THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,283) The Carolyn Hester Coalition — “Buddha (Was Her Best Man)”
Carolyn Hester (see #558) — folkie turned psychedelic. OK, she didn’t get booed at the Newport Folk Festival, but she does get her share of grief and eye-rolls. “[S]tarry-eyed idealism and girlish, high-pitched vocals”. (Alex Molotkow, (https://exclaim.ca/music/article/carolyn_hester_coalition-_carolyn_hester_coalition_magazine) Yes, guilty as charged! But as starry-eyed songs sung with girlish, high-pitched vocals go, this is a great one. Oh, and the career lesson here? Never turn down a “Puff the Magic Dragon” gig!
Before I forget, “Buddha” is from her first “psych” album, described as “fine westcoast style hippie fuzz folkrock/pop with Hester singing in a decidedly non-folky acid bubblegum style”. (Patrick Lundborg, The Acid Archives, 2nd ed.) “Buddha” is more folk rock, and is enchanting.
Bad-cat says that:
Anyone into [Carolyn] Hester’s earlier incarnation as a folk singer is likely to find her decision to turn to a more happenin’/commercial sound disappointing. On the other hand, anyone into this late-1960s psych-oriented effort is liable to find her earlier folk albums trite and dull. The thought of a folkie turning to psych is probably a major turnoff to many folks. That’s unfortunate since once you get over Hester’s little girl lost voice, 1968’s The Carolyn Hester Coalition is surprisingly enjoyable.
Alex Molotkow throws in that “the Coalition were her foray into psychedelia, featuring an all-male team of pros. The band survived for two albums . . . both of which bear the marks of Hester’s folk revivalist past: starry-eyed idealism and girlish, high-pitched vocals.” (https://exclaim.ca/music/article/carolyn_hester_coalition-_carolyn_hester_coalition_magazine)
Finally, Richie Unterberger gives some needed historical context (though I edited out much of his vitriol):
Carolyn Hester had been away from the recording scene for a few years when she re-emerged in the late 1960s as the centerpiece of the Carolyn Hester Coalition, a psychedelic- and folk-tinged rock group. It’s hard to read this as anything but an attempt to keep up with the times on the part of someone who missed the boat that made folk and folk-rock a commercial proposition. . . .
[Hester] was an important if marginal figure of the early-’60s folk revival, singing traditional material with a high voice in the manner of Joan Baez and Judy Collins (though with less command). . . . Hester herself was unable to make it as a folk-rocker despite a brief try, and unpredictably went into psychedelic music for a couple of albums before largely drifting out of the business . . . . In 1960, she made her second album [that] cast her very much in the thick of the folk revival . . . sung in her high, almost shaky and girlish voice. In the early ’60s, she was briefly married to author and folk singer/songwriter Richard Farina, who became friendly with Bob Dylan shortly after Dylan’s arrival in New York. While recording her third album . . . she invited Dylan, then almost unknown, to play harmonica on a few cuts. His work on the album helped bring him to the attention of [John] Hammond, who signed Dylan to Columbia . . . shortly afterwards. While other performers of the early-’60s folk revival made great strides forward in sales and influence . . . Hester remained relatively obscure. She turned down a chance to form a folk trio with Peter Yarrow and Paul Stookey, offered by manager Albert Grossman; that position went to Mary Travers . . . . [I]n sticking exclusively to traditional material, rather than covering songs by contemporary writers or writing anything herself, Hester was falling behind the folk curve. . . . In the late ’60s, Hester made the unexpected move to psychedelic music as part of the Carolyn Hester Coalition, who recorded a couple of little-known albums [which] were erratic but not half-bad, interspersing updates of traditional material . . . with moody and fuzzy folk-rockers . . . .
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