The Best of the Chad Mitchell Trio: The Mercury Years

Album Review

The Chad Mitchell Trio signed to Mercury Records in 1963 after achieving initial success on Kapp Records. The group made four charting albums for the label, the second two under the more democratic name of the Mitchell Trio, after which Chad Mitchell quit and was replaced by a young John Denver. Two non-charting albums followed before they left Mercury in 1966. This is a good compilation of that material, featuring songs written by such folk luminaries as Tom Paxton (including "The Marvelous Toy," the trio's biggest hit), Ian Tyson, and Phil Ochs. Those cheery harmonies, often expressing topically satiric sentiments in such songs as "Alma Mater" (about college integration struggles), "Barry's Boys" (about Barry Goldwater), and "The Draft Dodger Rag," still sound fresh and funny, if inevitably dated. The seven tracks featuring Denver have historical interest, especially since three of them are his compositions, including a 1965 version of "For Bobbi." Of course, to be really comprehensive, a compilation would have to contain material from both the Kapp and Mercury catalogs, but this disc tells the second half of the trio's story well.