| No Easy Walk to Freedom | ||||
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| Released | 1986 | |||
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| Length | 33:42 | |||
| Label | Gold Castle, PolyGram | |||
| Producer | John McClure, Peter Yarrow | |||
| Peter, Paul and Mary albums chronology | ||||
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No Easy Walk to Freedom is a 1986 studio album by American folk music trio Peter, Paul and Mary. Its release coincided with the group's 25th anniversary. Produced by John McClure and Peter Yarrow, the album was nominated in the Best Contemporary Folk Album category at the 29th Annual Grammy Awards.
Without a label, Peter, Paul and Mary signed with Gold Castle Records to record No Easy Walk to Freedom. Released in 1986, it marked the trio's 25th anniversary. [2] The album was their first in almost nine years. [3] The title track was written for Nelson Mandela. [4] The group sought to connect the causes of Mandela and Martin Luther King Jr. [2] A few years later, Peter, Paul and Mary performed "No Easy Walk to Freedom" at an event in Tokyo honoring Mandela shortly after his release from prison. [4] A music video for the song, directed by George Gage and Jim Shea, features archival footage depicting the group's involvement in human rights issues, along with performance clips. [5] Other songs on the album include "El Salvador", a protest song about the United States' involvement in the Salvadoran Civil War, and "Light One Candle", written for Jewish dissidents in the Soviet Union. [6]
No Easy Walk to Freedom received a 1987 Grammy Award nomination in the Best Contemporary Folk Album category. [7] Billboard noted the group's "familiar formula of story-songs and socially conscious material" and described the album as "a pleasant return to form." [5] A review in Digital Audio and Compact Disc Review wrote that the album's songs are "each stamped with PP&M's unique voice and harmonies, that deal not only with protest, but also with love, friendship, and childhood." [8] Allmusic's L. Katz wrote, "This is one of the trio's later releases and, if their fire is a bit dimmed, one can't blame them. However, if you want a CD that brings you back to the dawn of the flower-child generation, this probably isn't the one." [1] Keith Tuber of Orange Coast said: "Makes you wonder why it took 10 years and a new label to showcase the talent of these legendary performers." [6] A review in the Reno Gazette-Journal called the album "an extraordinary comeback, a set of 10 political broadsides and topical ballads. The arrangements are clean and fresh and the performances are genuinely moving from start to finish." [9]
| Chart (1986-87) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Billboard 200 [10] | 173 |
Peter, Paul and Mary was an American folk group formed in New York City in 1961 during the American folk music revival phenomenon. The trio consisted of tenor Peter Yarrow, baritone Paul Stookey, and contralto Mary Travers. The group's repertoire included songs written by Yarrow and Stookey, early songs by Bob Dylan, and covers of other folk musicians. They were enormously successful in the early- and mid-1960s, with their debut album topping the charts for weeks, and helped popularize the folk music revival. After the death of Travers in 2009, Yarrow and Stookey continued to perform as a duo under their individual names.
Noel Paul Stookey is an American singer-songwriter who was famous for being in the 1960s folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary; however, he has been known by his first name, Noel, throughout his life. Nowadays, he continues to work as a singer and an activist, performing as a solo artist, and occasionally with former-bandmate Peter Yarrow.
Gordon Bok is an American folklorist and singer-songwriter, who grew up in Camden, Maine and is associated with music from New England.
Peter, Paul and Mommy, released on Warner Bros. in 1969, is the trio Peter, Paul and Mary's first children's album. It contains hits like "Puff the Magic Dragon", among others. The album reached No. 12 on Billboard's Top LPs chart. The single "Day is Done" reached number 7 on the Easy Listening chart and number 21 on the Pop Singles chart.
Album 1700 is the seventh studio album by American folk music trio Peter, Paul and Mary, released in 1967. It produced the band's most successful and final hit, a recording of the John Denver song "Leaving on a Jet Plane". The album peaked at number 15 on Billboard magazine's Top LP chart and was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Folk Performance category. Album 1700 was so named because its original LP issue was Warner Bros. Records catalog number W-1700 for the mono version and WS-1700 for the stereo version. It stayed on the charts and rose again in 1969, thanks to the single release of "Leaving on a Jet Plane".
