Editor Reviews:

Product Description:
In 1958 three young men known as The Kingston Trio recorded a simple folk tune called "Tom Dooley." In less than a year they were major stars with the best-selling album in the country. The Kingston Trio Story: Wherever We May Go celebrates the group s musical hits and sheds light on their fascinating and largely unknown 50-year history through rare performance footage and revealing interviews with band members and friends.From singing for beer in student bars 50 years ago to sold-out concerts around the world today The Kingston Trio Story is an exciting and emotional testimony to the group s undeniable impact taking us through all the shakeups breakups changing faces and reunions of the group responsible for the revival of folk music in America.PROGRAM LISTING The Dave Guard Years Tom Dooley The Early Years Tijuana Jail M.T.A. A Worried Man Oh Cindy Raspberries StrawberriesThe John Stewart Years Little Light Rovin Gambler/This Train Dave s Place Scotch And Soda Where Have All The Flowers Gone? Wherever We May GoThe Bob ShaneYears The Trio Goes On The Dutchman1981 Reunion Hard Ain t It Hard Greenback Dollar Sloop John B The New Kingston Trio All Of The Hard Days Are Gone A Worried ManSpecial Features: "Stories Behind The Songs" and five other featurettes Bonus Song Performances: "Little Light" "Tom Dooley" and "Three Jolly Coachmen" Vintage 7-Up commercialsSystem Requirements:Running Time 90 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: MUSIC DVD/CONCERTS Rating: NR UPC: 826663101775 Manufacturer No: 101775

Amazon.com:
Calling the Kingston Trio "the Beatles of their time," as one of the talking heads in The Kingston Trio Story - Wherever We May Go puts it, might sound outlandish, but in fact it's no exaggeration. Starting in 1957 (and continuing today, albeit without any original members), the Trio brought folk music to the masses long before Dylan, Baez, or Peter, Paul and Mary made the scene, and many of their songs ("Tom Dooley," "M.T.A.," "Scotch & Soda," "Where Have All The Flowers Gone?") remain just about as popular as "Blowin' in the Wind." TV and concert performances of those and other tunes are here, of course, along with interviews with most of the musicians who passed through the group's ranks and other folks who knew, worked with, or are related to them. The emphasis, as it should be, is on their first ten years, during which Bob Shane and Nick Reynolds were partnered with Dave Guard and then John Stewart (when Guard departed in '61, one of those who auditioned to replace him was Roger McGuinn, who later co-founded the Byrds). They were not only hugely successful, but ground-breaking as well; the Trio dabbled in pop, calypso, Hawaiian, and other styles before anyone called it "world music," and when they won a Grammy for "Tom Dooley" in '58, there was no such thing as a folk music category, resulting in their being classified as country & western. Sure, in these hipster times their music sounds pretty square. Although they emerged during the beatnik era, the Trio's image was wholesome and Ivy League, and many of the songs are over-earnest tales of lusty men traveling the road to freedom. Still, Wherever We May Go is entertaining and informative, and the copious bonus features--including pieces on the stories behind the songs, the group's extensive "family tree," some passionate and slightly nutty fans, and their manager, plus bonus performances and more--are top-notch. --Sam Graham

Rating : - Less Than I'd Hoped For
When you're doing a piece on an iconic band like the Kingston Trio, I think there's a responsibility to tell the whole story. This DVD doesn't, unfortunately. That's why I give it just three stars.

We get a lot of material from founding Kinston Trio member Nick Reynolds and from his son; we hear from former hiree John Stewart; we also hear a lot from founding member Bob Shane. But we hear nothing at all from members of the late Dave Guard's family, or from anyone else who might represent his part of the story. That's terribly unfortunate, and here's why.

What this DVD fails to recognize is that the Trio was Guard's band, born out of a prior group called Dave Guard and the Calipsonians, and that with his departure, it went into stasis, and then decline. That's because of the huge impact Guard's leadership had on the band. It's also because of the enormous influence of David "Buck" Wheat, the band's bass player, who left the band with Guard. This DVD makes a big deal out of calling manager Frank Werber the fourth member of the trio. I think that's a distortion. One can argue, perhaps more forcefully, that it was Buck Wheat who was the fourth member. That's where, for instance, some of the modern harmonies the Trio used came from.

More telling is that the reasons for Guard's departure from the Trio are ignored in this DVD. I think the story tellers had a responsibility to tell the whole story. The reasons for his departure were several - he wanted tighter, more studious musicianship, to be sure, while Shane and Reynolds apparently resisted that; but there also was a controversy over whether royalty monies had been misappropriated. So when, in the DVD, Shane recounts a meeting in which Guard tells the others that certain things have to be fixed or he'll leave, I'd imagine that these two things were, at least in part, what he was talking about. This DVD presented an opportunity to reveal what was really going on behind the scenes. It failed, unfortunately, in spite of the fact that Shane repeatedly refers to bad blood between he and Guard. What bad blood? Why? Why did it continue even until the reunion concert? The film makers apparently put their curiosities on hold when it came to exploring these questions.

Additionally, an ensemble called "The Kingston Trio" is still touring, something made clear by this DVD. It would have been nice to have heard from some of them - banjoist George Grove, especially, on if, why and how the current group is maintaining the original group's legacy.

So what we have here is a failure of journalism. It's a fanzine, not a studied look at this great ensemble. It's got some nice musical footage, but is light on some important things. And that's too bad. I put the thing on last night and, as a long-time rabid fan, really wanted to completely enjoy it. Its flaws preclude that, unfortunately. I'm waiting for somebody to do this right.

-JFT