Carry It On [Bonus DVD]

Disc 1
1	Buddy, Can You Spare A Dime - Peter Yarrow
2	Early In The Morning
3	500 Miles
4	Lemon Tree
5	If I Had A Hammer
6	It's Raining
7	If I Had My Way
8	Autumn To May
9	Where Have All The Flowers Gone
10	Puff, The Magic Dragon
11	This Land Is Your Land
12	Gone The Rainbow
13	Flora
14	Old Coat
15	A'Soalin'
16	Blowin' In The Wind
17	Polly Von
18	Stewball
19	All My Trial
20	Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
21	Freight Train
22	Paultalk (Live)
Disc 2
1	Goodbye Baby - Noel Stookey & The Corsairs
2	The Times They Are A Changin' (Live)
3	Three Ravens (Live)
4	Blue (Live)
5	Oh, Rock My Soul (Live)
6	When The Ship Comes In (Live)
7	Come And Go With Me (Live)
8	For Lovin'Me
9	Jimmy Whalen
10	Gilgarra Mountain
11	Wasn't That A Time
12	Monday Morning
13	San Francisco Bay Blues
14	Early Mornin' Rain
15	The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
16	The Last Thing On My Mind
17	The Cruel War (2nd Single Version)
18	Il Faut Qu'il Vienne Le Temps (If I Were Free)
19	And When I Die
20	20. Kisses Sweeter Than Wine
21	21. For Baby (For Bobbie)
22	22. Hurry Sundown (Single Version)
23	23. Mon Vrai Destin
24	24. Well, Well, Well
Disc 3
1	Single Girl - Mary Travers
2	The Other Side Of This Life (Live)
3	Sometime Lovin' (Live)
4	The Good Times We Had (Live)
5	Leaving On A Jet Plane
6	No Other Name
7	The House Song
8	The Great Mandella (The Wheel Of Life)
9	I Dig Rock & Roll Music
10	The Song Is Love
11	Too Much On Nothing
12	Moments Of Sort Persuasion
13	Hymn
14	Day Is Done (Live/Single Version)
15	The Marvelous Toy
16	Leatherwing Bat
17	I Have A Song To Sing, O!
18	Going To The Zoo
19	Because All Men Are Brothers - with Dave Brubeck
20	Follow Me - Mary Tarvers
21	Wedding Song (There Is Love) - Noel Paul Stookey
22	Coscientious Objector (I Shall Die) - Mary Travers
23	Weave Me The Sunshine - Peter Yarrow
24	By Surprise
Disc 4
1	Canaan Land
2	Such Is Love (Live)
3	There But For Fortune (Live)
4	Wild Places (For Caloola) (Live)
5	Right Field
6	No Easy Walk To Freedom
7	Greenland Whale Fisheries
8	El Salvador
9	Greenwood
10	Children Go Where I Send Thee (Live)
11	Light One Candle (Live)
12	All Mixed Up
13	It Ain't Me Babe
14	Pastures Of Plenty (Live)
15	The Fox (Live)
16	Garden Song (Live)
17	The Kid
18	Mi Caballo (Live)
19	It's Magic
20	Don't Laugh At Me
Disc 5
1	If I Had A Hammer (Civil Rights March On Washington, 1963)
2	Jane, Jane (The Andy Williams Show, 1966)
3	If I Had My Way (The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, 1969)
4	Leaving On A Jet Plane - with John Denver (Something To Sing About, 1969)
5	The Great Mandella (The Wheel Of Live) (The Song Is Love, 1970)
6	No Easy Walk To Freedom (Promotional Video, 1986)
7	Babylon/On Sinner Man (LifeLines Sessions, 1994)
8	Have You Been To Jail For Justice? (Rehearsal Reference, 2003)
9	Interviews (1996)

Barnes & Noble

With mellifluous harmonies, an imaginative blend of male and female voices, infectious energy, and a superior taste in repertoire, Peter, Paul & Mary brought folk music to broad popular attention in a way that no other artists ever had. With such early signature songs as “Lemon Tree,” “If I Had a Hammer,” “Puff the Magic Dragon,” “Where Have All the Flowers Gone,” and, of course, Bob Dylan’s “Blowin' in the Wind,” P. P. & M. gave popular voice to the burgeoning folk music scene of the 1960s. Massively acclaimed during the early days of the decade, the trio continued to have success with later hits including “I Dig Rock & Roll Music” and “Day Is Done,” while their albums, including the children’s collection Peter, Paul and Mommy, went on to become perennial classics. This four-disc (plus bonus DVD) collection provides a comprehensive picture of the pioneering ensemble that is designed to please both devoted fans and first-time listeners. All the best-loved performances are accounted for, as well as a multitude of live cuts and rarities. Here’s the place to turn for the real artistry and sheer pleasure of the folk music boom that A Mighty Wind didn’t catch. Steve Futterman

Barnes & Noble

The seminal trio Peter, Paul & Mary lie in the upper echelons of folk music's dynasty, and this definitive box set -- spanning the years 1960-2003 and containing four CDs plus an exclusive DVD -- captures the essence of their intertwining voices, topical songs, and poetic sensibility. At the heart of the set are 80 remastered audio recordings, spanning the trio's career and including previously unreleased solo performances by each member made prior to the group's formation -- plus a home recording of "Canaan Land," recorded before they signed with Warner Bros. Records. Presented chronologically, the material ranges from traditional ballads like "The Three Ravens" and "Take Off Your Old Coat" to the work of such latter-day poets as Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, Laura Nyro, Gordon Lightfoot, Tom Paxton, Phil Ochs, and John Denver, as well as songs penned by the group itself. All the classics -- indelible, important songs like "Blowin' in the Wind," "If I Had a Hammer," "Cruel War," "Leaving on a Jet Plane," "Where Have All the Flowers Gone," "500 Miles," "Lemon Tree," "In the Early Morning Rain," "All My Trials," and "Puff (The Magic Dragon)" -- are included, of course, but there's much more to be found in this time capsule encompassing nearly a half century of consistently moving, inspiring, and purposeful music.

