The Limeliters scored their commercial breakthrough with
Tonight: In Person, their second album, which was recorded live. So, it was only natural that
RCA Victor Records would requisition another concert recording as the follow-up less than eight months later. Happily, the trio had plenty more material to serve up, and
Lou Gottlieb, bassist and comic frontman, was never at a loss for words to cover the tuning. The entertaining group mixed forcefully sung
folk songs like the medley of
"Hard Traveler" and
"Mount Zion" with humorous ditties like
"Gunslinger," which made fun of the trend toward psychological excuses for villainous behavior even as it satirized Western songs. (
Frankie Laine and
Marty Robbins might have taken note.)
Rock & roll also came in for a send-up in
"Vicki Dougan," Gottlieb's tribute to a starlet's inviting derriere. If
Gottlieb was
the Limeliters' spokesman, tenor
Glenn Yarbrough was their musical strength, as demonstrated on the tender
ballad "Lass from the Low Country." But it was the group's ability to mix different moods (along with their sheer singing talent) that made their act such a success in concert, a success transferred so effectively to disc that it seemed they should record nothing but live albums. (As it turned out, they recorded more than most.) Not surprisingly,
The Slightly Fabulous Limeliters followed
Tonight: In Person into the Top Ten. ~ William Ruhlmann
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