Blowin' Away

Artist: Joan Baez
Label: Sony Special Product
Category: Music

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Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 079893396927
EAN: 0079893396927
ASIN: B00000FDMG

Release Date: 2000-01-01

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Tracks:

Sailing
Many A Mile To Freedom
Miracles
Yellow Coat
Time Rag
A Heartfelt Line Or Two
I'm Blowin' Away
Luba The Baroness
Alter Boy And The Thief
Cry Me A River

Similar Items:

Diamonds & Rust
Honest Lullaby
Play Me Backwards
Gone from Danger
David's Album

Customer Reviews:

Solid collection.......2005-09-29

I agree that this is not the best starting point for a new Joan Baez fan - it isn't characteristic of her overall sound. But at its best, it's wonderful. The Altar Boy and the Thief, Luba the Baroness, and A Heartfelt Line or Two are heart-rending and beautiful songs, and her voice is in great shape (I've always felt that her voice was at its strongest in the seventies and eighties - for me it was too shrill in the sixties).

Diamonds Pt 2.......2004-06-24

After writing all the songs on Gulf Winds, Joan switched labels and continued in the direction of Diamonds & Rust which was a mixture of her own compositions and a more commercial pop-rock sound via cover versions of contemporary material.

To me, the gist of the album still lies in her own songwriting though. The 70's has seen Joan blossom into a brilliant songwriter, and this album, despite its eclecticism, highlights the simple beauty of a singer-songwriter who's got a soul to bare and the honest, courageous voice to back it up.

Miracles is a mellow jazzy piece that was explained to be a Stevie Wonder tribute in the album's original liner notes. It is similar to Children & All That Jazz and Dida except there is a "real song" in it. Time Rag and A Heartfelt Line Or Two both reveal the singer's perspective on her career but from vastly different angles and settings.

The real peak of the album comes in Side 2, with Luba The Baroness, one of Joan's best story songs about a fallen Aristocrat French family and her own intertwining relationship with each member. It is followed by Alter Boy & The Thief, Joan's sympathetic portrayal of the gay community, a nod to her considerable gay fanbase: "To me they will always remain - unshamed, untamed and unblamed..." In the 70's this was very touching stuff.

The cover versions are mostly fine...Sailing is the best known song on the album, but it suits Joan like a glove. Others by Steve Goodman and Stevie Winwood were all given a typically earnest reading by Joan, although the title track by Eric Kaz had been better done by both Bonnie Raitt and Craig Fuller from Kaz's own band American Flyer. Cry Me A River offers a suitably torchy ending after Alter Boy's gay tribute.

Everything about this album OTHER than the actual music tends to shortchange it, from the frivolous cover shot of Joan to its subsequent reputation as a slight, lesser album in her catalog. The truth is it's still a damn good album and there is no reason why you shouldn't enjoy it if you enjoy the more modern and commercial sound of Diamonds & Rust.

The CD release doesn't do it justice either. The original album was very well produced. The lack of good remastering makes it sound much harsher, and no information (incl. songwriter's credits) are preserved from the original packaging. Adding to it, they inexplicably surround the original artwork with an ugly blue border. Does a budget release have to sound and look like one?

I for one don't mind paying double the price if it's reissued properly like Joan's early Vanguard albums.

No, you are not the only person who likes this album.......2001-01-15

The other reviews of this album make good points; it is not what I would recommend to someone wanting to buy their first Baez album. You have to know her work a bit to appreciate how different this album is compared to her albums prior to the release of "Blowin' Away". You would also have to know that she had just changed labels to "Portrait", a subsidiary of CBS Records. There is a small enclosure that came with the vinyl album when it was released in 1977 showing some recording "execs" trying to explain to Ms. Baez what they are hoping this album will be like; she sums up their blather with the comment "More commerical?" It may not be a milestone, but it is definitely unique, almost an oddity in Ms. Baez' work. And quite listenable.

"Time Rag" shows her spirit and probably represents what this album is, perhaps, about; "Rippin' along toward middle age/and my music career kinda missed a page". How well I believe most of Ms. Baez', um, "mature" fans can relate to that these days! And I've heard other versions of "Cry Me A River", but this is the one I think of more often than not - has more of a "bite" and bitterness to it than some of the more maudlin versions. "Yellow Coat" is similar to "Diamonds & Rust" in theme; people drift apart and are left with... ? However, when I bought the vinyl album in 1977 - yes I am quite ancient - I was most taken with "Altar Boy and The Thief". You would have to be quite young and just coming to terms with being gay to understand what such a song meant. That someone of Ms. Baez's stature and talent would have even bothered to write such a song, let alone put it on an album, in 1977, with a new recording company? Amazing.

As other reviews have pointed out, there are some excellent songs on this album, some may not be Baez at her peak, but overall it is an album I have listened to often since 1977 and that I still enjoy listening to - that makes it 5 stars for me!

Not for the unitiated.......2000-07-02

I have been a fan of Ms. Baez for nearly as long as she has been performing and recording. (I once drove 430 miles to see her in concert.) I had a very good collection of vinyl and 8-track at one time, but time has take care of them. Now I'm rebuilding and this is a good album, but I cannot in good conscience recommend it to those who do not know her work. There are many other albums which would be preferable to the novice. I found three of the cuts exceptional and all likeable (there is very little she has ever done which is not likeable). Sailing, Luba the Baroness, and Blowin' Away (title song) are the three exceptionals in that order. Cry Me a River is not her genre. She does it very well, but it's a definite "who cares?" I could certainly have done without it. Buy it if you are well prepared and knowledgeable, otherwise find another.

Makes for a most enjoyable listen.......2000-06-05

As others have noted, BLOWIN' AWAY is hardly a milestone recording. What it is, is a gentle collection of songs, some self-penned, that allow us the pleasure of once more listening to Baez's inimitable voice. Among the noteworthy cuts are "Time Rag", a barb in rap about yellow journalism and "The Alter Boy and the Thief," a sweet portrait of a gay bar.

This is ideal listening for a rainy day.

Music CD:

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Music CD

Music CD

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