One Night Stand

Album Review

Paul Stookey, or Noel Paul Stookey, as he is more formally referred to, cut this album in the most unlikely of circumstances. The December 1971 concert that he played at Carnegie Hall was supposed to be a standard performance event, like most others there. But as he has recalled elsewhere, somehow the advertising and promoting of the show got away from the powers-that-were — evidently, a lot of people assumed by "Noel Paul Stookey" was the brother of the guy from Peter, Paul & Mary (who still counted for a huge amount in 1971, almost two years after they'd stopped performing together), rather than the guy himself; and it turned into a colossal disaster-in-the-making — on the afternoon before the performance, only about 200 tickets had been sold, for a hall that seats almost 3000. Stookey decided to go on with the show, and simply gave out 1400 tickets that afternoon to passersby and anyone else who was interested; and as it turned out, Warner Bros. — which had made a pile of money over the previous decade from Peter, Paul & Mary, and was generous in those days — taped the show and folded most of the unrecouped expenses for the night into their recording budget, so no one took a real "loss," and they and Stookey got a live LP out of it, issued about a year later. And as it turned out, the show was no disaster musically, either — Stookey had played in enough rock & roll bands going back to the 1950s, on top of years touring with Peter, Paul & Mary, that effective live performance was second nature to him, and it shows here. Between his mix of music and humor, and even a bit of spirituality that interweaves those other two elements — in a very funny introduction — he planned a perfect set divided into two halves on the original vinyl release. The first half showcased his history in an acoustic setting, highlighted by the "Wedding Song," and then a surprise guest stepping out on-stage to provide the harmony singing on "Weave Me the Sunshine"; and, for the second half — actually, after the presentation of a short film, Norman Normal, that Stookey had helped devise — he brought on the same band that he'd used on the Paul And album for an electric set, showcasing his new material. That band was not only tight, but used some pretty strong amplification for the time, as on "One Note Melody." Not too many folkies of Stookey's generation have left behind concert accounts of their sound from this period, and the album turns out to be a great showcase for an underrated talent. What's more, absent a good compilation, it might be the best introduction one can get to Stookey's work, outside the context of Peter, Paul & Mary, and is a must-own for fans of his or the trio's work.