String Along was released in 1960. It was their fifth studio album in a row to reach number one on the Billboard charts and remained there for ten weeks. It was the last LP of the Trio to reach the number one spot. Two singles, Bad Man Blunder and Everglades were released. Both were the last singles of the Guard years Trio to chart. Sold Out was released in 1960.
It was their third LP to reach #1, stayed there for twelve weeks, and received a gold certification the same year. El Matador was its lead-off single, though it just made the Top 40. Sold Out remained in the Top 40 for 54 weeks, longer than any Trio album. The version of Raspberries, Strawberries included is a remake of the Trio's follow-up single to Tom Dooley. The Last Month of the Year is
considered the Kingston Trio's most musically ambitious and also one of the their least known. It was recorded in 1960. Nick Reynolds stated in an interview: "It wasn't your standard Christmas album. That's why we called it The Last Month of the Year. It was a pretty complicated little album, some very intricate stuff. Dave Guard brought in a lot of the arrangements with stuff like bouzouki instrumentation. David Wheat, the trio's bassist, played some wonderful guitar. We really worked hard on that one, laying down a lot of the instrumental tracks before we did the vocals, working on harmonies over and over. David was responsible for a lot of that album, but we all brought things in. Musically, it came off very well; it just didn't sell."
Make Way is the ninth album by the Kingston Trio, released in 1961. It reached number two on the Billboard charts, despite there being no US singles released from the album. En El Agua was released as a B-side in the US but as an A-side in Great Britain. Goin' Places was their tenth album, released in 1961. It peaked at number three on the Billboard charts and spent 41 weeks in the Top 40. The lead-off single
was You're Gonna Miss Me, a new arrangement of Frankie and Johnny.It's B-side was En El Agua. Goin' Places was the last album recorded with Dave Guard as a member.The day after the completion of the Goin' Places recording sessions, the Trio embarked on their first foreign tour. After their return, Guard announced his intention to resign from the group. Guard stated in numerous interviews he left the Trio for two main reasons: He was upset with a discrepancy in publishing royalties and he felt the Trio needed to grow musically. The other members, Nick Reynolds and Bob Shane, disagreed on both counts. Guard stayed on to fulfill the group's concert commitments through November and Reynolds and Shane, having decided to keep the group going, hired John Stewart as Guard's replacement.
Guard later formed the Whiskeyhill Singers, which disbanded after one Capitol album and virtually no success. In an interview for Frets magazine in 1984 Reynolds stated: "Basically, David wanted to take it on to another level. Bobby and I were just hangin' out, having a good time. We were happy with the format and working way too hard to consider sitting down and learning how to read music... We were killing ourselves as it was with the work, and David was insisting that we take lessons. He was also upset about the publishing thing, and didn't think people were taking care of business, and he became dissatisfied with everything from photography to the management. It might have been an overreaction on Dave's part, but I believe that he honestly wanted to take it to a higher plane..."
.jpg)
