Customer Reviews

First Ten Years

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4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
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This is a great collection of Joan Baez's amazing work over the first ten years of her recording career. It is not what one could rightfully call her greatest hits, for she was not an artist who released many singles or who got an awful lot of exposure on AM radio during the 1960s and early 1970s. Instead, she was mainly played on hip FM stations, and of course, was played incessantly by folkies in their record players, so that her music wafted through the dormitories and off the college campuses of the time. So, although there are a few songs included here like "love Is Just A Four Letter Word" that were on the charts, most of them are known better as songs from albums one listened to again and again.

Thus, we have songs like "Ghetto", "There But For Fortune", and Dylan's "With God On Our Side", all beautifully done and wonderful to listen to, but certainly not songs that ever had much time on the popular airwaves of the times. So too with songs like "Sweet Sir Galahad", a song written by Joan describing her sister Mimi finally beginning to recover from the loss of her husband Richard Farina in a tragic motorcycle accident, or "No Expectations", a wonderful folksy interpretation of the Mick Jagger-Keith Richards song. There are a number of traditional songs here like "Farewell Angelina", "John Riley", and "Mary Hamilton". And as an added benefit, there are a number of other Bob Dylan songs, such as "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right", "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall", and "You Ain't Going Nowhere". All in all, this is a great collection and a fair representation of the veritable mountain of recording work Joan accomplished in the first ten years of her career.

If you want just one CD that gives you an overview of Joan Baez's career and contains her greatest hits, well...you won't find one. Her career has been too long and varied for that. She was at Woodstock and at Live Aid. She covered traditional English and Spanish folk songs, protest and mainstream pop.

Joan's is the finest female voice of the 60's folk revival and protest movement -- pure and melodious and true. This particular CD has too much Dylan for my taste (although, contrary to Amazon's editorial, Gates of Eden is not on this album). Good at the time, these now sound very dated. But that is an accurate reflection of the period. We tend to forget now that a great many fans admired Dylan's songwriting but wished he would leave it to the sweet-voiced Joan to sing them.

My personal favorites are the traditional English songs Mary Hamilton, Geordie and John Riley. She sings them exquisitely. If you share that taste, you must get this CD.

Given that this album has a wide variety of music and the resale value seems quite high, this is a prime candidate for ripping and burning the tracks you like and selling it on, especially as the insert notes are minimal and not worth keeping.

As a child of the 60s, the album of hers that I remember best and which now seems most representative is her eponymous 'Joan Baez'. Start either with that album or with this one.

Joan Baez `s clarity and sincerity simply radiate on this compilation. She has a fine voice, singing in the upper ranges with little tremolo; the effect is art rather than artifice. This CD displays her understated yet powerful voice in just over 70 minutes of peace and protest. (By the way, I hear from someone who's met her that she's very nice.)

Some of the finest songs here are those written by Bob Dylan, "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere" is revealed as a sexy love song (even with all that stuff about "Genghis Khan"). "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright" is probably the best song on the CD, she captures the complex emotions with wonderfully expressive singing and guitar--it's the best version I've ever heard. She also does a compelling version of "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall"; she illuminates Dylan's lengthy standard, and it sounds fresh and immediate.

The first song, "Ghetto," is unfortunately also the worst. The singing is fine, but the bass line sounds right out of (the worst of) an Elvis show. It also sounds dated lyrically, as Ms. Baez sings about rising to the revolution, and in "building a new Jerusalem there will be no more ghetto at all." Oh well, it's an honest reflection of the decade's optimism and promise.

"If I were a Carpenter" sounds less sexist when sung by a woman, and its treatment here is soft and loving. The country guitar work on "Love is Just a Four-Letter" word is not to my tastes, but again, her voice rises above this. "If I Knew" is a more up-tempo work, with excellent accompaniment (I wish the players on each track were listed), and a satisfying bridge. She also does a nice, slightly country, version of the Stones' "No Expectations."

Joan Baez also plays guitar beautifully, in the same effective yet unembellished style of her singing: "There but For Fortune" and "John Riley" are fine examples. She seemingly transcends time on traditional folk songs like "Mary Hamilton" (there's a nice little lilt to her voice here), and live recordings of "Geordie," and the flamenco-tinged "Te Ador." The singing is angelic. Her own "Sweet Sir Galahad" and Dylan's "Farewell Angelina" are also beautiful examples of her work. There are so many excellent songs to enjoy!

Simple, beautiful, and thought-provoking, Joan Baez's `first decade' CD is a welcome look back at one of our national treasures.

What I have always love about Joan Baez is her exquisite and crystal clear voice. She is a dream to listen to and her songs fit her vocal range just perfect. This album is excellent all the way through and the songs included on the CD is the best of her repertoire from 1960 to 1970, which is why the album is called THE FIRST TEN YEARS. All of the songs on this collection are great but there are six tracks that are truly wonderful and is why I bought this album aside from the fact that she has a beautiful voice. The songs that I love from this great recording are "Ghetto", "If I Were A Carpenter", "If I Knew", "No Expectations" (which is a cover of the Stones original and she sounds far better than Mick on this one.) "Sweet Sir Galahad" and "Love Is Just A Four-Letter Word". They are all excellent and as I said before perfect for her glorious soprano voice. This is a great album to have and enjoy for many years to come and if you're a Joan Baez fan than this one is a must for your collection. GREAT and EXHILIRATING.

This compilation covers the ten years that Joan spent recording for Vanguard. She had some success after she left, but the Vanguard recordings remain the most important of her career.

