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Compilations

Folk

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Best of Friends

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Artists: Tom Paxton, Anne Hills, Bob Gibson
Label: Appleseed Records
Category: Music

List Price: ~~$17.98~~
Buy Used: $8.97
as of 11/21/2009 09:04 PST details
You Save: $9.01 (50%)

New (25) Used (8) from $8.97

Seller: goHastings

Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5

UPC: 611587107725
EAN: 0611587107725
ASIN: B00019PDJ8

Release Date: February 24, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days

Tracks:

•	Sing for the Song
•	spoken introduction (Best of Friends)
•	Did You Hear John Hurt?
•	Home to Me (is Anywhere You Are)
•	spoken introduction (Political Writing)
•	The Death of Stephen Biko
•	spoken introduction (Bob and Toms collaboration)
•	And Loving You
•	While You Sleep
•	She Sits on the Table
•	Let the Band Play Dixie
•	Pilgrim Song
•	spoken introduction (Texas)
•	Panhandle Wind
•	spoken introduction (Reagan ecology)
•	Somethings Wrong with the Rain
•	Ramblin Boy
•	spoken introduction (Lawyers)
•	One Million Lawyers
•	Bottle of Wine

Similar Items:

Under American Skies

Bob Gibson & Bob Camp at the Gate of Horn

I Can't Help But Wonder Where I'm Bound: The Best Of Tom Paxton

Comedians & Angels

Live at McCabe's Guitar Shop

Editorial Reviews:

Album Description
In 1984, two generations of master folksinger-songwriters - Tom Paxton and Bob Gibson - teamed up with relative newcomer Anne Hills, soon to gain recognition as their peer, to perform for 18 months as Best of Friends. The trio toured the US, UK, and Canada but made no formal recordings, which left Best of Friends a missing and much sought after link in the chain of recorded folk history - until now! A live February 1985 concert taped at Holstein's, then one of Chicago's finest folk clubs, and broadcast on a local radio station, recently resurfaced and is now presented as the only available recording by this three-fold supergroup.

The trio's senior member, Bob Gibson was a unique folk-pop stylist who popularized the 12-string guitar and inspired many of the major country-rock stars of the '60s and '70s, including The Byrds and The Eagles. On "Best of Friends," he contributes three original compositions, including the inspirational "Pilgrim Song," which addresses the 12-step recovery program for substance abusers. Gibson's strengths as an instrumental and vocal arranger are much in evidence, with his trademark 12-string, banjo and voice deftly underpinning Paxton (vocals, acoustic guitar), whose songs dominate the set, and Anne Hills (vocals, acoustic guitar), whose warm soprano provides the rich, lovely bond linking the three singers. The group also performs Anne's song, "While You Sleep."

The CD's material and the intimate mood of the performance are models of original folk music. Paxton, a GRAMMY nominee for 2002's "Looking for the Moon" CD on Appleseed, presents the Tom Lehreresque nightmare "One Million Lawyers," tributes to political martyrs and musical heroes, atmospheric Americana, environmental and sociological concerns, romantic ballads, good-time anthem "Bottle of Wine," and his signature "Ramblin' Boy." Gibson's "Let the Band Play Dixie" calls for social unity, and its quote from Abraham Lincoln could be the motto of this CD: "We are gathered not in anger but in celebration."

Customer Reviews:
5 out of 5 stars

Ramblin' Boy And Friends January 10, 2009
Alfred Johnson (boston, ma)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

The following paragraphs are from a review of Tom Paxton's Greatest Hits CD that I reviewed in this space last year and that is germane to a review of this album- at least to Tom Paxton's role in it.

"If I were to ask someone, in the year 2008, to name a male folk singer from the 1960's I would assume that if I were to get an answer to that question that the name would be Bob Dylan. And that would be a good and appropriate choice. One can endlessly dispute whether or not Dylan was (or wanted to be) the voice of the Generation of '68 but in terms of longevity and productivity he fits the bill as a known quality. However, there were a slew of other male folk singers who tried to find their niche in the folk milieu and who, like Dylan, today continue to produce work and to perform. The artist under review Tom Paxton is one such singer/songwriter.

