Search - Limeliters :: Time to Gather Seeds

A Period Piece

H. Silver | Park Forest, IL | 11/20/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I guess one could say that all the Limeliters, Kingston Trio, et al, albums are period pieces of the late-50s, early 60's folk era (or Great Folk Scare, as it has been called). But the other albums have aged a lot better than this one. The other Limeliter albums (many of which have been reissued -- e.g., "Slightly Fabulous") have their clean, lusty sound. This album shouts 1967. Their singing is somewhat muted, and Alex Hassilev went a bit overboard over-producing it with too much background instrumentation and voices. In short, the production is too pop, and not very folk.



Still, it contains some interesting songs, such as "One Hundred Men", which is eerily relevant today. I remember getting the vinyl in the late 60's, so I knew what I was getting with the CD. Despite my reservations stated in the first paragraph, I do enjoy the album (just less than their others).



In their reunions in the 1970s, the Limeliters returned to their strong sound of the early 1960s. It would be interesting to imagine what the songs of this album would sound like if done in their traditional style, instead of the top-40 style. We'll never know."