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It's Life's Illusions I Recall: Edsel Collects Judy Collins' 1960s Albums on New Box Set

June 19, 2019 By Joe Marchese 17 Comments

BUY NOW FROM AMAZON.COM

With a crystalline voice and a songbook encompassing the best of folk, pop, Broadway, and beyond, Judy Collins remains an American treasure.  The Seattle native first made a splash on the Colorado folk scene; soon, she was gaining notoriety in Connecticut and then in the fertile Greenwich Village stomping grounds of New York City.  It was in New York that the luminous Collins - a classical piano prodigy, talented guitarist, gifted adapter and later, songwriter, and a singer with a three-octave range - signed with Jac Holzman's Elektra Records.  An Elektra artist for 35 years, Collins' albums reflected a vast musical imagination, a hunger to explore material from rock to art songs, and a powerful social conscience.  Now, Edsel is celebrating her remarkable career with The Elektra Albums Volume One (1961-1968), collecting the eight albums she recorded in the 1960s for Holzman's label.

The first volume of this series, due on July 19, includes the albums which made Collins a voice of a generation and on which she established herself as not only an eloquent voice of traditional folk but a champion of such songwriters as Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, and Randy Newman:

  • A Maid of Constant Sorrow (1961)
  • Golden Apples of the Sun (1962)
  • Judy Collins 3 (1964)
  • The Judy Collins Concert (1964)
  • Fifth Album (1965)
  • In My Life (1966)
  • Wildflowers (1967); and
  • Who Knows Where the Time Goes (1968)

Collins' debut A Maid of Constant Sorrow introduced her as a traditional folk troubadour, featuring varied material of Scottish, English, Irish, and American origin.  She continued in this vein on Golden Apples of the Sun, while her appropriately-titled third album Judy Collins 3 added songs by her contemporary Bob Dylan ("Masters of War," "Farewell") to the mix.  The small band for the LP included banjoist/guitarist/arranger Jim (later Roger) McGuinn, who would take the acoustic versions here of Pete Seeger's "The Bells of Rhymney" and "Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season)," and transform into folk-rock staples with his own band, The Byrds.  Judy Collins 3 also featured songs by Woody Guthrie and Shel Silverstein in its eclectic array of folk tunes.  The subsequent live album The Judy Collins Concert, too, blended traditional ballads with songs by Dylan, Silverstein, Fred Neil, Tom Paxton, and future "Papa" John Phillips ("Me and My Uncle") - all leading lights of the folk world.

Fifth Album saw Collins crack the top 100 of the Billboard Albums Chart, and emphasized topical material from Dylan, Eric Andersen, Phil Ochs, Billy Edd Wheeler, Gordon Lightfoot, and Richard Farina.  The musicians, a larger cast than usual, included John Sebastian on harmonica and Eric Weissberg on guitar and background vocals.  But Collins made her biggest leap with 1966's In My Life.  Dylan and Farina were still represented (with "Tom Thumb's Blues" and "Hard Lovin' Loser," respectively) but the title song was a cover of a recent Beatles hit.  Collins significantly supported up-and-coming poet-songwriter Leonard Cohen with her recordings of "Suzanne" and "Dress Rehearsal Rag," and gave a boost to another future legend with her interpretation of Randy Newman's slice of gorgeous melancholia, "I Think It's Going to Rain Today."  Foreshadowing much of her future work, she turned to the theatre for Kurt Weill, Bertolt Brecht, and Marc Blitzstein's dramatic "Pirate Jenny" from their musical The Threepenny Opera.  The changes extended beyond the choice of material, too.  Arranger-conductor Joshua Rifkin penned lavish orchestral arrangements, a far cry from the spare, acoustic charts of her previous LPs.  Critics recognized Collins' leap forward as a contemporary interpretive singer, and the album would be certified Gold by 1970.

1967's Wildflowers broke the artist through to the commercial mainstream with her era-defining top 10 hit recording of Joni Mitchell's now-standard "Both Sides Now."  It remains a Collins signature song to this day.  The album itself went to No. 5 on the Billboard survey.  Mitchell was also represented with "Michael from Mountains."  (She would record "Michael" on her 1968 debut Song to a Seagull and "Both Sides Now" on her 1969 sophomore album Clouds.)  Rifkin again brought his elegant orchestrations to songs by Cohen ("Sisters of Mercy," "Priests," "Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye") and Belgian chanson writer Jacques Brel ("The Song of Old Lovers") but most notably, Collins contributed three songs of her own: "Since You Asked," "Sky Fell," and "Albatross."  The latter would be heard in the 1968 film The Subject Was Roses.  Wildflowers, too, was certified Gold.

