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Peter, Paul and Mary
"The Solo Recordings (1971-72)"
Rhino

After a successful run in the 1960s as folk-music superstars, Peter Yarrow, Noel Paul Stookey and Mary Travers – Peter, Paul and Mary –decided to call it a day. After their breakup in 1970 (they reunited in 1978), each recorded a solo album; now collected in one album, the individual recordings still sound adrift.

Titled simply "Peter," Yarrow's album reflects the singer's deep commitment to both personal growth and social change in tracks such as "Take Off Your Mask" and "Don't Ever Take Away My Freedom." His music is conservative, acoustic, and heartfelt.

No less earnest, "Mary" reflects the state of early-'70s songwriting with lovingly rendered contributions from John Denver ("Follow Me"), Ewan MacColl ("The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face"), Elton John ("Indian Sunset"), and Paul Simon ("Song for the Asking").

The collection's most ambitious and fun album of the three is Stookey's wittily titled "Paul and." The trio's most disaffected member worked out his political disillusionment, Christian beliefs and search for a simpler life in clever songs (mostly originals) that regularly break out of the PP&M mold. They ranged from his evergreen ballad, "Wedding Song (There Is Love)," to the psychedelic bossa nova, "Ju Les Ver Negre En Che Ese (Ed's Tune)." This one, at least, should be sold separately.


The Revolutionary Snake Ensemble
"Forked Tongue"
Cuneiform

Costumed in glittering Mardi Gras-inspired finery, this seven-piece Boston brass band threatened to blow out the walls of the tiny Brooklyn club where I recently heard them play music from their inspired second album.

"Forked Tongue" consists largely of traditional spirituals – including "Just a Closer Walk," "Give Me Jesus," and "Down by the Riverside" – and the group performs them with immense spirit and gusto. The New Orleans funeral-march traditional also courses through the band's surprising yet appropriately rearranged versions of Billy Idol's "White Wedding" and Doris Day's signature tune, "Que Sera Sera."

Bandleader-saxophonist Ken Fields's four original compositions fit perfectly into the album's theme of making the old sound modern. "Slots" and "Minor Vee" are no less loud, proud, and pleasurable than anything else on this remarkable blast from the remade past.