The following is a question that I have been posing in reviewing the work of a number of male folk singers from the 1960's and it is certainly an appropriate question to ask of Tom Paxton as well. I do not know if Tom Paxton, like his contemporary Bob Dylan, started out wanting to be the king of the hill among male folk singers but he certainly had some things going for him. A decent acoustic guitar but a very interesting (and strong) voice to fit the lyrics of love, hope, longing and sometimes just sheer whimsy, as in the children's songs, that he was singing about at the time. I would venture however, given what I know of his politics and the probably influence that his good friend the late folksinger and historian Dave Van Ronk had on him, that the answer above is probably no."

Well, those points made above apply to him her as well. Except that instead of just posing the question to Tom Paxton it is also a question that one can ask of the late Bob Gibson who, arguably, was as influential as anyone in the early 1960's folk revival. I will, when I can find some of his material, do a separate review on his work. Added here as well is the very fine voice of Anne Hall whom I was very unfamiliar with prior to listening to this CD. I will also make up for that lack at a later time. For now though, this is a very fine CD based on collective work that this trio did for a short time on the Chicago folk circuit in the mid-1980s. Most of the material was written by Paxton, including works containing his funny political slant, but the real treat here is the almost seamless harmony done on the songs. Outstanding here are "The Death Of Stephen Biko (a black activist murdered while in custody in South Africa in the 1970's); "And Loving You"; "She Sits On The Table" (a gripping and compelling tale of domestic abuse and the sometimes no way out dead end that women find themselves in with abusive men); and, Tom's classic "Ramblin' Boy". Nice stuff, and you will be seeing more about these artists in this space this year.

5 out of 5 stars

Nothing to fear from this product of 1984! October 11, 2008
R. Kyle (USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

I've heard a lot of this collection on vinyl and somehow missed that it had released on CD 4 years ago. This CD is the result of three of folk's most talented singers: Tom Paxton, Bob Gibson, and Annie Hillis touring for over a year.

Yes, a lot of this is still topical. Too many lawyers, politician's goofs (remember Ronald Reagan talking about trees being dangerous to the ecology), and just plain fun. This is folk music at it's classic best and a hard to find selection.

Rebecca Kyle, October 2008

5 out of 5 stars

Long Overdue June 15, 2005
Sheryl Katz (Chatsworth, CA USA)
13 out of 14 found this review helpful

I have checked Amazon several times over the last fifteen years hoping for this album to come out on CD. I had heard most, if not all, of the cuts on Dick Cerri's Music Americana when I lived in Washington DC, and I loved what I heard.

Bob Gibson, while perhaps one of the least well-known of the great singers of the folk revival, was my favorite folksinger while I was growing up. It has been said that his voice was "too good" for folk music. He had a wonderful warm baritone, and a great sense of humor. He demonstrated with this group as well as on his glorious recordings with Bob (or has he sometimes called himself- Hamilton) Camp that he could also blend beautifully in harmony.

Tom Paxton, of course, has a great knack for writing clever words and melodies with sly social commentary. He is perhaps the weakest pure singer of the three.

Anne Hills has a beautiful, pure, almost operatic soprano. I have listened to Anne Hills recordings where she sings on her own, and I have generally no liked them. Mostly because she tends to traditional old English folk material that doesn't resonate for me.

Combine the three of them and you have a great trio, reminiscent in some ways of Peter, Paul and Mary but more interesting.

Every song on this album is enjoyable. I particularly liked "Sing for the Song", "And Loving You", and "Let the Band Play Dixie". I liked every song on the album, but my favorites are those where there is significant harmonizing and I haven't heard the song ten thousand times as I have with most Tom Paxton songs.

The quality of sound on the CD is good, no complaints with the transfer. Much of this was recorded live, so the possibility of sound compression was very real, but I am very happy with this CD.

This is one of the greatest folk music CDs ever made. If you like folk music buy it.

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