Customer Reviews

Joan Baez 2

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In my opionin Joan Baez was always at her best singing traditional folk songs either from England or the Appalachians. I have owned this as a vinyl LP since the early 1960's and am glad to see it is now available on CD because my record player died. Long live early Joan!

Ms. Baez has a pure, crystalline voice that is an instrument unto itself. You will know what I mean when you hear her sing "Waggoner's Lad" without accompaniment. This is quickly followed up by some achingly beautiful folk songs, such as "The Trees They Do Grow High", "The Lily of the West", and "Silkie". Wham Bam... before you know it, you are hooked!

This extraordinary CD ends on a very high note with "Plaisir D'Amour" which is a beautiful love song and, sung by Ms. Baez, one which will not be easily forgotten. This is an exquisitely wonderful CD, and if you are not already a fan of Ms. Baez, it will quickly make you into one. She is, undoubtedly, a national treasure.

Here is a young woman's voice so strong and lovely that it can take the simplicity and lasting melody of folk songs and give the songs the honor they deserve. You can clearly hear the words and stories of these age old-songs. Her voice has the range and purity to make you ache with its beauty.

I believe this is one of Joans best Albums it has such beauty with every word she sings she becomes more and more enchanting. I love her work and I believe she is one of the best folk artists our nation has ever know.

This, like the first volume of Joan Baez, is a wonderful compendium of folk songs. These songs obviously have a following all their own, having been collected before they vanish forever by dedicated musical historians. Joan's rendering of them is a joy to listen to. These songs are classics, because they have singable melodies, express enduring emotions, and have universal appeal. Joan lifts them from the simple to the sublime, in my opinion.

`Joan Baez Vol. 1 and 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 justly famous crystal clear voice gives performances of these songs you will find nowhere else.

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.

I had no doubt that I would enjoy the CD since I had owned the LP in vinyl form many years ago. What did impress me was the honesty of the seller (used CD). He made it very clear that the case was broken and he was not totally sure of the sound quality of the recording. Thus warned, I went ahead and ordered anyway..the price was that good. The package arrived within about five days and I played the CD at once. It was perfect. As warned, the hinge on the case is broken, but it can still be snapped into place so the CD is protected. I'm very happy with my purchase.