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: /____\ : >>> Joan Baez: Blessed Are... (Remastered) <<<
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:..:... Supplier : SER 2006 Release Date : 01/23/2006 ...:..:
: : Ripper : SER 2006 Street Date : 11/14/2005 :..:...
...:..: Genre : Folk Source : CD : :
: : Label : Vanguard Masters Tracks : 23 Tracks ...:..:
: : Quality : VBR/APS/44.1kHz Channels : Joint Stereo : :
:..:... Language : English Size : 125 MB :..:...
: : Software : EAC v0.95 Beta 3 Encoder : LAME v3.90.3 : :
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Blessed Are... was arguably Joan Baez's greatest artistic triumph, the
commercial and aesthetic high point of her career and certainly of her
decade at Vanguard Records. It marked the moment when her political
and social concerns meshed most easily and effectively with her
artistic goals and -- totally unexpectedly -- even yielded a pair of
huge hit singles ("The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down," "Let It Be")
that helped propel the original double LP to gold record status. [In
contrast to the 1994-issued CD release of Blessed Are..., which
suffered from flat sound and a fair amount of hiss, the expanded and
remastered edition of the album finally lives up to the memory of
hearing that album for the first time in the fall of 1971. Her
soprano, crystalline in its clarity, floats out on the opening title
track; even on oft-heard tracks such as "The Night They Drove Old
Dixie Down," the playback here is startling in its closeness and
richness; and on the more reflective and serene pieces such as "Lost,
Lonely, and Wretched," the purity of the sound makes for a first
listen that -- warm and rich as it is -- is almost chilling in its
purity and beauty. The remastering has also brought out nuances in the
playing -- by many of Nashville's finest musicians -- that was only
suggested in prior releases of this album. It's now possible to
appreciate just how well the stars all lined up for this body of
music. Not only had every thread of her career and life in music,
every motivating force behind her work, and the direction it had taken
over the previous decade or more, even her own songwriting -- which
yielded an astonishing nine originals here, every one a winner, even
in the company of classics by Kris Kristofferson, Mick Jagger/Keith
Richards, and John Lennon/Paul McCartney -- reached a level of mature
expression at this moment, but her record label, which was losing her
after this album, was willing to commit the resources to capture every
song that she was prepared to cut, which amounted to more than even a
double LP could hold (there was an accompanying 45 rpm single in the
original package). The result was almost as monumental an achievement
for Baez as Tapestry was for Carole King or Bridge Over Troubled Water
was for Simon & Garfunkel, and on a far larger canvas; and now it
finally sounds it on CD. In addition to superb annotation by Arthur
Levy, which explains how circumstances combined to bless this album,
the original release's 22 songs have been augmented with a previously
unissued live version of the soul classic "Warm and Tender Love," by
Baez in a duet with Jeffrey Shurtleff from Woodstock -- in almost any
other context, that track alone, with her soaring soprano on display
at its best, would be worth the price of admission; here it's just
another jewel in a large collection, but no less valuable for it.
http://www.joanbaez.com/
Tracks:
CD #1 -
01-Blessed Are... (3:06)
02-The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down (3:26)
03-The Salt Of The Earth (3:25)
04-Three Horses (7:07)
05-The Brand New Tennesse Waltz (3:11)
06-Last, Lonely , And Wretched (3:46)
07-Lincoln Freed Me Today (3:25)
08-Outside Nashville City Limits (3:25)
09-San Francisco Mabel Joy (4:27)
10-When Time Is Stolen (3:02)
11-Heaven Help Us All (3:36)
12-Angeline (3:40)
13-Help Me Make It Through The Night (3:02)
14-Let It Be (3:51)
15-Put Your Hand In The Hand (3:24)
16-Gabriel And Me (3:31)
17-Milanese Waltz (5:59)
18-The Hitchhikers' Song (4:23)
19-The 33rd Of August (3:46)
20-Fifteen Months (4:29)
CD #2 - Bonus Disc
01-Maria Dolores (3:29)
02-Plane Wreck At Los Gatos (Deportee) (5:19)
03-Warm And Tender Love (4:06)
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