissance when artists went electric, and both the traditional and electric strands are represented.  The highlights are many, from Otis Rush’s torrid, soulful “I Can’t Quit You Baby” (which emphasized the B in R&B) to Buddy Guy’s smoking “Fever.”  Though he swaggers and shouts through the song, it still comes close to pop territory, as the oft-covered composition transcended simple categorization.  Another legendary proponent of the blues, Big Mama Thornton, is heard on “Ball and Chain” from 1975; the elder artist dedicated it to the “late, great Janis Joplin.”  The Charlie Musselwhite Blues Band’s “Clay’s Tune,” propelled by funky organ, even swings a bit!

Bluegrass plays a major role on Make It Your Sound, alongside the folk and singer/songwriter material on the second and third discs with which the label is most closely identified.   Doc Watson and The Stanley Brothers are among the legends you’ll hear, but the real treasure is in the lesser-known tracks.  The purest ballad tradition is epitomized by artists like Almeda Riddle (hailing from the Ozarks), with her warbling, a cappella voice, and Hedy West; their southern voices seem foreign and otherworldly today, even to American ears.  John Herald and the Greenbriar Boys offer “Stewball,” the melodic basis for John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s holiday perennial “Happy Christmas (War is Over),” from 1962.  There’s an unusual treat when Country Gentlemen give a jovial bluegrass makeover to Paul Simon’s attractive “Leaves That Are Green” (1973).

When the sequence eases into classic early-sixties folk, it would run the risk of cliché if the performances weren’t still so powerful.  Such is the case with Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land,” as performed by The Weavers in 1958. Guthrie and The Weavers’ Pete Seeger might still be the most common faces of folk to the general public, as well as two of the most anthologized artists of the genre.  Seeger’s rueful live version of the much-recorded “Where Have All the Flowers Gone” is still affecting, and Guthrie’s songs are heard here from numerous artists.  His “Pretty Boy Floyd” is delivered by Cisco Houston, with its biting, pointed commentary on social inequity and injustice (“But as through this life you travel, as through your life you roam/You will never see an outlaw drive a family from their home,” he concludes).  Guthrie’s “Hard, Ain’t It Hard” is quite boisterous in a version by The Kingston Trio, proving definitively that folk wasn’t always staid!

The enormous impact of Bob Dylan tended to overshadow, then and now, his contemporary young folk singers and songwriters, many of whom produced work that still stands up today.  A sampling of those talents can be found here, including Phil Ochs, Tom Paxton, Eric Andersen, and the even lesser-known Patrick Sky.  Paxton’s sensitive live “Last Thing on My Mind” looms large, as does Ochs’ forceful yet calm “There But For Fortune,” with its message of empathy worth repeating. This set doesn’t limit itself solely to American folk; The Clancy Brothers make a showing for the rich musical legacy of Ireland, and the liner notes also offer the unique perspective on how Vanguard’s ouevre affected the burgeoning British folk and blues-rock scenes – as well as how its lack of availability in the U.K. also affected the blues boom there!

There's much more on Vanguard after the jump!

Make It Your Sound, while boasting an impressive number of rarities, is peppered with hits, too.  Vanguard didn’t consciously set out to create radio successes, however; Sam Charters describes the owners’ “arrogance” and steadfast belief that the quality and integrity of the label’s music was paramount, and would win out at the end of the day.  That didn’t keep the label from capitalizing on its hits, however!  The Rooftop Singers’ “Walk Right In” (1963) anticipates folk-rock with its two 12-string guitars, and Joan Baez’ 1971 “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” (originally recorded by its writer, Robbie Robertson, with The Band) remains among her most beloved songs.  The Kingston Trio and Ian & Sylvia are among the other popular acts appearing here, and if they gave a gentle, radio-friendly sheen to folk music, the impact of the songs themselves was hardly diluted.  Another genre-bender is Jim Kweskin and the Jug Band’s take on Leiber and Stoller’s “I’m a Woman,” with vocalist Maria Muldaur before she scored a hit on Reprise with “Midnight at the Oasis.”

Unlike its major folk music rival Elektra, Vanguard didn’t jump on the rock boom with much success, although some of the label’s best has been gathered here.  These harder-edged performances stand out on the collection’s final two discs.  Even Vanguard’s rock acts were eclectic, from country rockers like Gary and Randy Scruggs, The Dillards and Kinky Friedman, to Native American songwriter Buffy St. Marie (“Universal Soldier”).  That Vanguard didn’t fully make the transition to rock makes this set a particular time capsule, but a valuable one.

