Children Of The Morning

Children of the Morning was the final studio album by the Kingston Trio in its original continuity -- they recorded a live album that Decca Records declined to release, which was eventually licensed to Tetragrammaton Records, but this was their last new work. At the time, as is recalled in the notes, music was changing around them almost faster than they could adapt. The Beatles' Rubber Soul was out, and We Five, managed by trio manager Frank Werber, was making the charts with songs like "You Were on My Mind." John Stewart wrote most of the songs on this album and did a lot of the singing, which makes this almost a transitional record to his solo career, which started up immediately upon the split in the group. Strangely, Children of the Morning doesn't really sound much like a Kingston Trio album -- there's relatively little banjo, and the mood is more the introspective one of a singer/songwriter than an upbeat folk trio. The title track is pleasing, and the group even does a decent if unexceptional job with "Norwegian Wood" and "A Taste of Honey." The four bonus tracks off of the group's Somethin' Else album sound more like the traditional Trio work, with a more outgoing feel to the singing and playing. As with their other Decca reissues, Folk Era have brought the tapes back to Capitol's studios and added the slight touch of reverb that everyone missed on the original Decca albums. ~ Bruce Eder