Joan Baez 5

Joan Baez 5

Track Listings

1. There but for Fortune

2. Stewball

3. It Ain't Me Babe

4. Death of Queen Jane (Child No. 170)

5. Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 -- Aria

6. Go 'Way From My Window

7. I Still Miss Someone

8. When You Hear Them Cuckoos Hollerin'

9. Birmingham Sunday

10. So We'll Go No More a-Roving

11. O'Cangaceiro

12. Unquiet Grave (Child No. 78)

Customer Reviews:

What a voice!.......2007-06-16

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.

not familar.......2007-03-08

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!

Pure Joan - An Earful Of Delight.......2007-02-11

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.

HISTORICAL AND TOPICAL..........2005-08-03

Ms. Baez continues to dazzle with her voice, a voice like no other, as well as with her song selections, a blend of old, traditional folk songs and contemporary ones, some with historical significance. as well as political overtones. Never does she fail to move the listener, who is transported to another realm on the simple strength and beauty of her pure, clear, sweet voice.

A lament for the last of the old ballads.......2003-02-22

This CD is forty-seven minutes of mixed emotions for Joan Baez fans. After this album, the singer "went on to mine the richness of contemporary songwriters" according to the liner notes.

If you prefer the acoustical guitar and the traditional ballads as I do, this is Joan's last album that features this kind of music, and she was already crossing over with songs like "Birmingham Sunday (track 9)." Muddled in with the contemporary (well, 'sixties) songs, this CD also has two Child Ballads, an eighteenth-century broadside about a race horse, ballads sung by dead men, and a lovely poem by Lord Byron that is set to music.

In other words, traditionalists, here are a few of our favorite songs--the last known to be recorded by Joan Baez:

"Stewball"--According to the Thoroughbred Heritage web site, Skewball (not Stewball) really was a racehorse (possibly a skewbald) by the Godolphin Arabian, out of a Whitefoot mare called Bandy . Samuel Sidney ["The Book of the Horse", 1875] stated that Skewball "...won a great number of plates and prizes in England, and one famous match in Ireland." This match became the subject of a ballad, "Skewball" or "Stewball," which has endured, in varying forms, to the present day. Joan Baez isn't the only folkie to sing about Stewball. Peter, Paul, and Mary, Leadbelly, and the Kingston Trio also recorded versions of this ballad. The 'little gray mare' who raced against Skewball is named 'Molly,' 'Miss Sportsly,' or 'Griselda' in the various eighteenth century broadsides from which this ballad originated. Joan sings this song high and tremulous like a child who loves the silver-bridled Stewball and rejoices when "the gray mare she stumbles and falls to the ground."

"The Death of Queen Jane (Child #170)--a version of this ballad appears as early as 1612 and tells of the death of Jane Seymour, third wife of Henry VIII of England. Joan's clear soprano and droning accompaniment are especially effective for this ballad.

"The Unquiet Grave (Child #78)--When Joan sings this ballad she leaves out the strongest verse: "You crave one kiss of my clay-cold lips;/ But my breath smells earthy strong;/ If you have one kiss of my clay-cold lips,/ Your time will not be long." This song recounts the almost universal belief that excessive grieving for the dead interferes with their repose. The hair on the back of your neck will rise up when the dead man speaks to his grieving lover in Joan's plaintive, eerie lament.

"So We'll Go No More A-Roving"--It was during the famous Carnivale of Venice, when lovers roamed the streets in masks and elaborate costumes, that Byron wrote the poem which furnishes the lyrics to this song. Joan's yearning soprano perfectly conveys the spirit of the poem: Byron, grown fat and pensive, dressed in a lavish dressing gown and gazing out of his window in the Palazzo Mocenigo, thinking of what might have been.

This poem was turned into a sea shanty shortly after Byron penned it, so it has a venerable history of being put to song. A more modern version of the song (I am not making this up) is "So We'll Go No More A-Cruisin."

"Long Black Veil"--Joan records this song on one of the two bonus tracks of this CD (the other extra is "Tramp on the Street"). The lyrics, written by Grand Ole Opry veteran Danny Dill, tell the story of a man wrongfully convicted of murder. He goes to the gallows rather than compromise his best friend's wife -- in whose arms he was lying when the crime was committed. The song's central image is of the grieving adulteress walking the hills "in a long black veil," returning over and over to her hanged lover's grave. Dill drew his ballad from several sources, including stories he had read of a woman who supposedly haunted Rudolph Valentino's grave. The voice is that of the hanged man, who you hear singing from beyond the grave (see also above: "The Unquiet Grave").

Joan Baez/5
Average customer rating:

Get remastered version instead of this CD - 2 extra tracks

All-Time Favorite JB Work

the way the wind blew

HISTORICAL AND TOPICAL...

Great Blend of Old and New

Joan Baez/5
Joan Baez
Manufacturer: Vanguard Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Contemporary Folk | Folk | Styles | Music
Singer-Songwriters | Contemporary Folk | Folk | Styles | Music
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Traditional Folk | Folk | Styles | Music
Revival | Folk | Styles | Music
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Traditional Folk | Folk | Indie Music | Stores | Music
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Joan Baez in Concert, Pt. 2

ASIN: B000000EHY
Release Date: 1991-09-19

Tracks:

THERE BUT FOR FORTUNE
STEWBALL
IT AIN'T ME BABE
THE DEATH OF QUEEN JANE (Child No. 170)
BACHIANAS BRASILEIRAS NO. 5-Aria
GO 'WAY FROM MY WINDOW
I STILL MISS SOMEONE
WHEN YOU HEAR THEM CUCKOOS HOLLERIN'
BIRMINGHAM SUNDAY
SO WE'LL GO NO MORE A-ROVING
O'CANGACEIRO
THE UNQUIET GRAVE (Child No. 78)

Customer Reviews:

Get remastered version instead of this CD - 2 extra tracks.......2004-09-07

This CD must generate mixed emotions in Joan Baez fans. After this album, the singer "went on to mine the richness of contemporary songwriters" according to the liner notes.