The times had most definitely a-changed by the time of 1967’s “Dope Again,” by The Serpent Power, 45 seconds of pure psychedelic lunacy by the band that was “stoned, bombed, zonked, out of my head.”  The San Francisco band’s lysergic “Nobody Blues” is a more substantial offering.  Also from the Bay Area came Country Joe McDonald, whose acerbic “I Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-to-Die-Rag” of Country Joe and the Fish (“Be the first one on your block/To have your boy come home in a box!”)  was immortalized at Woodstock.  The 1967 song is still one of the most potent on the entire box set, and Joe is given the honor of closing out the box with his 1972 recording of another provocative, incendiary number, “Kiss My Ass.”

Some tracks haven’t aged as well, such as the meandering quasi-raga of Sandy Bull’s “Gotta Be Juicy (Or It Ain’t Love).”  Bull’s 9+-minute “Easy Does It” is better, an Eastern-inspired instrumental piece from the oud master.  The vaudeville-styled “Down in the Basement” from Notes from the Underground is another bona fide Vanguard oddity.  Circus Maximus counted Jerry Jeff Walker among its members, and “Negative Dreamer Girl” is a good example of the band’s brand of psychedelic rock, while “Lonely Man” is a solid pop tune.  Dick Wagner, co-writer of some of Alice Cooper’s most enduring songs, was a member of Michigan’s The Frost, and his outfit is represented with the high-octane, electric “Rock and Roll Music” as well as the more melodic (but still rocking!) “Sweet Lady Love.”  With its twangy guitar and compelling vocals, it’s a could-have-been hit, for sure.  So is Elizabeth’s “You Should Be More Careful,” a curio from a band that formed in Philadelphia but soon headed to New York; it’s a footnote in the Todd Rundgren story as the band that launched the career of Robert “Stewkey” Antoni, Rundgren’s bandmate and foil in The Nazz.  Fans of The Nazz will recognize the same tough, British-inspired approach on the Elizabeth song.

It would be remiss to mention one other essential component of this box set and of the Vanguard legacy: performances drawn from the archives of the annual Newport Folk Festival.  After Joan Baez’ career-making performance there in 1959, she was immediately signed to the label, where she remained until decamping for A&M in 1972.  In that decade-plus, Vanguard shepherded her to hitmaking status without ever compromising her or the label’s principles and high standards, but the label never forgot her Newport start.  Every festival between ’59 and ’65 was recorded, and the Newport performances extracted hereallow for the appearance of artists not typically associated with the label: Phil Ochs, Tom Paxton, The Kingston Trio, Paul Butterfield Blues Band and Bob Dylan among them.  Dylan is heard on a previously unreleased version of “North Country Blues” recorded at Newport in 1963, before the song was recorded for Columbia, and the bard of Hibbing is also evoked via Baez’ pristine, controlled “Farewell, Angelina” from her 1965 album of the same name.  You’ll also find great Newport performances from the likes of The Reverend Gary Davis and Koerner, Ray & Glover.

Make It Your Sound, Make It Your Scene is housed in a CD-sized cube containing a digipak holding all four discs.  The box is efficient if not especially sturdy.  It boasts a full-color 56-page booklet with an introduction, essay, track-by-track notes and discographical annotation, plus an index for easy access to all information.  Nick Robbins has remastered the set with customary subtlety.   Today, Vanguard Records exists as part of the Welk Music Group, but its logo hasn’t lost its luster.  It’s been emblazoned in recent years on releases by artists like Linda Ronstadt and the late Levon Helm.  But for a gripping and exhaustive journey back to a time when music was changing the world, Ace's Make It Your Sound, Make It Your Scene is both compelling and comprehensive.

You can order Make It Your Sound, Make It Your Scene at the link below!

Various Artists, Make It Your Sound, Make It Your Scene: Vanguard Records and the 1960s Musical Revolution (Ace/Vanguard VANBOX 14, 2012)

