AMG Review of All the Good Times

Richie Unterberger
All Music Guide

Alice Stuart's first album was a typical effort from the tail end of the early-to-mid-'60s folk revival, devoted almost entirely to competent renderings of various facets of the folk repertoire. There were blues ("Stackerlee"), country (the title cut), old-time music ("Leavin' Home"), a Weavers tune ("Seven Daffodils"), "Once I Had a Sweetheart," the Tom Paxton song "I Can't Help but Wonder Where I'm Bound," and a lone Stuart original, the routine period topical song "Beatnik." The only accompaniment is Stuart's guitar and, occasionally, autoharp. Although these were sung pleasantly and reverently, there's nothing to make her interpretations stand out amid numerous sub-Joan Baez coffeehouse performers of the era; in fact, they're rather characterless. The 2002 CD reissue adds eight songs that draw from a similarly wide breadth of traditional sources, recorded at the same sessions; one song ("Frankie and Johnny") has live audience response, though it's not explained in the liner notes whether that's from a separate recording setup.