Given that
the Weavers evolved out of the politically oriented
Almanac Singers, and that this album was released during a period when
Peter, Paul & Mary and other folk groups were reviving their songs with commercial success, calling it
The Weavers' Almanac evoked their past in a newly fashionable present. Having reached the best-seller charts twice the previous year, the group seemed on the verge of regaining its popularity, and this album must have been intended to foster that comeback. But though the performances were as effective as ever, this collection of songs, among them such stirring and topical works as the Depression-era standard "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?," "Fight On," and "Which Side Are You On?," failed to return the group to its old prominence.
Erik Darling left the group, which carried on with
Frank Hamilton, but by late 1963, following a last-gasp reunion concert,
the Weavers were on their last legs. In retrospect, this is an enjoyable album (if brief in the CD era), though it lacks the fervor of
the Weavers' younger competitors of the day. ~ William Ruhlmann