The final album on Edsel's box, Who Knows Where the Time Goes, was named for the Sandy Denny composition.  Produced by David Anderle, it added rock and country elements to Collins' personal style.  Guitarist James Burton, pedal steel guitarist Buddy Emmons, bassist Chris Ethridge (The International Submarine Band, The Flying Burrito Brothers), pianist Van Dyke Parks, and Wrecking Crew drummer and pianist Jim Gordon and Mike Melvoin all played on the eclectic LP, as did Collins' friend and flame Stephen Stills, late of Buffalo Springfield.  Who Knows... summed up Collins' career to that point, with the traditional murder ballad "Pretty Polly" (also the B-side of her non-LP single of Joni Mitchell's "Chelsea Morning") alongside diverse melodies by Cohen, Dylan, Ian Tyson ("Someday Soon"), and Canadian singer-songwriter Rolf Kempf ("Hello, Hooray").

Edsel's box, designed by Phil Smee, has each album in an LP-style paper sleeve facsimile of the original sleeve and also contains a 36-page booklet with original album liner notes and credits plus a new essay by Elektra historian Mick Houghton.  Look for The Elektra Albums Volume 1 (1961-1968) on July 19 from Edsel at the links below!

The Elektra Albums Volume One (1961-1968) is available for pre-order at Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada!

Categories: News Formats: Box Sets, CD Genre: Folk, Pop Tags: Judy Collins

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Joe Marchese

JOE MARCHESE (Editor) joined The Second Disc shortly after its launch in early 2010, and has since penned daily news and reviews about classic music of all genres. In 2015, Joe formed the Second Disc Records label. Celebrating the great songwriters, producers and artists who created the sound of American popular song, Second Disc Records, in conjunction with Real Gone Music, has released newly-curated collections produced by Joe from iconic artists such as Johnny Mathis, Bobby Darin, Laura Nyro, Melissa Manchester, Chet Atkins, and many others. He has contributed liner notes to reissues from a diverse array of artists, among them Nat "King" Cole, Paul Williams, Lesley Gore, Dusty Springfield, B.J. Thomas, The 5th Dimension, Burt Bacharach, The Mamas and the Papas, Carpenters, Perry Como, Rod McKuen, Doris Day, Jackie DeShannon, and Andy Williams, and has compiled releases for talents including Robert Goulet and Keith Allison of Paul Revere and the Raiders. Over the past two decades, Joe has also worked in a variety of capacities on and off Broadway as well as at some of the premier theatres in the U.S., including Lincoln Center Theater, George Street Playhouse, Paper Mill Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre, and the York Theatre Company. He has felt privileged to work on productions alongside artists such as the late Jack Klugman, Eli Wallach, Arthur Laurents, Betty Comden and Adolph Green. In 2009, Joe began contributing theatre and music reviews to the print publication The Sondheim Review, and in 2012, he joined the staff of The Digital Bits as a regular contributor writing about film and television on DVD and Blu-ray. Joe currently resides in the suburbs of New York City.

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Comments

  1. Jeff says

    June 19, 2019 at 12:59 pm

    Amazon US link goes to Amazon UK.

    Reply
    • Avatar photoJoe Marchese says

      June 19, 2019 at 1:05 pm

      Thanks, Jeff. It's since been fixed.

      Reply
  2. Bruce Padgett says

    June 19, 2019 at 4:23 pm

    By any chance, is “Chelsea Morning” (or any other non-LP tracks from the period), included? Thanks.

    Reply
    • Avatar photoJoe Marchese says

      June 19, 2019 at 4:30 pm

      No, this box contains original albums only. As it's the first volume in a series, however, I think it's possible that odds and ends could be collected down the road.

      Reply
  3. Bill says

    June 19, 2019 at 8:12 pm

    I do hope that they will be released individually at some point in time.

