Joan Baez

hi!

Joan Baez has always been my favorite
singer/songwriter (or maybe it's
Joni Mitchell). I can still remember
her magical voice when I was around
5 years old and when I heard her
voice on radio in such tracks
as Diamonds & Rust,No Expectations,
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down...

I'm really obsessed with her music, her
own songs and Dylan & other covers are
all good.

No I'd like to hear your opinions
on her albums that she made in the 60s.
Are there any "dud" albums that I should
definitely avoid or can I safely buy all of them
(at least those ones that have been remastered
so far)?

I've heard her first album as a remastered edition
recently at local library.

Are her albums Blessed Are...,Come from the shadows,
Where are you now, my son,Gracias A La Vida and
Diamonds & Rust still in print?

 

I've only known her through the "Diamonds and Rust" album, and I haven't heard that recently.

But I just now finished reading "Positively 4th Street" and it had me looking for her early vinyls all last week. Her third record "Live in Concert" is very good.
The others I'm still waiting for.

If you do a search for Joan Baez on this site you see that Steve and others recommend "Farewell Angelina" from 1965


The book I was going to post under the "spoilers" thread, Dylan comes off as a real jerk. It did give me a new respect for Joan. Farina I never knew about although I always liked the song "Reno, Nevada" on the Fairport "Heyday" CD.

 

One of my favorites of hers has always been 'Baptism' Listen to her to "Song in the Blood". It will send shivers down your spine for sure.

 

Mark: Her voice is very unique and there are only a few female singer/songwriters who can make me cry just because they have such a great voice.She is almost like an opera singer...well almost.

I'll try Farewell Angelina first. I have listened to Diamonds & Rust many years ago and loved every minute of it.

I guess I'll buy all of her remastered albums...sooner or later.

 

Just reading the words Diamonds and Rust gives me goosebumps. The title song is just fantastic.

Simple twist of fate, Forever young, Please come to Boston and The Night They... are some other favourites of mine.

 

I have one of her LPs .. two actually but 'Old Blue' has such nasty groove burn it's unbearable. The other is 'Back from the Shadows', I give it a listen from time to time. I specially like that first song, 'The Prison Trilogy'.

Also (at least some of it, IIRC) has Kenny Buttrey on drums, and I've always been really taken by the man's playing ever since I first heard Dylan's Blonde on Blonde.

 

"The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" ...

 

I saw an amazing show a few summers back. It was the Newport Folk Festival and they stopped at Merriweather Post Pavillion in Columbia MD (about halfway between DC and Baltimore). It featured Joan Baez, Nancy Griffith, Wilco, Violent Femmes, Rufus Wainwright, Mark Cohn, Lisa Loeb with Dweezil Zappa and Lucinda Williams. It was such a great show that John Hiatt was supposed to be there, didn't show and it was still amazing.

I had never seen Joan Baez until that day. I should be ashamed of myself.
She was unbelievable. Just as relaxed and musical and warm a performer as I have ever seen. I will never forget her performance.

Peace-
Norm

 

Universal is reportedly working on a multidisc set of Joan's complete studio recordings for A&M, similar to the recent Rod Stewart Mercury set. I hear it'll include a few choice rarities.

 

If you're a Band fan (as I am), you know she butchered this one. For example, "There goes the [sic] Robert E. Lee."

I think she's great otherwise, but her interpretation of this song is not a high point for me.

Jay

 

I could be wrong on this one but I believe that is a southern colloquialism.
If you ever saw the Clint Eastwood film The Outlaw Josey Wales the bounty hunters refer to him as the Josey Wales. Again, I could be wrong.

Cheers-
Norm

 

I sure hope the sound of that set isn't similar to the Rod one!

Farwell Angelina is definitely the best of her '60s albums, but her self-titled debut and Noël are must-haves as well.

 

The bottom line is that Ms. Baez did not sing the lyric as written by Robbie Robertson. She also incorrectly sang "so much cavalry" instead of "Stoneman's cavalry" ruining an historical reference. As far as colloquialism, I believe most Southerners would add "General" rather than "the" before the name of Robert E. Lee. But then again, Mr. Robertson did get a few historical facts wrong -- Gen. Robert E. Lee was never in Tennessee after the war and Richmond fell about a month before May the 10th.

 

In addition to those already mentioned, I recommend Noel, her Christmas album, which was produced by Peter Schickele.

 

Farewell Angelina is a must have!

 

Ah..the Billy Bob Thornton album

BTW: Didja see the cover of the new Rolling Stone ?
Cheers!
Norm

 

Indeed I did. She's looking well.

As Conan O'Brien said the other night, "I'd give anything to kiss those lips, even if they were on a fella!"

 

Back to the topic at hand, if you're planning to get '60s Joan you might want to beware of Vanguard's new reissues from a couple years ago. They have some nice bonus tracks, but the sound has been no-noised and fuzted with to death.

 

Yes. Find the older Vanguard titles--with all the "noise" intact.

I may be falsely remembering here, but I thought the reference to "the Robert E. Lee" was to a paddlewheeler destroyed by the Union forces.

edit:

Robert E. Lee was a blockade runner, which survived the Civil War:

http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-f/ft-dnlsn.htm


--Roger

 

For a good listen to early Baez, get "Live At Newport", Vanguard 77015-2. It is a comp from performances in 1963, 64, and 65, with a couple of Dylan duets included. Great sound. Joan sings so loudly at one point you can hear the echo bouncing off the backdrop behind the stage!

--Roger

 

How's the sound on the Vanguard CD's of the early work?