With
Late Again,
Peter, Paul & Mary completed the transition from folk to folk-rock that had begun a couple of years before its release. Granted, it was a transition as slow and halting as that of an ox carrying a piano on its back, but it did actually take place. You can't call an album that numbers
Elvin Bishop,
Herbie Hancock,
Paul Griffin,
Charlie McCoy, Bernard Purdie,
John Simon, and
Paul Winter among its many accompanying musicians a folk album, after all. As for the music, it was adequate but rather inconsequential, the harmonies polished and pleasing as always. The trio were at this point composing the majority of their own material, with serious-minded, mildly tuneful, subdued, and fairly unmemorable originals, the best of them being "Rich Man Poor Man." They did add some diversity in flavor and arrangement with the churchy "Tramp on the Street," the haunting "Hymn," and occasional orchestration. The most notable track, by far, was their cover of
Bob Dylan's "Too Much of Nothing." Previously released as a single in late 1967, it was the very first version of a
Dylan Basement Tapes-era composition to reach the charts. ~ Richie Unterberger