Peter, Paul and Mary is the debut studio album by American folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary, released in May 1962 on Warner Bros. Records. Released in both mono and stereo on catalog no. 1449, it is one of the rare folk albums to reach No. 1 in the US—staying for over a month. The lead-off singles "If I Had a Hammer" and "Lemon Tree" reached numbers 10 and 35 respectively on the Billboard Pop Singles chart. It was the group's biggest selling studio album, eventually certified Double Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for U.S. sales of more than two million copies. The cover was photographed at The Bitter End in New York City.
A Song Will Rise is the fourth studio album by the American folk music trio Peter, Paul & Mary, released in 1965.
The Best of Peter, Paul, and Mary: Ten Years Together is a 1970 greatest hits release by American folk trio Peter, Paul, and Mary. It is the last album released before the group split up in 1970.
"Wedding Song (There Is Love)" is a title of a 1971 hit single by Paul Stookey: the song—which Stookey credits to divine inspiration— has since been recorded by many singers (with versions by Petula Clark and Mary MacGregor returning it to the Billboard Hot 100)—and remains a popular choice for performance at weddings.
Moving is the second album by the American folk music trio Peter, Paul & Mary, released in January 1963. The third single, "Puff, the Magic Dragon," was a huge hit and a defining song for the trio, reaching #2 on the Hot 100, #1 on the Easy Listening, and #10 on the R&B Charts.
In the Wind is the third album by the American folk music trio Peter, Paul and Mary, released in October 1963, a few months before the arrival of the Beatles heralded the British Invasion. It was reissued on audio CD in 1990.
Mary MacGregor's Greatest Hits is an greatest hits album released in 1979 containing the singer's 1977 #1 hit "Torn Between Two Lovers" and a selection of other tracks from her two Ariola Records album releases as well the tracks from MacGregor's final Ariola single release "The Wedding Song " and "Benjamin". The album does not contain the singer's Top 40 hit from the Meatballs soundtrack: "Good Friend", which had been an RSO Records release.
Peter Yarrow is an American singer and songwriter who found fame for being in the 1960s folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary. Yarrow co-wrote one of the group's best known hits, "Puff, the Magic Dragon". He is also a political activist and has supported causes that range from opposition to the Vietnam War to school anti-bullying programs.
See What Tomorrow Brings is the fifth studio album by the American folk music trio Peter, Paul & Mary, released in 1965.
Back in Town is a live album by the American folk music group the Kingston Trio, released in 1964. It reached number 22 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart and is the final principal album recorded by the Trio for Capitol Records. The Trio's seven-year contract with Capitol ended in February 1964 with one album due. Unable to negotiate another contract, the group released this live album and moved to Decca Records.
The Peter, Paul and Mary Album, also known as Album, is the sixth studio album by the American folk music trio Peter, Paul and Mary, released in 1966.
In Concert is a live album by the American folk music trio Peter, Paul & Mary, released in 1964. It was compiled from concerts at San Francisco, Sacramento, Long Beach in California; Daytona Beach, Florida and Terre Haute, Indiana. Supporting the trio, Dick Kniss plays bass. It was digitally re-mixed and re-mastered and released on CD in 1989.
In These Times is the thirteenth and final album by Peter, Paul, and Mary released by Rhino Records in 2004. The album has 12 new recordings with originals and selections by Pete Seeger, Anne Feeney, Gene Nelson, and other music artists. Several of the songs have a social justice theme. Giving it 4 out of 5 stars, Allmusic called the album "reassuring and refreshing".
Peter, Paul & Mommy, Too, released on Warner Bros. in 1993, is a children's album by the trio Peter, Paul and Mary. It was recorded on October 31 and November 1, 1992 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Harvey Theater. The album follows from the first children's album they released in 1969, Peter, Paul and Mommy.
"Day Is Done" is a song written by Peter Yarrow. It was recorded by Yarrow's group Peter, Paul and Mary and released as a single in 1969. An anti-war protest song of the Vietnam War era, the song reached No. 21 on Billboard Hot 100, and was ranked No. 48 on the Billboard year-end Top Easy Listening Singles chart of 1969.
