The Slightly Fabulous Limeliters (Live)

The Limeliters scored their commercial breakthrough with Tonight: In Person, their second album, which was recorded live. So, it was only natural that RCA Victor Records would requisition another concert recording as the follow-up less than eight months later. Happily, the trio had plenty more material to serve up, and Lou Gottlieb, bassist and comic frontman, was never at a loss for words to cover the tuning. The entertaining group mixed forcefully sung folk songs like the medley of "Hard Traveler" and "Mount Zion" with humorous ditties like "Gunslinger," which made fun of the trend toward psychological excuses for villainous behavior even as it satirized Western songs. (Frankie Laine and Marty Robbins might have taken note.) Rock & roll also came in for a send-up in "Vicki Dougan," Gottlieb's tribute to a starlet's inviting derriere. If Gottlieb was the Limeliters' spokesman, tenor Glenn Yarbrough was their musical strength, as demonstrated on the tender ballad "Lass from the Low Country." But it was the group's ability to mix different moods (along with their sheer singing talent) that made their act such a success in concert, a success transferred so effectively to disc that it seemed they should record nothing but live albums. (As it turned out, they recorded more than most.) Not surprisingly, The Slightly Fabulous Limeliters followed Tonight: In Person into the Top Ten.