Van Ronk features some of his most elaborate recordings with many backing musicians. It includes English language versions of songs by non-English speaking composers (Bertold Brecht and Jacques Brel).
Village Voice critic Robert Christgau wrote of Van Ronk: "He shoots his shot at big-label production here, and now and then the orchestration (not to mention the material) turns surprisingly schmaltzy, but for the most part this shouted melee of song collection is a riot."[2]