    Reply
  4. Bud says

    June 20, 2019 at 11:42 am

    She was I'll in Lenox for her Tanglewood concert in 69 or 70. Admitted to the hospital at BMC and caught having sex with her boyfriend. My Mom was a nurse on the floor. Smooth voice blue eyes and captivating

    Reply
  5. steve says

    June 26, 2019 at 8:02 pm

    Any info on the sound quality?

    Reply
    • Avatar photoJoe Marchese says

      June 26, 2019 at 9:31 pm

      Sorry, the set hasn’t been released yet.

      Reply
  6. Paul F says

    July 18, 2019 at 12:24 pm

    Any info about the remastering... Who did it, from which sources... Analogue tapes, digital files... you know... being Edsel... You can't just trust them blindly...

    Reply
    • Avatar photoJoe Marchese says

      July 18, 2019 at 12:46 pm

      We don't have a copy of the box yet, so we're not aware of the remastering credits. Sorry.

      Reply
      • Paul F says

        July 18, 2019 at 2:56 pm

        Ok, any update would be greatly appreciated

        Reply
  7. Paul F says

    July 25, 2019 at 5:25 am

    Any info about the remastering sources, now that the box is out?... As I see it, and already owning most of the records, the main and only selling point is SOUND QUALITY.

    Reply
    • Avatar photoJoe Marchese says

      July 25, 2019 at 11:27 pm

      Hi Paul, I can confirm that the set has been mastered using digital sources newly supplied to Edsel by Warner Music Group. That's the extent of my knowledge, but I hope it's helpful.

      Reply
      • Paul F says

        July 26, 2019 at 6:00 am

        Thanks, I appreciate it. Not good news, but helpful news nonetheless. Being Edsel it was to be expected they would use whatever source would be thrown at them, and have no control over. I'll save my precious money for something worthwhile... Again, thanks

        Reply
  8. Andre says

    August 10, 2019 at 9:56 am

    My copy of the box set arrived today and while I didn't have great expectations I must say that I am impressed with this release.

    So far I have only listened to some key tracks from which I thought they did not always sound right on previous releases:
    "Both Sides Now" sounds significantly better than it did on the 2in1-sets that Elektra released in the late 90s/early 200s and also much better than it sounded on "the very best of judy collins" by Rhino (2001).

    On these previous releases there were some issues with clipping/oversaturation and some mixing choices particularly on the Rhino set that did not do the song any favors.
    While the recent BGO Records set from 2016 had a beautiful warm sound, it also suffered a bit from oversaturation.
    On this new Edsel release there's no audible clipping, so they must have had access to a better master than the one used for previous re-releases. (I assume it might be from the same source used for the hi-def digital collection that's available from various online stores specialized in high fidelity audio.)

    The other tracks I checked so far are the first two songs on "Who Knows Where The Time Goes", as I thought that album sounded particularly bad on the previous Elektra re-release (2in1-sets). To me the previous mix sounded quite shrill - particularly on Judy's voice on the first track- and lacking presence and definition in the mid-frequencies.
    On the new Edsel release there's no piercing shrillness to Judy's voice and there's generally more definition to the sound of the instruments as well, sounding clear but with enough warmth and punch to it as well.

    In terms of sound quality this seems like a definitive release to me. I don't understand why they don't mention the sound quality in the adverts for this set.
    The packaging is also very well made - the box is sturdy and the sleeves beautifully restore the original artwork with one minor exception: In cases where the old Elektra label was part of the artwork on the early albums it was either removed or replaced with an Edsel label in one case ("Golden Apples...").
    The booklet presents the liner notes in a readable format, as the shrunken sleeve replicas make them almost impossible to read on the back covers. Also included are many photos (- most of them probably not unknown to Judy's audience).

    A note to anyone interested in buying the set: for some reason it's significantly less expensive in the UK than anywhere else, so I'd definitely buy it from a seller in the UK.

    Reply
    • steve says

      August 10, 2019 at 2:42 pm

      Thanks, Andre, both for your review of the sound quality and for your tip about buying from the UK. I just ordered it for USD 48.60.

      Reply
  9. Andre says

    September 1, 2019 at 11:59 am

    After listening to the set I've written a detailed review including audio demos via video (featuring audio visualization of the uncompressed signal):

    https://flickeringsongs.wordpress.com/2019/09/01/judy-collins-the-elektra-albums-volume-1-1961-1968/

    I think this is a gorgeous collection and the mastering engineer Phil Kinrade did a great job.

    Reply

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