Gone from Danger (2CD)

Joan Baez | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 28, 2009)
• Original Release Date: 2009
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Razor & Tie
• ASIN: B001URRHDK
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #133,949 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential recording

Joan Baez has always been a top-notch interpreter and a perceptive spotter of young talent. On Gone from Danger, she hooks up with a number of talented young songwriters, simultaneously offering them a higher-profile platform for their work and giving her own career a needed boost. Folk-rocker Sinead Lohan contributes the gorgeous "No Mermaid" and "Who Do You Think I Am," while Baez takes on a trio of tunes by Richard Shindell, including "Reunion Hill," which ranks with the Band's "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" (which Baez memorably covered) and Dave Alvin's "Andersonville" as among the best contemporary songs about the Civil War. There are also songs by Dar Williams ("February," "If I Wrote You") and Betty Elders ("Crack in the Mirror") and one by Baez herself ("Lily"). All of them are terrific, and the performances are among Baez's best since her commercial heyday. --Daniel Durchholz

Product Description

Produced by Sergio Mendes for A&M and wielding a sound comparable to Brasil '66, Bossa Rio boasted two bona-fide Brazilian stars in their ranks: Manfredo Fest and Pery Ribeiro. CD debut for this jazzy bossa-nova gem!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Uplifting and Bittersweet....., October 4, 2000

By 

Patrice Webb (Georgetown, California USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gone From Danger (Audio CD)

For me, this CD was one of the nicer suprises of 1997 and was proof positive of how growing older can often breathe new life into something and cause a metamorphosis into something brand new.

For several years the "girl with the guitar", once dubbed the "queen of folk" has struggled to find an identity in the vast jungle of contemporary popular music which, when you are a person who has an audience with great expectations, is never easy.

This CD, a collection of covers by Betty Elders, Richard Shindell, Dar Williams, and others, comes as a breath of fresh air with its simple arrangements that manage to sound contemporary without giving into the commercialism so common today. Couple this with a band who's down to earth musicianship truly appreciates and supports the voice it is backing and you have a collection of music worth playing again and again.

While some of her older fans may be dismayed by the changes in her voice, I find that the darker husky texture and tone of her voice has brought a welcome warmth and depth to her music. It is this voice that causes her version of Richard Shindell's "Reunion Hill" to emerge as a victorious anthem of survival. On "February" she brings a sad world weary perspective to Dar William's tale of bittersweet love, and her own composition, "Lily" with its jangling guitars could fit in anywhere in the alternative folk/pop scene today.

Although it scares me to say so, her career spans most of my life. How nice it is then that it has become so rich and full.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful recording, well chosen songs, and excellent, January 20, 2005

By 

R. Kyle (USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gone From Danger (Audio CD)

Probably the best all-around of any Baez CD, in my opinion. Some of the music is a hard listen: "February" the story of a lost love and new beginning just about brings me to tears. "A crack in the mirror" about child abuse, cuts straight to the bone about the issue---from all points of view.

"Lily" which was written by Baez about a friend of hers from High School that she recently found is probably my favorite of the music. It's uptempo and reminds me strongly of hearing the song live at the Portland Zoo one full moon night.

Frankly, this album is as close as you can get to being there.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What A Deal, May 6, 2009

By 

Suzanne Simpson (Houston, Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gone from Danger (2CD) (Audio CD)

This 2009 reissue of "Gone from Danger," which is a terrific CD in itself, includes a bonus CD of the 1997 Mountain Stage performances of the CD's material by Joan and colleagues Dar Williams, Sinead Lohan, Betty Elders, and Richard Shindell. Lovely and generous. So even if you have "Gone from Danger" (with or without the earlier limited bonus(es) of a couple of songs, you'll want this one.