Joan Baez - Joan Baez/5

A True Artist at the Height of Her Powers

It's funny how time can change so totally what we cherish and believe about art. As a music historian once noted, all people hear music, but few people actually listen. One upon a time, at a much younger age, I thought that because I listened to music all the time, I knew everything there was to know about it. As a young, "hip" urban gay man, exposed to all the theatre and music that my native city, New York, had to offer, I used to think I had it all sewed up. I was proud of my knowledge of Jazz, theatre, and other popular music that I thought of as "sophisticated", choosing to turn my nose up at country, folk, blues, rock, and anything else my friends didn't listen to.

The older I get, the more I realize that I didn't know a fraction of what I thought I did, and I am indeed still learning what it truly good. My taste in music began to change when I was in my mid-twenties, and today, (fast approaching my mid-fifties) I have learned to embrace many forms of music at their most basic, and for several years now I have been content to call myself an enthusiast of "roots" music. Yes, I still love Jazz and even Broadway show tunes, but my preferences now lean towards blues, country (including its many sub-genres) and folk music.

I own about 20 CD's of Joan Baez, from all periods of her output. I found Joan fairly late in her career, but fairly early in the "rebirth" of my concept of what good music is. Of all the folk singers I admire, there are few I continue to return to again and again as much as I do Joan Baez, and Joan Baez 5 is easily my favorite above all her other efforts.

Joan Baez 5 starts with the finest version of Phil Ochs' There But For Fortune that I know of, including the definitive version by Mr. Ochs. Her perfect soprano accents the hauntingly beautiful lyrics, which seem to grow more topical as the years go by. "Show me the country where the bombs had to fall, and I'll show you a young land with so many reasons why, there but for fortune go you or I..." Beautiful? Indeed, but words and accolades lose their meaning and soon pale beside such truth and beauty.

The death of Queen Jane, a "true story" about Jane Seymour (possibly Henry VIII's only true love) dying in childbirth is both haunting and unforgettable; it's both a perfect musical statement and one of the standouts on a stellar album.

It is interesting to note that, more than any other singer, Joan Baez's take on almost any song is apt to outshine the most celebrated renditions of the same song, even those by the songwriter; anyone who doubts this need only listen to her version of Bob Dylan's It Ain't Me Babe, or Johnny Cash's I Still Miss Someone. In fact, I am ready to admit that her version of the Cash song here is even better than the rendition recently recorded by my favorite vocalist, Tracy Nelson, and THAT (as far as I'm concerned) is really saying something.

Joan Baez does not need to prove that she has a classically trained voice; virtually everything she tackles is sung in a high, clear soprano that almost any opera diva would be proud to display. Nevertheless, when she does turn her attention to the occasional well-chosen classical piece, such as Villa-Lobos' Bachianas Brasileiras, it's really something to behold. I sometimes halt the CD on this track and play it through four or five times, savoring each note and allowing myself to marvel at the joy of such a perfectly sung aria. Following classical music with a straight-forward folk song such as Go Away From My Window is a feat many lesser vocalists wouldn't dare attempt, yet the mood slides effortlessly from classical to contemporary. I have heard this song by a variety of singers (including a concert version by Marlene Dietrich (!) that surprised the heck out of me) but once Joan has finished with it, nobody else can touch it.

This brings us to the album's true highlight. To quote the liner notes, "September 15, 1963, four little girls went to Sunday school one Sabbath morning and never came home. Instead, they left their blood upon the church house wall...Sunday dresses torn to shreds by dynamite, victims of the race war in the American South". Joan sings Birmingham Sunday with a cool detachment that belies her (and our) rage and sorrow. It's been 45 years since the actual event, and although I was only 9 at that time, I can still recall that shocking news bulletin. I wept then, and I weep today. There is something about the quiet dignity of Joan's voice that makes me re-live the sorrow and the shock each time I hear this song, and something about her delivery that renews my conviction that we must never forget, and teach the next generation and the next as well that this shameful event must never be repeated.

It's funny how music means different things at different times, and strange how the passage of time can alter one's perception of what is truly important. Although I have not managed to acquire Joan Baez's complete output (I've been slowly working on it for years, believe me) I can't imagine that any record by almost any singer could move me more. And THAT'S what I call art.
March 19, 2008

Simply the best

I have been a Joan Baez fan since her first album - the black one Joan Baez. In fact, I wore out two copies of the vinyl version of it if that tells you anything. I've enjoyed every note I've ever heard on every album, but this Joan Baez 5 is my all time favorite! It's the kind of album that deserves a darkened room and your complete attention especially for your first listen. Joan's rendiiton of Bachianas Brasileiras No.5-Aria is perfect and will bring tears to your eyes as you witness her deep emotion and incredible voice. And there are many favorites on this CD like There but for Fortune, It Ain't Me Babe, I Still Miss Someone, Go 'Way From My Window that Joan sings like only she can, and, of course, the moving Birmingham Sunday is a song that will resonate in your heart forever. There are old folk songs, sad songs and fun songs to be enjoyed over and over. I actually bought this copy for my sister because it was she who first introduced me to Joan so many years ago, and the first album I wore out belonged to her. January 18, 2008

What a voice!

I came across Joan Baez through the Spike Lee documentary DVD 4 Little Girls. Her rendition of "Birmingham Sunday" had me in tears even before the actual movie had started. I think any singer confident enough to put themselves out there with nothing but a solo guitar (or an ensemble of cellos, as is the case with the beautiful "Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5-Aria") to back them up is always worth a listen and Baez never disappoints. She packs heart and soul into every single song here.

The inner-sleeve notes (partly written by Langston Hughes, no less) tell her story - of, among other things, her relationship with Bob Dylan, her involvement in the Civil Rights movement and how the assasination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963, forced many of her generation to "confront their unexplored notions of mortality - and morality - many, for the first time". It would seem that those troubled times inspired a lot of singers and songwriters.

This album was her last entire album of acoustic music and her first to mine the richness of contemporary songwriters. I don't know much about folk singer-songwriters but when people say that Baez nurtured a new generation, some of whom were not even born when this album was recorded, I'm inclined to believe them. This is music at its most purest and music at its most meaningful. I thank Spike Lee for introducing Joan Baez to me. June 16, 2007

not familar

As usual, her voice is that of an angel, I am very unfamilar with these songs and sorry I did not get "best hits", but who knows, in time perhaps this will be my best hits of hers! March 8, 2007

Pure Joan - An Earful Of Delight

For Joan Baez fans, this CD is a welcome re-issue of formerly recorded tunes on LP. Her signature coloratura soprano voice, crystalline and gently emphatic brings back both memories and feelings of times past. February 11, 2007

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