CD 1

1. I’M SO GLAD – Skip James (Today!, VSD LP 79219, 1966)
2. DONE GOT WISE – Big Bill Broonzy (From Spirituals to Swing, VSD LP 47/48, 1973)
3. STAGOLEE – Mississippi John Hurt (The Immortal, VSD LP 79248, 1967)
4. GOSPEL TRAIN – The Golden Gate Quartet (From Spirituals to Swing, VSD LP 47/48, 1973)
5. OH MARY, DON’T YOU WEEP – The Swan Silvertones (Gospel at Newport, VCD 77014, 1995)
6. THE PRODIGAL SON – Rev. Robert Wilkins (Blues at Newport Vol. 2 – 1964, VSD LP 79181, 1965)
7. BOSCO STOMP – The Cajun Band with Dewey Balfa and Revon Reid (Newport Folk Festival, 1964, Evening Concerts, Vol. 3, VSD LP 79186, 1965)
8. BLUES IS A BOTHERATION - Otis Spann (Cryin’ Time, VSD LP 6514, 1970)
9. TOO MUCH ALCOHOL - J.B. Hutto and His Hawks (Chicago/The Blues/Today Vol. 1, VSD LP 79216, 1966)
10. BLUES AFTER HOURS - Pee Wee Crayton (Things I Used to Do, VSD LP 6566, 1971)
11. I CAN’T BE SATISFIED - John Hammond with Duane Allman (You Can’t Judge a Book by the Cover, VSD 79472, 1991)
12. WHAT’S THE MATTER WITH THE MILL – Koerner, Ray & Glover (Newport Folk Festival, 1964, Evening Concerts, Vol. 3, VSD LP 79186, 1965)
13. COCAINE - Dave Van Ronk (Blues with a Feeling, VCD 2 77005, 1994)
14. SAMSON AND DELILAH – Rev. Gary Davis (Blues at Newport, VSD 79145, 1963)
15. COTTON CROP BLUES - James Cotton (Chicago/The Blues/Today Vol. 2, VSD LP 79217, 1966)
16. CLAY’S TUNE - Charlie Musselwhite Blues Band (Stone Blues, VSD 79287, 1968)
17. I CAN’T QUIT YOU BABE - Otis Rush (Chicago/The Blues/Today Vol. 2, VSD LP 79217, 1966)
18. YOU LIED TO ME - Junior Wells (It’s My Life, Baby, VSD 79231, 1966)
19. FEVER - Buddy Guy (Vanguard single 45-35080, 1969)
20. BALL AND CHAIN - Big Mama Thornton (Jail, VSD 79351, 1975)

CD 2

1. DEEP RIVER BLUES - Doc Watson  (Doc Watson, VSD 79152, 1964)
2. HELLO STRANGER - Mike Seeger (Mike Seeger, VSD 79150, 1964)
3. HOUSE CARPENTER - Almeda Riddle (Songs and Ballads of the Ozarks, VSD 79158, 1964)
4. 500 MILES - Hedy West (Newport Folk Festival, 1964, Evening Concerts, Vol. 3, VSD LP 79186, 1965)
5. LITTLE GLASS OF WINE - Stanley Brothers (Clinch Mountain Bluegrass, VCD 77018, 1995)
6. GOING DOWN THIS ROAD FEELING BAD - Watson Family  (Newport Folk Festival, 1964, Evening Concerts, Vol. 3, VSD LP 79186, 1965)
7. STEWBALL - John Herald with The Greenbriar Boys (New Folks, VRS 9096, 1962)
8. THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND – The Weavers (At Home, VSD 2030/VRS 9024, 1958)
9. PRETTY BOY FLOYD - Cisco Houston (Sings Songs of Woody Guthrie, VSD 2131/VRS 9089, 1963)
10. WALK RIGHT IN – The Rooftop Singers (Vanguard single 35047, 1963)
11. THE ROCKY ROAD TO DUBLIN - Liam Clancy (Liam Clancy, VSD 79169/VRS 9169, 1965)
12. JUG OF PUNCH – The Clancy Brothers (Greatest Hits, VSD 53/54, 1973)
13. THE LEAVES THAT ARE GREEN – The Country Gentlemen (The Country Gentlemen, VSD 79331, 1973)
14. WALLS OF TIME - Bill Monroe with Peter Rowan (Bluegrass Breakdown, VCD 77006, 1994)
15. WHERE HAVE ALL THE FLOWERS GONE? - Pete Seeger  (The Essential Pete Seeger, VSD 97/98, 1978)
16. ANGER IN THE LAND - Hedy West (Volume Two, VSD 79162, 1965)
17. THERE BUT FOR FORTUNE - Phil Ochs (New Folks, Volume Two, VSD 79140, 1964)
18. THIRSTY BOOTS - Eric Andersen (‘Bout Changes and Things, VSD 79206, 1966)
19. THE LAST THING ON MY MIND - Tom Paxton (Newport Folk Festival, 1964, Evening Concerts, Vol. 3, VSD LP 79186, 1965)
20. SAN FRANCISCO BAY BLUES - Jesse Fuller (Newport Folk Festival, 1964, Evening Concerts, Vol. 2, VSD LP 79185, 1965)
21. ROLL ON BUDDY - Kentucky Colonels with Clarence White (Long Journey Home, VCD 77004, 1991)
22. HARD, AIN’T IT HARD – The Kingston Trio (Live at Newport, VCD 77009, 1994)
23. MANY A MILE - Patrick Sky (Patrick Sky, VSD 79179, 1965)

