This two-disc set collects Pete Seeger's final three LPs for Columbia Records, 1968's Now, 1969's Young vs. Old, and 1971's Rainbow Race, along with the banned and never officially issued single "I Feel Like I'm Fixin' to Die Rag" from 1970, and what emerges is a pretty well-rounded portrait of Seeger's various sides as songwriter, song interpreter, live performer, and cultural and political barometer. There's no denying Seeger's historical importance to both folk and pop music and on the political front, well, he's been a kind of canary in the coal mine for decades, speaking (and singing) out on any number of vital issues. At the time that these albums were originally released, though, Seeger presented a tough marketing problem for Columbia, partly because of the singer's strong political views and partly for his equally as strong aversion to all things mercantile, and at a time when the urban folk boom was at its peak, Seeger, who by all rights should have been in the front and center of it, was marginalized, as much an embarrassment to Columbia marketing execs as he was an asset. Time heals all wounds, however, or at least time covers them up, and Seeger can now be viewed as what he always was, a gifted live performer, songwriter and song preserver who has more interest in bringing people together for social utility than dividing and provoking them to anger. Packaged like this, these three LPs reveal a versatile and thoughtful performer, and there are plenty of gems here, including the stark and startling "Last Train to Nuremberg," the call and response sing-a-long "He's Long Gone," a graceful reading of Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now" and a beautiful rendition of the gospel folk traditional "Water Is Wide," among others. Seeger has been doing the same sort of thing ever since the Almanac Singers, so nothing here is revelatory, but one wonders why Columbia just didn't market Seeger for what he really was -- an American treasure.