There Stands the Door: The Best of We Five

There Stands the Door: The Best of We Five

by We Five
There Stands the Door: The Best of We Five

There Stands the Door: The Best of We Five

by We Five

Compact Disc

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Overview

Though "You Were on My Mind" was one of the first and best big folk-rock hits, We Five's reputation as early folk-rock pioneers has suffered from the abundance of weak and ill-suited pop material on the spotty two LPs recorded by the original lineup. It's no exaggeration to hail the 22-track There Stands the Door as a major rehabilitation of the group's legacy. That's due both to the wise selection of their best and most folk-rock-oriented material, and to the inclusion of eight previously unissued cuts (and one non-LP A-side) that do much to fill out a fairer portrait of the group's strengths. Instead of sounding like a wildly erratic outfit prone to interpreting too many pop standards and show tunes, this cherry-picked anthology shows them more as a highly worthwhile, if a little lightweight, early folk-rock group who helped innovate the male-female harmonies characteristic of early San Francisco folk-rock in particular. The CD focuses both on the group's best original material (often penned by John Stewart's brother Mike Stewart) and their most appropriate choices of folky songs to cover, including several compositions by John Stewart and an obscure tune (the previously unissued "What'cha Gonna Do") co-written by Bob Gibson, Shel Silverstein, and Fred Neil. All but a couple of the tracks were recorded prior to the first lineup's dissolution in spring 1967, and Beverly Bivens' vocals in particular anticipate aspects of the San Francisco folk-rock singing heard in early Jefferson Airplane recordings, particularly on the 1966 single "You Let a Love Burn Out." From the same year, the non-LP single "There Stands the Door" hints at some more musically and lyrically adventurous directions that went unexplored, even if its adventurousness is fairly mild compared to that of the Airplane. True, "You Were on My Mind" remains the best track they ever did by some distance. But much more than their original LPs, There Stands the Door stands as their true best-of, and if its concentration on folk-rock gives a somewhat incomplete document of their eclectic repertoire, it does indisputably focus on the best of that repertoire. Note that a couple of the unissued tracks (judiciously placed at the end of the CD) are actually taken from recordings they made for Coke commercials; while they're hardly emblematic of the group at their best, they certainly are rare and thus to be welcomed by hardcore collectors. A more significant bonus is Alec Palao's extensive annotation, in which first-hand interviews with surviving bandmembers do much to flesh out the history of this ill-documented group. ~ Richie Unterberger

Product Details

Release Date: 03/10/2009
Label: Big Beat Records
UPC: 0029667428620
Rank: 50818

Tracks

  1. You Were on My Mind
  2. There Stands the Door
  3. You Let a Love Burn Out
  4. Have You Heard
  5. What's Goin' On
  6. Love Me Not Tomorrow
  7. Five Will Get You Ten
  8. High Flying Bird
  9. Poet
  10. Let's Get Together
  11. After All
  12. If I Were Alone
  13. What Do I Do Now
  14. Past Asking
  15. What'cha Gonna Do
  16. The First Time
  17. The Thing I Like
  18. I Can Never Go Home Again
  19. It Really Doesn't Matter
  20. Walk on By
  21. How to Make a Soft Drink Commercial
  22. Medley: Sittin' Here/Things of Summer

Album Credits

Performance Credits

We Five   Primary Artist
Jerry Granelli   Drums
Bev Bevan   Vocals
John Chambers   Drums
Rich Tilles   Percussion
Beverly Bivens   Vocals,Percussion
Jerry Burgan   Guitar,Guitar (Acoustic)
Peter Fullerton   Bass,Bass (Acoustic),Bass (Electric)
George Yanok   Drums
Bob Jones   Guitar (Electric),Guitar (12 String Electric)
Bill Stamps   Bass
Frank Denson   Piano
Debbie Burgan   Vocals
Mike Stewart   Banjo,9-String Guitar,Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric)

Technical Credits

Alec Palao   Archive Research,Cover Photo,Liner Notes,Memorabilia,Photography
Bill Chadwick   Composer
Frank Werber   Session Producer
Fred Neil   Composer
Dino Valenti   Composer
Jerry Riopelle   Producer
Burt Bacharach   Composer
Bob Gibson   Composer
Hal David   Composer
John Stewart   Composer
John Chambers   Composer
Beverly Bivens   Composer,Memorabilia,Photography,Group Member
Jerry Burgan   Composer,Memorabilia,Photography,Group Member
Jools DeVere   Package Design
Randy Cierley   Composer
Peter Fullerton   Composer,Group Member
Bob Jones   Group Member
Frank May   Composer
Debbie Burgan   Composer,Memorabilia,Photography
Mike Stewart   Group Member
Nick Robbins   Mastering
Shel Silverstein   Composer
Sylvia Fricker   Composer
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