The Best of Hootenanny [3 Discs]

"Hootnenanny was one of the missing links in musical programming from early 1960's television -- other series had surfaced, at least fragmentarily, over the years, but clips from Hootenanny were rarer than hen's teeth. Then along came this triple DVD set from Shout Factory, which is a decidedly mixed bag -- in terms of prominence, most of the acts featured are decidedly second-tier or, at best, lower-first-tier in importance -- Judy Collins is here, as are the Chad Mitchell Trio and Theodore Bikel, but at the time the most prominent of the performers present was probably the New Christie Minstrels. They're here, as are the Serendipity Singers, but more typical are Mike Settle, Bob Gibson, the Rooftop Singers, and Ian & Sylvia, important performers, to be sure, but more cult-ish their recognition and fandom; there is not a trace of anyone of the likes of Bob Dylan or Phil Ochs. And on the comedy side, though, we do get Woody Allen, Bill Cosby and Vaughn Meader. Luckily, the sound has been reasonably well preserved on the materials at hand, and that's what counts in these live performances before some very enthusiastic audiences; there are a few flaws, such as a moment of drop-out and distortion during part of the Rooftop Singers' set (on ""Froggie Went A-Courtin'""), but generally the audio has come out well and is really the raison d'etre for the set. Alas, the video element is what is lacking -- the material has been preserved on black-and-white kinescope, literally film of an image shot right off of a television monitor, which is grainy and fuzzy, and even occasionally smeary, in addition to showing some traces of wear in the physical film stock itself in full-screen (1.33-to-1) transfers. So don't expect to enjoy ""watching"" this material in the literally sense -- rather, enjoy the performances. Each disc opens to an easy-to-use menu that allows one to access individual performers and songs, and each of the latter gets a chapter number."