Greatest Hits!

This compilation (CVSD 5/6) captures much of their best work. Do not confuse it with the identically titled Vanguard album 73114, which includes only half the material found on this set. I have to admit that I had never really listened to Ian & Sylvia until after "A Mighty Wind" came out. Since there were only four songs on the soundtrack album by Mitch & Mickey, the faux "sweethearts" of the Folk Music scene, I was inspired to go track down the obvious real world counterparts, Ian and Sylvia Tyson; he played guitar, she played autoharp. The Canadian duo were popular during the early part of the Sixties folk revival, producing a series of solid albums featuring their beautiful harmonies on both traditional and contemporary songs. It was the latter that made the bigger impression as the duo covered songs by Bob Dylan ("Tomorrow Is a Long Time," "The Might Quinn (Quinn the Eskimo)," "The Wheels on Fire"), Johnny Cash ("Come in Stranger"), Gordon Lightfoot ("Early Morning Rain"), Tommy Makem ("Little Beggarman"), and Joni Mitchell ("Circle Game"). As was often the case with the more earnest members of the folk movement, the commercial success came to others. Ian Tysons "Four Strong Winds" was covered by the Searchers while Sylvias "You Were on My Mind" became a big hit for We Five. Ironically, each song was not only the composers best effort but also their first to be recorded. Eventually the legacy of Ian & Sylvia would be their style more than their songs as male and female harmonies made groups like the Mamas and the Papas, the Jefferson Airplane, and Fairport Convention successful. When the folk movement moved on to folk-rock and country rock at the end of the decades, Ian & Sylvia followed suit, but with considerably less success. Just make sure that if you pick up Ian & Sylvias "Greatest Hits" that you get this 1987 release that has over an hours worth of music and not the 1968 Vanguard release that has only a dozen tracks (some of which are different from this album). However, keep in mind that Ian & Sylvia were more album oriented that most artists, so enjoying what you hear on this collection should be taken as a nudge in the direction of their other albums, especially the work from the early Sixties.