Carolyn Hester was an integral part of the Greenwich Village folk scene of the early 60s. Coming originally from Waco, Texas, she was among the royalty, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, Peter, Paul & Mary - and Bob Dylan. She's credited with starting the latter's recording career, and as the legend goes, the famous trio was to be called Peter, Paul & Carolyn.
My Dad had a couple of Hester albums in his collection, and thus it's no surprise to find this one in RT's collection which is similar to what my Dad had (x100 mind you). To paraphrase the ad cliché - this is not your father's Carolyn Hester. Just the fact Dad only had 2 of them (and they were in really good shape) tells me he wasn't much of a fan to begin with. Had he somehow stumbled onto this one - and bought it on a whim - he would have screamed in anguish at how terrible it was. RT being about 10 years younger, enjoyed early rock (witness all The Beatles and Stones, acts that my Dad hated). He also loved Carolyn Hester, as I've found 5 to 10 copies of each of her early albums. Only one of these (so far) and haven't found Magazine yet. Long way to go still.
Apparently Hester's career nosedived when folk went out of fashion, so she decided to make a go at psychedelia, an unusual move for her running set. The "Coalition" proved to be quite good, and really does add psychedelic styled rock, with some excellent fuzz and good rhythm work. Hester has a gorgeous voice, and she makes both the covers and her (quite adept) original compositions shine. You can tell she's still a folky at heart, but at least she made a sincere attempt at psychedelia. The first 2 tracks are quite possibly the best, and it gives you an idea if this album would be for you. Given all the factors above, this is definitely a keeper for me.
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