The Chad Mitchell Trio - Singin' Our Mind & Reflecting (2003)

Although the Chad Mitchell Trio missed the big time when its record label refused to issue "Blowin' in the Wind" as a single (before Peter, Paul & Mary's version), the group persevered to record more good music in 1963 and 1964. With Singin' Our Mind, Mitchell, Mike Kobluk, and Joe Frazier hit a happy medium between enjoyable folk and politics. While the Chad Mitchell Trio with its three-part harmony would never be mistaken for Pete Seeger or Phil Ochs, it still managed to separate itself from groups like the Weavers and the Kingston Trio, who were losing favor with the college crowd as the civil rights movement and Vietnam heated up. "Alma Mater" skewers Old Miss, recalling the golden days of segregation, while "Twelve Days" satirizes the Nazis to the tune of an old Christmas favorite. Released in 1964, Reflecting is a more somber affair following Kennedy's assassination. It nonetheless starts with the lively "Barry's Boys," ridiculing conservative Barry Goldwater's 1964 presidential bid. There's also a good take of Tom Paxton's "What Did You Learn in School," and a glance back at World War II with the Almanac Singers' "The Sinking of the Reuben James." The album ends with the downbeat "In the Summer of His Years/Rally Round the Flag," a felt tribute to Kennedy. Singin' Our Mind and Reflecting are vintage Chad Mitchell Trio, compiled on the Singin' Our Mind/Reflecting two-fer.