Highlights of the eight-track bonus DVD include live performances of "If I Had a Hammer" from the 1963 Civil Rights March on Washington, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech; "Leaving on a Jet Plane," sung by PP&M and John Denver, the song's author, in 1970; "The Great Mandala (The Wheel of Life)" from their 1970 documentary The Song Is Love; and "Jane Jane" from The Andy Williams Show. The set's exclusive booklet features a lengthy history and musical commentary from Barry Alfonso; essays from Pulitzer Prize–winning political writer David Halberstam and Ronnie Gilbert of the Weavers; and a moving story by 1968 presidential candidate Senator Eugene McCarthy. Also included are captivating archival photos, detailed track notes, and testimonials from friends and colleagues such as Pete Seeger, Harry Belafonte, Bill Cosby, Walter Cronkite, Judy Collins, Senator John F. Kerry, Tom Smothers, Gloria Steinem, and Studs Terkel, as well as Dr. King's widow, Coretta Scott King, who proclaims, "Peter, Paul & Mary are not only three of the greatest folk artists ever, but also three of the performing arts' most outstanding champions of social justice and peace. They have lent their time and talents to the Civil Rights Movement, labor struggles, and countless campaigns for human rights for decades, and their compassion and commitment remain as strong as their extraordinary artistry." Not unexpectedly, Ms. King says it all.

All Music Guide

Peter, Paul & Mary's multi-decade career is for the most part well summarized, and certainly extremely well packaged, on this four-CD, 90-track box set. As with many such boxes, there's too much on here if you're not a devoted fan, and too much in particular from their post-early-'70s recordings, which take up all of disc four. But it does, of course, have all of their '60s hits, along with many of their better album tracks. Not all of those album tracks are good, but at the very least these show their willingness to take on an extraordinarily wide range of material, from traditional folk songs and children's tunes to covers of emerging songwriters like Bob Dylan, Fred Neil, Laura Nyro, John Denver, Gordon Lightfoot, and Tom Paxton, sometimes venturing into soft folk-rock. You could, in fact, make something of a secondary greatest-hits CD from the best of those tracks that would be almost as good as their actual greatest-hits CD, some of those standout songs being Nyro's "And When I Die" (released in mid-1966, when Nyro was virtually unknown), "Early in the Morning," "500 Miles," "The Song Is Love," Rev. Gary Davis' "If I Had My Way," Pete Seeger's "Where Have All the Flowers Gone," "Because All Men Are Brothers" (recorded with Dave Brubeck), and Ewan MacColl's "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face." Others, unfortunately, are only likely to be appreciated by completists, like Noel Paul Stookey's long comedy routine "Paultalk."

As far as the kind of rarities routinely thrown on box sets to entice collectors, there are a fair number, most of them worth hearing, though none of them are among their more essential work. These include a previously unreleased cover of Dylan's "When the Ship Comes In," from the 1965 Newport Folk Festival; a previously unissued version of the traditional tune "Come and Go With Me," recorded live at the White House in 1964; a single-only 1966 version of "The Cruel War," with strings; "Il Faut Qu'il Vienne le Temps (If I Were Free)," from a French EP; the single version of "Hurry Sundown," minus the horn overdubs of the LP version; three tracks from a 1967 Japanese live album; the live single version of "Day Is Done"; and a few early-'70s solo cuts by Peter Yarrow, Noel Paul Stookey, and Mary Travers, the standout among these being Travers' orchestrated art song-ish "Conscientious Objector (I Shall Die)." There are also four bonus tracks -- placed, annoyingly, as songs that precede the official first songs of each CD, meaning you have to go to the beginning of song one and press the reverse button to access them -- predating the trio's recording deal. None of these are that good, but they have considerable historical interest, including a 1960 audition tape of Travers doing "Single Girl" (to be re-recorded by Peter, Paul & Mary on In Concert a few years later); Yarrow doing "Buddy, Can You Spare a Dime?" live in 1958; Noel Stookey & the Corsairs on their 1956 single "Goodbye Baby," where it sounds like they can't decide whether they're playing rock & roll or jazz; and a 1960 tape of Peter, Paul & Mary singing "Canaan Land," recorded at Stookey's apartment.

The biggest extra, though, is a bonus DVD disc included with the box, featuring eight songs from various phases of their career. The first five of those clips, spanning 1963-1970, are quite good, including the group singing "If I Had a Hammer" during their famous appearance at the 1963 March on Washington; a 1966 TV clip of "Jane, Jane"; a vibrant 1969 rendition of "If I Had My Way," from The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour; and a 1969 broadcast of "Leaving on a Jet Plane," on which they're joined by the song's author, John Denver. (The three other DVD clips, spanning 1986-2002, are unfortunately not nearly as fun.) The 86-page bound-in booklet is mighty impressive too, jam-packed with vintage photos, historical essays, and appreciative tributes from numerous celebrities, from John Kerry and Bill Cosby to Studs Terkel and Coretta Scott King. Richie Unterberger