"The Compleat Tom Paxton - Recorded Live" by TOM PAXTON - March 1971 Double Live Album on Elektra Records (June 2014 UK Beat Goes On Records (BGO) Reissue - 2LPs onto 2CDs Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

As featured in my e-Book

"...To Love You Again..."

The original vinyl double album "The Compleat Tom Paxton - Recorded Live" was taped across two nights in New York's famous Folk and Rock Venue "The Bitter End" in June 1970 and released in March 1971 on Elektra 7E-2003 in the USA and Elektra EKD 2003 in the UK (later reissued November 1975 as Elektra K 62004 in the UK).

This superb 2CD reissue is a straightforward remaster (without bonuses) of his final set for Elektra Records (he then signed to Reprise after that). Here are the Folk Troubadour details...

UK released June 2014 - "The Compleat Tom Paxton - Recorded Live" by TOM PAXTON on Beat Goes On BGOCD 1148 (Barcode 5017261211484) is a 2CD set of Remasters and breaks down as follow:

Disc 1 (43:25 minutes):

1. Clarissa Jones

2. Introduction

3. The Things I Notice Now

4. Jennifer's Rabbit/I Give You The Morning

5. Intro To `The Marvellous Toy'

6. The Marvellous Toy

7. Leaving London

8. Angie

9. All Night Long

10. Bayonet Rap

11. Talking Vietnam Pot Luck Blues

12. Jimmy Newman

13. Outward Bound

Disc 2 (43:05 minutes):

1. Morning Again

2. Cant Help But Wonder Where I'm Bound

3. My Lady's A Wild Flying Dove

4. Now That I've Taken A Life

5. About The Children

6. Ballad Of Spiro Agnew

7. Mr. Blue

8. Wish I Had A Troubadour

9. Ev'ry Time (When We Are Gone)

10. Cindy's Crying Hooker

11. Introduction to the Musicians

12. Ramblin' Boy

13. The Last Thing On My Mind

[Note: there is a now deleted Rhino Handmade 2CD reissue from 2004 called "Even Compleater" which offers up more from the concerts - see separate entry and higher price].

As with all these Beat Goes On CD reissues nowadays - it comes in a tasty outer card slipcase and features a very detailed booklet (20 pages) with great liner notes by noted musicologist JOHN O'REGAN. But the big news as ever is the new 2014 gorgeous remaster by ANDREW THOMPSON - it's very clean and warm. There is hiss on some tracks but its neither dampened by noise reduction nor amplified to impress. The music is as it was - just better.

Already a near 10-year musical veteran by the time he made this recording - Tom Paxton was comfortable with his songs, his voice, his conscience and knew exactly how to perform to a literate audience. There's a fabulous intimacy about the gig - and his repartee with the enthralled crowd oozes out of every track (I'm reminded of Don McLean's gorgeous "Solo" double live set from 1976). A good example of this is the long spoken preamble to "Talking Vietnam Pot Luck Blues" called "Bayonet Rap" where its wordplay/political undercurrent is beautifully thought out. It's about pre-training in Kansas for young American men drafted into the US Army and features very funny and perceptive observations ("Crawl in the mud under barbed wire...stuff you can use..."). It also touches on the madness of the war once the naive college kids got there - scared G.I.s discovering 'grass' in Vietnam ("The whole platoon was flying high...chanting something about Hare Krishna..."). Disc 1 finishes on an aural double whammy-high - a stunning story song called "Jimmy Newman" and his popular Sixties hit "Outward Bound".

The ballads are especially pretty - "All Night Long" and the plaintive "Leaving London" - a tune about longing for a girl, returning to her and flying home (lyrics from it title this review). And both "Leaving London" and the lovely "Angie" benefit hugely from the beautifully complimentary piano playing of David Horowitz. Disc 2 continues with more of the same - "About The Children" and "The Last Thing On My Mind" mellow and impressive.

This is a quality reissue by BGO and a good reminder of the power of a man, a guitar and a sharp mind...

PS: see LABELS LIST also for my review for his album "How Come The Sun" (also from 1971) reissued by Beat Goes On in 2018 with a Bonus EP from 1967...