Serendipity Singers - The Best Of (Don't Let The Rain Come Down) 1998 @ 320

Repost

Review by Bruce Eder

Now this is an unexpected treat, coming 32 years after most of the Serendipity Singers' success was past. All of the highlights of the group's five official Philips albums (including their Grammy-nominated debut) are here, with their two chart hits ("Don't Let the Rain Come Down," "Beans In My Ears"), but there's a lot that will surprise newcomers to the group's sound. The Serendipity Singers were patterned after the New Christy Minstrels, whom they acknowledge in a comical aside on "Little Brown Jug," and they could sing full-out in the Christies' "big-band folk" style ("Six Wheel Driver," "Freedom's Star" etc.). Lynn Weintraub's voice, in particular, was a big, wonderful instrument throughout those early sides, but their sound also tended to be softer and more ethereal than the Christies', ever so slightly closer in spirit to the Easy Riders or Peter, Paul & Mary. They also had a special knack for finding unusual songs -- this extended to Western-theme material ("Boots and Stetsons"), and that goes double for what could be considered the post-1965 "declining years"; by then, they were off the cutting edge of even the pop side of folk music, but managed to do a ton of wry Shel Silverstein compositions, the best of which (including the gorgeous "Some Days") are here. Most extraordinary are the four late singles included here, in which the group tries valiantly (and largely succeeds) to sound like the Mamas and the Papas, including a ravishing reinterpretation of Buddy Holly's "Maybe Baby" and a radiant rendition of Fred Neil's "The Other Side of This Life."

Serendipity Singers - Don't Let The Rain Come Down 1998

 01. Serendipity Singers - Don't Let the Rain Come Down (Crooked Little Man) 

 02. Serendipity Singers - Six Wheel Driver (Sunshine Special) 

 03. Serendipity Singers - Jimmy-O 

 04. Serendipity Singers - Freedom's Star 

 05. Serendipity Singers - Boots and Stetsons (The Lillies Grow High) 

 06. Serendipity Singers - Cloudy Summer Afternoon 

 07. Serendipity Singers - Sailing Away 

 08. Serendipity Singers - Let Me Fly (Zion) 

 09. Serendipity Singers - Beans in My Ears 

 10. Serendipity Singers - Six Foot Six 

 11. Serendipity Singers - Autumn Wind 

 12. Serendipity Singers - Little Brown Jug 

 13. Serendipity Singers - Fog Horn 

 14. Serendipity Singers - Whale of a Tale 

 15. Serendipity Singers - Same Old Reason 

 16. Serendipity Singers - Little Brother 

 17. Serendipity Singers - My Heart Keeps Following You 

 18. Serendipity Singers - Run, Run, Chicken Run 

 19. Serendipity Singers - If You Come Back in Summer 

 20. Serendipity Singers - Some Days 

 21. Serendipity Singers - Plastic 

 22. Serendipity Singers - Another Side of This Life 

 23. Serendipity Singers - Maybe Baby 

 24. Serendipity Singers - Autumn Bound 

 25. Serendipity Singers - Shadows on a Foggy Day 

***

Thanks to Cor