Something Special (Kingston Trio album)
Encyclopedia
Something Special is an album by the American
folk music
group The Kingston Trio
, released in 1962 (see 1962 in music
). It reached number 7 on the Billboard
Pop Albums chart. The lead-off single was a non-album track "C'mon Betty Home" b/w "Old Joe Clark". "One More Town" b/w "She Was Too Good to Me" was released as a single later the same year. Neither single made the Top 40. Something Special was nominated for a Grammy Award
in the Best Folk Recording category.
A notable feature of Something Special is that it was highly orchestrated, using strings, brass instruments and a choir.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
group The Kingston Trio
The Kingston Trio
The Kingston Trio is an American folk and pop music group that helped launch the folk revival of the late 1950s to late 1960s. The group started as a San Francisco Bay Area nightclub act with an original lineup of Dave Guard, Bob Shane, and Nick Reynolds...
, released in 1962 (see 1962 in music
1962 in music
-Events:*January 1 – The Beatles and Brian Poole and the Tremeloes both audition at Decca Records, a company which has the option of signing one group only...
). It reached number 7 on the Billboard
Billboard charts
The Billboard charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs or albums in the United States. The results are published in Billboard magazine...
Pop Albums chart. The lead-off single was a non-album track "C'mon Betty Home" b/w "Old Joe Clark". "One More Town" b/w "She Was Too Good to Me" was released as a single later the same year. Neither single made the Top 40. Something Special was nominated for a Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
in the Best Folk Recording category.
A notable feature of Something Special is that it was highly orchestrated, using strings, brass instruments and a choir.
Reception
Allmusic music critic Bruce Eder wrote the album "was the oddest of all the Kingston Trio's albums... a marked departure from previous work by the trio... The results aren't bad so much as they are strange at times."Reissues
- Something Special was reissued along with Back in Town on CD by Collectors Choice Records in 2000. A bonus track, "C'mon Betty Home" is included.
- In 2000, all of the tracks from Something Special were included in The Stewart YearsThe Kingston Trio: The Stewart YearsThe Kingston Trio: The Stewart Years is a compilation of The Kingston Trio's recordings when John Stewart was a member of the Trio along with Bob Shane and Nick Reynolds....
10-CD box set issued by Bear Family RecordsBear Family RecordsBear Family Records is a Germany-based independent record label that specializes in reissues of archival material ranging from country music to 1950s rock and roll to old German movie soundtracks.-History:...
. This collection also includes eleven tracks without Jimmie HaskellJimmie HaskellJimmie Haskell born Sheridan Pearlman 1936 in Brooklyn, New York is a prolific American composer and arranger for a variety of popular singers and motion pictures.-Biography:...
's orchestral overdubs; the twelfth cut, "Old Joe Clark," appeared on the album as it was originally recorded.
Side one
- "Brown Mountain Light" (Scotty WisemanLulu Belle and ScottyMyrtle Eleanor Cooper and Scott Greene Wiseman , known professionally as Lulu Belle and Scotty, were one of the major country music acts of the 1930s and 1940s, dubbed The Sweethearts of Country Music.-Career:Cooper was born in Boone, North Carolina; Wiseman was from Spruce Pine, North...
) – 2:48 - "One More Town" (John StewartJohn Stewart (musician)John Coburn Stewart was an American songwriter and singer. He is known for his contributions to the American folk music movement of the 1960s while with The Kingston Trio and as the songwriter of The Monkees' #1 hit "Daydream Believer" and his own #5 hit "Gold", among several hundred original...
) – 2:57 - "Oh Willow Waley" (Georges AuricGeorges AuricGeorges Auric was a French composer, born in Lodève, Hérault. He was a child prodigy and at age 15 he had his first compositions published. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire with Georges Caussade, and under the composer Vincent d'Indy at the Schola Cantorum...
, Paul Dehan) – 2:46 - "Tell it on the MountainGo Tell It on the Mountain (song)"Go Tell It on the Mountain" is an African-American spiritual song, compiled by John Wesley Work, Jr., dating back to at least 1865, that has been sung and recorded by many gospel and secular performers...
" (Traditional, Nick ReynoldsNick ReynoldsNick Reynolds was an American folk musician and recording artist. Reynolds was one of the founding members of The Kingston Trio, whose largely folk-based material captured international attention during the late fifties and early sixties.- Early life :Growing up in Coronado, California, his...
, Bob ShaneBob ShaneBob Shane is an American singer and guitarist and, with Nick Reynolds' passing in October 2008, the only surviving founding member of The Kingston Trio. In that capacity, Shane became a seminal figure in the revival of folk and other acoustic music as a popular art form in the U.S...
, Stewart) – 1:55 - "Little Boy" (Mike SettleMike SettleMike Settle, is an American songwriter, journalist, broadcaster and singer. He is most famous for being a member of the Rock band Kenny Rogers & The First Edition between 1967 and 1970...
) – 2:33 - "Strange Day" (Stewart, George Yanok) – 3:55
Side two
- "Away Rio" (Reynolds, Shane, Stewart) – 2:57
- "Pullin' Away" (Reynolds, Shane, Stewart) – 3:17
- "She Was Too Good to Me" (Richard RodgersRichard RodgersRichard Charles Rodgers was an American composer of music for more than 900 songs and for 43 Broadway musicals. He also composed music for films and television. He is best known for his songwriting partnerships with the lyricists Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II...
, Lorenz HartLorenz HartLorenz "Larry" Milton Hart was the lyricist half of the famed Broadway songwriting team Rodgers and Hart...
) – 2:46 - "Jane, Jane, Jane" (Stan Wilson) – 2:51
- "Portland Town" (Stewart) – 1:59
- "Old Joe ClarkOld Joe ClarkOld Joe Clark is a folk song, a mountain ballad that was "sung during World War I and later by soldiers from eastern Kentucky." An early version was printed in 1918, as sung in Virginia at that time. Joe Clark was born in 1839, a mountaineer who was murdered in 1885. There are about 90 stanzas in...
" (Traditional) – 1:58
Personnel
- Bob ShaneBob ShaneBob Shane is an American singer and guitarist and, with Nick Reynolds' passing in October 2008, the only surviving founding member of The Kingston Trio. In that capacity, Shane became a seminal figure in the revival of folk and other acoustic music as a popular art form in the U.S...
– vocals, guitar - Nick ReynoldsNick ReynoldsNick Reynolds was an American folk musician and recording artist. Reynolds was one of the founding members of The Kingston Trio, whose largely folk-based material captured international attention during the late fifties and early sixties.- Early life :Growing up in Coronado, California, his...
– vocals, tenor guitar, bongos, conga - John StewartJohn Stewart (musician)John Coburn Stewart was an American songwriter and singer. He is known for his contributions to the American folk music movement of the 1960s while with The Kingston Trio and as the songwriter of The Monkees' #1 hit "Daydream Believer" and his own #5 hit "Gold", among several hundred original...
– vocals, banjo, guitar - Dean Reilly – bass
Production notes
- Voyle GilmoreVoyle GilmoreVoyle Gilmore was an American record producer and arranger. He was best known for his work with Frank Sinatra and The Kingston Trio on Capitol Records...
– producer - Pete Abbott – engineer
- Jimmy Haskell – arrangements, conductor
Chart positions
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1962 | Billboard Pop Albums | 7 |