The Last Month of the Year
Encyclopedia
The Last Month of the Year is an album of Christmas music
by The Kingston Trio
, released in 1960 (see 1960 in music
). It became the first Kingston Trio album release to fall below expected sales and Capitol withdrew the album from circulation shortly after its release. In 1992 the tracks were digitally re-mastered from the original three-track
master session tapes and it was reissued on CD, but was once again deleted from the Capitol catalog.
Nick Reynolds
stated in an interview for the liner notes of The Guard Years: "It wasn't your standard Christmas album. That's why we called it The Last Month of the Year. It was a pretty complicated little album, some very intricate stuff. Dave (Guard
) brought in a lot of the arrangements with stuff like bouzouki
instrumentation; Buckwheat (David Wheat, the Trio's bassist) played some wonderful gut-string guitar. We really worked hard on that one, laying down a lot of the instrumental tracks before we did the vocals, working on harmonies over and over. David (Guard) was responsible for a lot of that album, but we all brought things in... Musically, it came off very well; it just didn't sell."
In his Allmusic review, critic David A. Milberg called the The Last Month of the Year "An essential part of any Christmas album collection, these are true Christmas folk songs, from spirituals to Old English rounds."
Christmas music
Christmas music comprises a variety of genres of music normally performed or heard around the Christmas season, which tends to begin in the months leading up the actual holiday and end in the weeks shortly thereafter.-Early:...
by 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 1960 (see 1960 in music
1960 in music
-Events:*January 14 – Elvis Presley is promoted to Sergeant in the U.S. Army*February 6 – Songwriter Jesse Belvin dies in an automobile accident in Los Angeles...
). It became the first Kingston Trio album release to fall below expected sales and Capitol withdrew the album from circulation shortly after its release. In 1992 the tracks were digitally re-mastered from the original three-track
Multitrack recording
Multitrack recording is a method of sound recording that allows for the separate recording of multiple sound sources to create a cohesive whole...
master session tapes and it was reissued on CD, but was once again deleted from the Capitol catalog.
History
The Last Month of the Year is considered their most musically ambitious and also one of the Trio's least known. It was recorded in 1960 between shows at The Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, CA.Nick Reynolds
Nick Reynolds
Nick 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...
stated in an interview for the liner notes of The Guard Years: "It wasn't your standard Christmas album. That's why we called it The Last Month of the Year. It was a pretty complicated little album, some very intricate stuff. Dave (Guard
Dave Guard
Donald David "Dave" Guard was an American folk singer, songwriter, arranger and recording artist. Along with Nick Reynolds and Bob Shane, he was one of the founding members of The Kingston Trio.Guard was educated in Honolulu, Hawaii, at Punahou School in what was then the pre-statehood U.S....
) brought in a lot of the arrangements with stuff like bouzouki
Bouzouki
The bouzouki , is a musical instrument with Greek origin in the lute family. A mainstay of modern Greek music, the front of the body is flat and is usually heavily inlaid with mother-of-pearl. The instrument is played with a plectrum and has a sharp metallic sound, reminiscent of a mandolin but...
instrumentation; Buckwheat (David Wheat, the Trio's bassist) played some wonderful gut-string guitar. We really worked hard on that one, laying down a lot of the instrumental tracks before we did the vocals, working on harmonies over and over. David (Guard) was responsible for a lot of that album, but we all brought things in... Musically, it came off very well; it just didn't sell."
Reception
Sales for the album fell far below expected sales and Capitol withdrew the album from circulation shortly after its release.In his Allmusic review, critic David A. Milberg called the The Last Month of the Year "An essential part of any Christmas album collection, these are true Christmas folk songs, from spirituals to Old English rounds."
Reissues
- The Last Month of the Year was reissued in 1991 on CD by Capitol, with eight other albums from the Dave Guard era.
- In 1997, all of the tracks from The Last Month of the Year were included in The Guard YearsThe Kingston Trio: The Guard YearsThe Kingston Trio: The Guard Years is a compilation of The Kingston Trio's recordings when Dave Guard 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:...
. - The album was reissued on CD again in 1999 by Collectors' Choice MusicCollectors' Choice MusicCollectors' Choice Music is a company primarily in two businesses. They are best known for re-issuing albums originally recorded in LP record form as compact discs...
.
Side one
- "Bye Bye Thou Little Child" (Dave Guard) – 2:35
- "White Snows of Winter" (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...
, Tom Drake) – 2:34 - "We Wish You a Merry ChristmasWe Wish You a Merry Christmas"We Wish You a Merry Christmas" is a popular secular sixteenth-century English carol from the West Country of England. The origin of this Christmas carol lies in the English tradition where wealthy people of the community gave Christmas treats to the carolers on Christmas Eve such as 'figgy...
" (Paul Campbell) – 1:34 - "All Through the NIghtAr Hyd y NosAr Hyd y Nos is a Welsh folksong sung to a tune that was first recorded in Edward Jones' Musical and Poetical Relics of the Welsh Bards . The Welsh lyrics were written by John Ceiriog Hughes, and has been translated into several languages, including English and Breton.The melody was used by John...
" – 2:44 - "Good Night My Baby" (Nick Reynolds) – 1:54
- "Go Where I Send Thee" (Guard, Reynolds, Shane) – 2:31
Side two
- "Follow Now, Oh Shepherds" (Gretchen Guard) – 2:49
- "Somerset Gloucestershire Wassail" (Dave Guard, E. Schwandt) – 1:47
- "Mary Mild" (Miriam Stafford, Shane, Drake) – 2:50
- "A Round About Christmas" (Reynolds) – 1:30
- "Sing We Noel" (Dave Guard) – 2:03
- "The Last Month of the Year (What Month Was Jesus Born In)" (Hall, Tartt, Lomax) – 2:37
Personnel
- Dave GuardDave GuardDonald David "Dave" Guard was an American folk singer, songwriter, arranger and recording artist. Along with Nick Reynolds and Bob Shane, he was one of the founding members of The Kingston Trio.Guard was educated in Honolulu, Hawaii, at Punahou School in what was then the pre-statehood U.S....
– vocals, banjo, guitar, bouzouki - 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, banjo - 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 - David "Buck" Wheat – bass, guitar
Production notes (1991 CD version)
- Produced by Voyle Gilmore
- Engineered by Pete Abbot
- Compilation produced and researched by Ron FurmanekRon FurmanekRon Furmanek is a Grammy nominated music producer and filmographer who has produced over 200 CDs. His most recent work, which includes six Kingston Trio titles, is currently released on RichKat Records, through Collectors Choice Music in the USA.-Biography:...
- Digitally remastered by Bob NorbergBob NorbergBob Norberg was a recording engineer for Capitol Records, known for his work mixing or re-mastering recordings by many popular and classical artists, including Les Paul, Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, the Beach Boys, Itzhak Perlman, and many others....
- Remixed by Ron Furmanek and Bob Norberg
Chart positions
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1960 | Billboard Pop Albums | 11 |