No Easy Walk to Freedom

Without a label, Peter, Paul and Mary signed with Gold Castle Records to record No Easy Walk to Freedom. Released in 1986, it marked the trio's 25th anniversary.{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/157937844/ |url-access=subscription |title=3 Veteran Rock Acts Disappoint |newspaper=Morning News |page=118 |date=February 22, 1987 | access-date=September 9, 2017}} The album was their first in almost nine years.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/99907555/ |url-access=subscription |title=A Few Words With... |newspaper=Detroit Free Press |page=33 |date=July 31, 1987 |access-date=September 8, 2017}} The title track was written for Nelson Mandela. The group sought to connect the causes of Mandela and Martin Luther King Jr. A few years later, Peter, Paul and Mary performed "No Easy Walk to Freedom" at an event in Tokyo honoring Mandela, shortly after his release from prison.{{cite book |last1=Yarrow |first1=Peter |last2=Kerry |first2=John |title=Peter Paul and Mary: Fifty Years in Music and Life |publisher=Imagine (Charlesbridge) |location=Watertown, M.A. |edition=1st |year=2014 |pages=98 |isbn=978-1936140329}} A music video for the song, directed by George Gage and Jim Shea, features archival footage depicting the group's involvement in human rights issues, along with performance clips.{{cite magazine |date=December 20, 1986 |title=Video Track |magazine=Billboard |volume=98 |issue=51 |pages=37, 64 |issn=0006-2510}} Other songs on the album include "El Salvador", a protest song about the United States' involvement in the Salvadoran Civil War, and "Light One Candle", written for Jewish dissidents in the Soviet Union.{{cite journal |date=July 1987 |title=Music: The B Side |journal=Orange Coast |volume=13 |issue=7 |page=194 |issn=0279-0483}}

Billboard noted the group's "familiar formula of story-songs and socially conscious material" and described the album as "a pleasant return to form." A review in Digital Audio and Compact Disc Review observed that the album's songs are "each stamped with PP&M's unique voice and harmonies, that deal not only with protest, but also with love, friendship, and childhood."{{cite journal |date=1987 |title=Peter, Paul & Mary Sing Out a New Warning | journal=Digital Audio and Compact Disc Review |volume=3 |issue=7 |page=8 |issn=1041-8342}} AllMusic's L. Katz wrote, "This is one of the trio's later releases and, if their fire is a bit dimmed, one can't blame them. However, if you want a CD that brings you back to the dawn of the flower-child generation, this probably isn't the one." Keith Tuber of Orange Coast said: "Makes you wonder why it took 10 years and a new label to showcase the talent of these legendary performers." A review in the Reno Gazette-Journal called the album "an extraordinary comeback, a set of 10 political broadsides and topical ballads. The arrangements are clean and fresh and the performances are genuinely moving from start to finish."{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/150418916/ |url-access=subscription |title=On the Record | newspaper=Reno Gazette-Journal |page=69 |date=February 1, 1987 |access-date=September 8, 2017}}

No Easy Walk to Freedom received a 1987 Grammy Award nomination in the Best Contemporary Folk Album category.{{cite web |url=https://www.grammy.com/grammys/artists/peter-paul-and-mary |title=Grammys: Artist - Peter, Paul, and Mary |publisher=The Recording Academy |access-date=September 8, 2017}}

Side one

1. "Weave Me the Sunshine" (Peter Yarrow) – 2:19
2. "Right Field" (Willy Welch) – 3:36
3. "I'd Rather Be in Love" (Pat Alger, Walter Carter) – 3:00
4. "State of the Heart" (Richard Kniss, Noel Paul Stookey) – 3:21
5. "No Easy Walk to Freedom" (Margery Tabankin, Yarrow) – 2:47

Side two

1. "Greenland Whale Fisheries" (traditional) – 4:13
2. "Whispered Words" (Yarrow) – 3:21
3. "El Salvador" (Stookey) – 3:58
4. "Greenwood" (Yarrow) – 4:03
5. "Light One Candle" (Yarrow) – 3:04

Credits adapted from LP liner notes.{{cite AV media notes |title=No Easy Walk to Freedom |author=Peter, Paul and Mary |type=LP liner notes |publisher=Gold Castle Records |location=Los Angeles |year=1986 |id=171 001-1}}

• Peter Yarrow
• Noel "Paul" Stookey
• Mary Travers

Additional musicians

• David Brown – acoustic guitar (1–3, 5, 7–10)
• Anthony MacDonald – percussion (1–3, 5, 8, 10)
• Richard Kniss – acoustic bass (1–2, 4, 6, 10)
• Eric Weissberg – banjo (2)
• Warren Bernhardt – keyboards (3)
• Anthony Jackson – electric bass (3, 5)
• Ed Walsh – keyboards (4, 7–9)
• Mick Moloney – mandolin (6)
• Séamus Egan – penny whistle (6)
• Lori Cole – concertina (6)
• Jay Leonhart – acoustic bass (7, 9), electric bass (8)
• New York Choral Society – chorus (10)

Technical

• John McClure – producer, engineer
• Peter Yarrow – producer
• Robert De Cormier – musical director
• Malcolm Pollack – mixing
• Jeff Cox – assistant engineer
• Ted Jensen – mastering
• Milton Glaser – album cover design
• George Leavitt – cover art associate designer
• Gregory Heisler – album cover photo
• John Robb – black and white photo
• Matthew Klein – composite album photo

{{reflist}}

• {{Discogs master|359837|type=album}}

{{Peter, Paul and Mary |state=collapsed}}

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Category:Peter, Paul and Mary albums

Category:1986 albums

Category:PolyGram albums