Without a label, Peter, Paul and Mary signed with Gold Castle Records to record No Easy Walk to Freedom. Released in 1986, it marked the trio's 25th anniversary.[2] The album was their first studio recording in almost nine years.[3] The title track was written for Nelson Mandela.[4] The group sought to connect the causes of Mandela and Martin Luther King Jr.[2] A few years later, Peter, Paul and Mary performed "No Easy Walk to Freedom" at an event in Tokyo honoring Mandela, shortly after his release from prison.[4] A music video for the song, directed by George Gage and Jim Shea, features archival footage depicting the group's involvement in human rights issues, along with performance clips.[5] Other songs on the album include "El Salvador", a protest song about the United States' involvement in the Salvadoran Civil War, and "Light One Candle", written for Jewish dissidents in the Soviet Union.[6]
Critical reception
Billboard noted the group's "familiar formula of story-songs and socially conscious material" and described the album as "a pleasant return to form."[5] A review in Digital Audio and Compact Disc Review observed that the album's songs are "each stamped with PP&M's unique voice and harmonies, that deal not only with protest, but also with love, friendship, and childhood."[7]AllMusic's L. Katz wrote, "This is one of the trio's later releases and, if their fire is a bit dimmed, one can't blame them. However, if you want a CD that brings you back to the dawn of the flower-child generation, this probably isn't the one."[1] Keith Tuber of Orange Coast said: "Makes you wonder why it took 10 years and a new label to showcase the talent of these legendary performers."[6] A review in the Reno Gazette-Journal called the album "an extraordinary comeback, a set of 10 political broadsides and topical ballads. The arrangements are clean and fresh and the performances are genuinely moving from start to finish."[8]
12Yarrow, Peter; Kerry, John (2014). Peter Paul and Mary: Fifty Years in Music and Life (1sted.). Watertown, M.A.: Imagine (Charlesbridge). p.98. ISBN978-1936140329.