If you prefer the acoustical guitar and the traditional ballads as I do, this is Joan's last album that features this kind of music, and she was already crossing over with songs like "Birmingham Sunday (track 9)." Mixed in with contemporary (well, 'sixties) songs, this CD also has two Child Ballads, an eighteenth-century broadside about a race horse, ballads sung by dead men, and a lovely poem by Lord Byron that is set to music.

In other words, traditionalists, here are a few of our favorite songs--the last known to be recorded by Joan Baez:

"Stewball"--According to the Thoroughbred Heritage web site, Skewball (not Stewball) really was a racehorse (possibly a skewbald) by the Godolphin Arabian, out of a Whitefoot mare called Bandy . Samuel Sidney ["The Book of the Horse", 1875] stated that Skewball "...won a great number of plates and prizes in England, and one famous match in Ireland." This match became the subject of a ballad, "Skewball" or "Stewball," which has endured, in varying forms, to the present day. Joan Baez isn't the only folkie to sing about Stewball. Peter, Paul, and Mary, Leadbelly, and the Kingston Trio also recorded versions of this ballad. The 'little gray mare' who raced against Skewball is named 'Molly,' 'Miss Sportsly,' or 'Griselda' in the various eighteenth century broadsides from which this ballad originated. Joan sings this song high and tremulous like a child who loves the silver-bridled Stewball and rejoices when "the gray mare she stumbles and falls to the ground."

"The Death of Queen Jane (Child #170)--a version of this ballad appears as early as 1612 and tells of the death of Jane Seymour, third wife of Henry VIII of England. Joan's clear soprano and droning accompaniment are especially effective for this ballad.

"The Unquiet Grave (Child #78)--When Joan sings this ballad she leaves out the strongest verse: "You crave one kiss of my clay-cold lips;/ But my breath smells earthy strong;/ If you have one kiss of my clay-cold lips,/ Your time will not be long." This song recounts the almost universal belief that excessive grieving for the dead interferes with their repose. The hair on the back of your neck will rise up when the dead man speaks to his grieving lover in Joan's plaintive, eerie lament.

"So We'll Go No More A-Roving"--It was during the famous Carnivale of Venice, when lovers roamed the streets in masks and elaborate costumes, that Byron wrote the poem which furnishes the lyrics to this song. Joan's yearning soprano perfectly conveys the spirit of the poem: Byron, grown fat and pensive, dressed in a lavish dressing gown and gazing out of his window in the Palazzo Mocenigo, thinking of what might have been.

This poem was turned into a sea shanty shortly after Byron penned it, so it has a venerable history of being put to song. A more modern version of the song (I am not making this up) is "So We'll Go No More A-Cruisin."

NOTE: If you buy the remastered version of this CD, you'll get two bonus tracks.

All-Time Favorite JB Work.......2001-12-09

I'm a little young to have followed the career of Joan Baez from its inception (I was born in '62), but I grew to love her music and her message when I attended graduate school in Santa Barbara in the mid-1980s. But I hadn't heard the "5" album until about 3 years ago. At that time, I was watching the Spike Lee film "4 Little Girls," the true story of the bombing of a church in Birmingham, AL, in the early 60s. The story was incredibly well-told. But what made it really special for me was the song "Birmingham Sunday," sung by Joan Baez. Her lovely lyrical voice coupled with the story really had a profound effect on me. I searched and searched until I finally came across this CD. In addition to "Birmingham Sunday," I found that I enjoyed all of the other works as well. I hope you find as much pleasure in Joan Baez "5" as I do.

the way the wind blew.......2001-06-18

I own this treasure on vinyl (bought in -65), cassette and cd (from last year). She truly is the Joyce Carol Oates of the folk singers, being able to project her message in a very emphatic but still complex way. Her version of Phil Och's "There but for fortune" is inspirational and takes you down a road less traveled today. And "I still miss someone" is sad and solemn, and touches you deep inside. All in all: a stunning performance from the days when music meant something. Don't hesitate, if you're into good folk...no, good music, just buy this one and then spend the rest of the summer listening to it.

HISTORICAL AND TOPICAL..........2001-01-02

Ms. Baez continues to dazzle with her voice, a voice like no other, as well as with her song selections, a blend of old, traditional folk songs and contemporary ones, some with historical significance as well as political overtones. Never does she fail to move the listener, who is transported to another realm on the simple strength and beauty of her pure, clear, sweet voice.

Great Blend of Old and New.......2000-02-25

By the time JB/5 came out, Joan had become adept at mixing traditional folk ballads with (then) current topical material, and this album included equal helpings of both. The tragedy of the ancient "Death of Queen Jane" and Richard Farina's "Birmingham Sunday" (about southern church bombing that killed four little girls) show that no one historical era has cornered the market on human suffering, and she updates the classic "Stewball," while at the same time, giving much needed exposure to the late Phil Ochs (who was then blacklisted), by including his "There but for Fortune". A joy from start to finish.

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Music Review

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