A Half Hearted Compilation

"The Essential *LIVE* Pete Seeger" would be a more accurate title for this CD. Nine of the 15 tracks here are live recordings which, in the case of "Barbara Allen," or "Little Boxes" isn't particularly a problem but on far too many of the songs, "John Henry," "This Land is Your Land," "Guantanamera," "Michael Row The Boat Ashore," and some others, the live performances are "audience participation sing-a-longs" which means that the anonymous audience drowns out Seeger's vocals to the point that it hardly seems fair to deem them Seeger recordings. In at least one case, "Wimoweh," the sound quality of the recording is so poor, and the audience so dominant, it is a wonder why it ever was considered for inclusion onto this CD. Then there is the CD's length. Clocking in at less than 50 minutes seems pretty ludicrous given that a single CD can hold about 80 minutes of music and given the treasure trove of Seeger recordings that sit gathering dust in the vaults.

Essential indeed!

An excellent sampling of some of folk music's most important and enduring songs. There are more comprehensive collections of Seeger's songbook, but if you're looking for a budget-priced single-CD compilation, you can't go wrong with this one.