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Joan Baez

Joan Baez - Joan Baez Audio CD

A fair review of the Joan Baez "Joan Baez" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Joan Baez reviews here, or go back to the Joan Baez tabs.

Band: Joan Baez
Title: Joan Baez
Rating:

Release Date: 1990-10-25
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Silver Dagger 2: East Virginia 3: Fare Thee Well (10,000 Miles) 4: House of the Rising Sun 5: All My Trails 6: Wildwood Flower 7: Donna Donna 8: John Riley 9: Rake and Rambling Boy 10: Little Moses 11: Mary Hamilton 12: Henry Martin 13: Preso Numero Nueve

pure romance
I had been playing the trombone for three years,( that has grown to 50 years ) and have played and sang and cried along with this masterpiece ever since. I was 11 when I received this album for my birthday. In 1967, I hit the road on my Harley with Dharma Bums in my grip and these songs carved in my soul and headed straight for Mexico.
Thank you, Joan.

Life changing
The voice of an angel, a new and important artist. Back when I was about 16, I bought this album and when I heard what was inside, I was completely blown away. From then on I was a big Baez fan. This was one of those few albums in a lifetime that changes your point of view, that opens new worlds, that cries out to your soul. The beautiful soprano voice was new to me, but I knew right off I would follow Ms Baez to the ends of the earth. Thank you Joan. Yours is a massive talent.

Joan Baez very first album. See what started it all! Superb.
1 and Vol. `Joan Baez Vol. 2' are incredibly evocative of a particular time and Zeitgeist in American popular music. Listening to them now, it is humbling to think that it has been over forty years since I first bought these Vanguard albums which, according to a `Time' magazine article of the time, turned the very small folkie recording company into a pretty important recording company, just in time to be in on the 1960's music explosion. The buzz at the same time was that in spite of her success, Vanguard could not convince Baez to do more than one album a year. She and the folk music scene in the early sixties were still a major topic of conversation in sophisticated circles. One of the most prescient statements I ever heard was from my German professor's opinion, expressed in the Fall of 1963 that the American folk music interest would not survive the arrival of The Beatles. In most ways, I think he was very, very right in that Baez' versions of old English ballads and material from Folkways did not survive the British invasion. Instead, this musical revolution plus the target rich landscape of the mid 1960s spawned a great generation built on the legacy of Woody Guthrie instead of `Childe's Ballads. This was lead by Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs (the much missed Phil Ochs), Tom Paxton, Richard Farina and many more. Ms. Baez jumped on this bandwagon, primarily as a consort to Mr. Dylan, but not until she left us with these really remarkable renditions of historical music.

Contrary to what you may believe from the title, these two albums were first published about a year apart, with titles even more modest that Ms. Baez' contemporary, Barbara Streisand. As I am not an expert on old English folk music, my best comparisons for Ms. Baez performances are, in fact Ms. Streisand on the one hand and the English Jacqui McShee (female vocalist for The Pentangle and The John Renbourn group) on the other. While Ms. McShee does a great job when she does the same material, I think Miss Joan sets the standard with her crystal clear, vibrato free voice. Baez also does better on this material than her principle competitor (on Elektra), Judy Collins. On the other hand, when I compare Joan to Barbra, I feel there is just something missing in Joanie's interpretation. Aside from having a great set of pipes, this, of course, is one of Streisand's strong points as she gives dramatically different takes on some old chestnuts such as `Happy Days are Here Again'. And yet, Ms. Baez gives us performances for the ages which sound as fresh today as they did 45 years ago.

It is highly unlikely that the contemporary music audience will again support an act doing this material. And, I don't think it's because of a `been there, done that' reaction. So, dig into these old albums with both arms and enjoy them, for they are both great and an important part of popular music history.
.

Remastered version of this album is better - 3 extra songs.
Child in his five volume work, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads (1882-1898). The original release date for this album (her second) was October, 1960, but no-one has since surpassed Joan Baez as a singer of Anglo-American ballads, most especially (in my opinion) those collected by Francis J. If you've never heard her sing, this album would be a good place to start. "Joan Baez Vol. 2" and "Joan Baez 5" also have some great ballads.

Joan Baez is a very admirable person. Her life and voice have been inseparable from the public events that have shaped the last four decades. However, I wish she could have sung more ballads and less soft pop (is that anything like soft porn?) and political ephemera. That's why I can't recommend any of her other, more recent albums (except "N�el"). She was gifted with a clear, lyrical soprano that pierces like a flute and trembles like clear water. It is the perfect instrument to express the pathos and unrequited love of the minor keys. When she attempts a more robust C Major or G Major, she sounds jokey rather than robust--like someone in the manic phase of her bipolar disorder. I tend to disagree with the liner notes that suggest Joan has an effective snarl in her lower register in the song "Silver Dagger". She sings this Appalachian ballad in a way that will haunt you for decades, until you break down and purchase a CD remastering of the old vinyl recording that got loved to death. No snarl, though.

The remastered version of 'Joan Baez' contains three extra tracks, so you might prefer to purchase it instead of this album.

My favorite song on this album is from Child, "Vol. 6, Border Minstrelsy (Ballad #173)," more commonly known as "Mary Hamilton" or "The Four Marys. " This ballad has almost the largest number of variants on record, an indication of its antiquity. Joan's arrangement is mercifully purged of most of the original Gaelic, and tells the story of Mary Hamilton, a lady-in-waiting at the Queen's court, who dies on the gallows because she killed her 'own wee babe' nine months after a tryst with the King.

Child relates the tune to the execution of Mary Hamilton in Russia on March 14, 1719. She was a maid of honor to Empress Catherine and was hung for the murder of her child. However, according to the "Viking Book of Folk Ballads," the song existed before the tragedy in Russia and therefore could not be related to it.

Another possibility for the scandal occurred in Mary Stewart's court in Scotland (which is the location mentioned in Joan's version of the song). A French maid had an affair with the Queen's apothecary and was hung for the murder of her child. There is speculation that the "apothecary" was actually Lord Darnley (the Queen's husband) in disguise. Legend has it that David Rizzio, the Queen's Chamberlain and close confidante found out about the affair and composed the tune and wrote the words. Lord Darnley's anger at Rizzio over the tune then contributed to his decision to murder Rizzio.

In Joan's rendition, the King attempts to rescue Mary Hamilton from the gallows, but she will have none of his belated sympathy. And so "Yestreen the queen had four Maries/, The night she'll hae but three/; There was Marie Seaton, and Marie Beaten/, And Marie Carmichael, and me. " (the text from Scott's edition of 1833).

This is a great ballad, beautifully sung, and well worth the price of this CD even if it didn't also have "Silver Dagger," "East Virginia," "House of the Rising Sun (Joan recorded this lament before Bob Dylan)," and "All My Trials. "
.

Memories of her voice linger on.
Long black hair streaming down eyes clear and wise. I was 13 when this album came out and I listened to it so much I wore off the vinyl the cardboard album cover long ago faded away but not the songs. She was singing old songs but with a new style new clarity. I can only imagine how much of an influence her and Mr Bob Dylan were to me then and still are today. They survived an era that not many did. Joan taught me I really can't sing. Which is good.
But I remember my heart full of joy swaying in the rain listening to her sing sweet chariot at woodstock now that endures a lifetime. To me this her first album is the best. Begin with her at the start of her career.

You can see a complete list of all Joan Baez discography, or go back to the Joan Baez tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.