She occasionally wrote her own songs (represented here by Sweet Sir Galahad) but mostly she recorded the songs of others. Her biggest influence was Bob Dylan, who wrote six of the songs here. Apparently, Bob never recorded Love is just a four letter word, but it is a lovely song. I first heard With God on our side by Manfred Mann, a sixties group who also recorded several Bob Dylan songs. Many people have recorded Don't think twice it's all right, including Johnny Cash - another singer who has made several raids on the Bob Dylan songbook. You ain't going nowhere, Farewell Angelina and A hard rain's gonna fall are his other songs here.

Other covers by Joan here include There but for fortune (Phil Ochs), No expectations (Rolling stones), Turquoise (Donovan) and the often covered If I were a carpenter. There are also some traditional folk songs - Mary Hamilton, Geordie and Te ador - so old that their writers are unknown.

Joan recorded so many great songs that eighteen tracks cannot possibly include everything worth having, but this is a good sampling of Joan's music. If you only want one of Joan's albums, this is a good one to choose.

This one is a "must buy" for people intoxicated by Joan Baez's gorgeous voice: the perfect vibrato, the stunning range, the sweet notes and the soulful notes. What's wonderful about this particular album is that it contains songs that even die-hard fans may not have already, yet none of them are fillers.

Joan's version of Hard-Rains-A-Gonna-Fall brings out the power and the beauty of the lyrics in a way that even Bob Dylan must have cheered at. "Mary Hamilton" is an understated ballad, sung in the sweetest, highest voice that gets more powerful with every listen. Don't be scared off by the un-Joan-like "Ghetto" as the opening number of this album. It's just a little introduction. Soon, you'll be swept away into greater magnificence like "Sweet Sir Gallahad" which is almost tearful in its romance. And of course, "With God on our Side" is one of the great anti-war ballads. It goes on and on ... but not for long enough! Pacifists will be laughing and cheering by midway through the song.

In some ways, this is a subtle folk album, aside from her powerful singing voice, which lends something elaborate to even the simplest songs. But it's subtle in the sense that it doesn't have a whole lot of "oh, yeah, I remember that one" songs on it. Yet it is a MUST for fans. You do not want to be a Joan Baez fan without songs like "John Riley", which will tear out your heart in the hands of her exquisite rendition.

It's too bad that "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" was the popular AM radio song we judged her on. It was an ok song but did nothing to steer me into hearing more of her music. Which was my great loss. I rediscovered her after reading her autobiography. I hadn't realized how interesting she was. After reading her book I went and bought this CD and another greatest hits of her more recent work. "Ghetto" is dated but represents the period it came from accurately. "If I Were A Carpenter" is a beautiful blue collar love song: simple and sincere. "Love Is Just A Four-Letter Word" is too twangy for me. I pass it over when I play the CD. "There But For Fortune" is one of the true gems of this collection, and a nice introduction to Phil Ochs (her rendition stimulated an interest in my searching for other music by Ochs). "John Riley" is typical folk "wall flower" music. I'm not interested in these type of stories. "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere" isn't really a good song but an enjoyable song to listen to. "Mary Hamilton" another indistinguishable folk "wall flower" song. It would be a great campfire song, however. "Manha De Carnaval" is another gem. A melodious trip that shows Baez's voice in a different light. "If I Knew" is a great performance with a poignant message. Tells us what is really strong and appealing about a man who is more sensitive. "With God On Our Side" is one of my two favorites on this CD. A political, relevant message that makes one think. I can play it ten times and not become tired of listening to its message. The absolute best version of it. Dylan has never done this one justice. "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" another Dylan classic and well done by Baez. "Geordie" another folk "wall flower" piece. "Te Ador" a melodic treat. "No Expectations" is no melodic treat. "Sweet Sir Galahad" yuk! Sappy! "Turquoise" nicely done. "Farewell Angelina" another folksy song but this one is really good. "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" the best version of the most poetic song written under the umbella of rock n' roll. Dylan is the great American poet of the twentieth century, even better than Ginsberg. This song and especially this version is an anthem to all that was worth anything in the 60's and 70's. The imagery and undercurrents of this song are biblical and much more. This is Baez, Dylan and our generation at its best!

'The bailiff's wife and the provost's wife cried out, alack and alas for thee' when they hear of Mary Hamilton's fate.

This is one of my all time favorite Joan Baez recordings! Having been a child born during the sixties, I grew up singing Baez's "The Streets of Laredo", Simon and Garfunkel's "Feelin' Groovy", Pete Seeger's "Where Have All the Flowers Gone", and other folk songs in music class at school. I love the ballads she picks out and I love the sound of her voice regardless of what her critics say. Six of the songs on this are Dylan tunes. Some of my favorites are "Sweet Sir Galahad", "ghetto" (a song written by Memphians), "There But For Fortune", "Don't Think Twice, it's all right", "John Riley", and "Mary Hamilton".

A wide ranging and thoroughly satisfying compliation of Baez' early work, including definitive interpretations of Farewell Angelina (one of Dylan's hidden masterpieces), Love is Just a Four Letter Word (another Dylan gem), and There But for Fortune, and so so much more. Of all the great female folk singers, Joan Baez has the purest voice, and while her career may have been somewhat limited by the fact that she did not write her own songs, she is a superb interpreter of a range of material, from Dylan to old English folk songs.

My record album is 33 years old, and I bought the CD to listen to at work. Her renditions of Bob Dylan's songs bring them to life, infusing them with passion. Her singing of older folk songs illustrate her crystalline voice. I learned to play guitar to her "Farwell Angelina." More recently, I've played "With God on Our Side" when I am troubled by our current status in Iraq. If you want to try one Joan Baez album, this is the one.