CD 3

1. NORTH COUNTRY BLUES - Bob Dylan (Previously Unreleased 1963 Recording)
2. FAREWELL, ANGELINA - Joan Baez (Farewell, Angelina, VSD 79200, 1965)
3. EARLY MORNING RAIN - Ian & Sylvia (Early Morning Rain, VSD 79175, 1965)
4. REFLECTIONS IN A CRYSTAL WIND - Mimi & Richard Farina (Reflections in a Crystal Wind, VSD 79204/VRS 9204, 1966)
5. DRIVING ON BALD MOUNTAIN - Odetta (My Eyes Have Seen, VSD 2046/VRS 9059, 1959)
6. FOUR STRONG WINDS - Ian & Sylvia (Four Strong Winds, VSD 2149/VRS 9133, 1963)
7. MOBILE LINE - Jim Kweskin (Jim Kweskin, VSD 2158/VRS 9139, 1963)
8. DOPE AGAIN – The Serpent Power  (The Serpent Power, VSD 79252, 1967)
9. I-FEEL-LIKE-I’M-FIXIN-TO-DIE RAG - Country Joe & The Fish (I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-to-Die, VSD 79266, 1967)
10. GOTTA BE JUICY (OR IT AIN’T LOVE) - Sandy Bull (Demolition Derby, VSD 6758, 1972)
11. DOWN IN THE BASEMENT - Notes From The Underground (Vanguard single 35073, 1968)
12. NEGATIVE DREAMER GIRL - Circus Maximus (Vanguard single 35063, 1968)
13. ROCK AND ROLL MUSIC – Frost (Vanguard single 35101, 1970)
14. CRISTO REDENTOR - Charlie Musselwhite with Harvey Mandel (Stand Back!  Here Comes Charlie Musselwhite’s South Side Band, VSD 79232, 1967)
15. NOBODY BLUES – The Serpent Power (The Serpent Power, VSD 79252, 1967
16. BORN IN CHICAGO - Paul Butterfield Blues Band (Blues with a Feeling, VCD2 77005, 1994)
17. EASY DOES IT - Sandy Bull (Demolition Derby, VSD 6758, 1972)
18. JANIS - Country Joe & The Fish (Vanguard single 35059, 1967)
19. SWEET LADY LOVE - Frost (Vanguard single 35099, 1970)
20. LONELY MAN - Circus Maximus (Neverland Revisited, VSD 79274, 1968)

CD 4

1. THE NIGHT THEY DROVE OLD DIXIE DOWN - Joan Baez (Vanguard single 35138, 1971)
2. HOBO’S LULLABYE - Gary and Randy Scruggs (Vanguard single 35152, 1972)
3. DUELING BANJOS – The Dillards (Bluegrass Breakdown, Newport Folk Festival 1964-1965, VCD 77006, 1994)
4. SHELL GAME - Jerry Jeff Walker  (Driftin’ Way of Life, VSD 6521, 1969)
5. GET YOUR BISCUITS IN THE OVEN AND YOUR BUNS IN THE BED - Kinky Friedman (Sold American, VSD 79333, 1973)
6. I’M A WOMAN - Jim Kweskin & The Jug Band with Maria Muldaur (Jim Kweskin and the Jug Band Volume 2, VSD 79163, 1965)
7. MARCH! FOR MARTIN LUTHER KING - John Fahey (The Yellow Princess, VSD 79293, 1968)
8. THE DEATH OF STEPHEN BIKO - Tom Paxton (Heroes, VSD 79411, 1978)
9. HERE I GO AGAIN - Country Joe & The Fish (Vanguard single 35090, 1970)
10. YOU SHOULD BE MORE CAREFUL - Elizabeth (Elizabeth, VSD 6501, 1968)
11. SOLDIER BLUE - Buffy Sainte-Marie (Vanguard single 35116, 1971)
12. SOLD AMERICAN - Kinky Friedman (Sold American, VSD 79333, 1973)
13. SAIL - Oregon (Music of Another Present Era, VSD 79326, 1972)
14. RENE’S THEME -  Larry Coryell & John McLaughlin (Spaces, VSD 79345, 1974)
15. COMMEMORATIVE TRANSFIGURATION AND COMMUNION AT MAGRUDER PARK - John Fahey  (The Yellow Princess, VSD 79293, 1968)
16. MORNING SONG TO SALLY - Jerry Jeff Walker  (Driftin’ Way of Life, VSD 6521, 1969)
17. SHE USED TO WANNA BE A BALLERINA - Buffy Sainte-Marie (She Used to Wanna Be a Ballerina, VSD 79311, 1971)
18. A NICKEL’S WORTH OF BENNY’S HELP -  The 31st of February (The 31^st of February, VSD 6503, 1969)
19. WISH I WAS A PUNK – Notes from the Underground (Vanguard single 35073, 1968)
20. KISS MY ASS - Country Joe McDonald (Incredible! Live!, VSD 79316, 1972)