<\/p>\n
Whatever your opinions about Joan Baez\u2019s political views and social activism, there is little doubt that she has been one of the important figures in American folk music for the last 50 years and the possessor of one of music\u2019s all-time purest voices.<\/p>\n
Her coming out party was the 1959 and 1960 Newport Folk Festivals, the first as Bob Gibson\u2019s unscheduled guest and the second as a solo performer. Just after her second appearance, she traveled to New York City to record her first solo album. She spent four days creating the album in the ballroom of the Manhattan Towers Hotel, where many Vanguard label artists recorded due to the room\u2019s live-feel acoustics. Released in October of 1960, it enjoyed little commercial success until two years later when she had become a star. It went on to have a 140-week run on the Billboard Magazine<\/i> Pop Album Chart.<\/p>\n
Her self-titled debut was a typical folk album of the day. It consisted of 13 traditional folk songs, including \u201cSilver Dagger,\u201d \u201cHouse Of The Rising Sun,\u201d \u201cDonna Donna,\u201d \u201cWildwood Flower,\u201d \u201cRake and Rambling Boy,\u201d and \u201cAll My Trials.\u201d The focus lay squarely on her voice as Baez provided the only instrumental accompaniment with her acoustic guitar, save for some added acoustic playing by Fred Hellerman of The Weavers on several tracks.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s nice to have this historic album back in circulation. It has been reissued a number of times and they all suffer from a little distortion on the high notes and this release is no exception. Since this is an ongoing problem, the issue is probably located in the source tape, which may well be the one used to create the original vinyl LP.<\/p>\n
Ten bonus tracks included on this newest edition are essential for any Joan Baez fan or collector of American folk music, as they include performances that predate the release of her official debut. In 1959, Boston booking agent and concert promoter Manny Greenhill issued Folksingers \u2018Round Harvard Square<\/i> in a limited quantity on the small Veritas label. The album showcased the growing folk scene in the Boston area. It featured six solo performances by Baez, four each by local folksingers Bill Wood and Ted Alevizos, plus four duets between Baez and the two men. All ten of the Baez tracks are included here.<\/p>\n
As far as I know, this particular collection of recordings has never been officially issued on CD. It was briefly reissued during the 1960\u2019s, but through legal action Baez forced the set to be withdrawn and has never since consented to its release. This is a U.K. release where music falls into the public domain 50 years after its original recording, which has resulted in these performances once again seeing the light of day.<\/p>\n
The sound of these ten tracks is fine considering they were recorded in a tenement basement over a half century ago. The type of material is similar to her official debut but, interestingly, there are no duplicates. \u201cBanks Of The Ohio,\u201d \u201cO What A Beautiful City,\u201d \u201cSail Away Ladies,\u201d \u201cBlack Is The Colour,\u201d \u201cLowlands,\u201d and \u201cVirgin Mary (What You Gonna Call Your Pretty Little Baby)\u201d were likely all part of her live act at this early stage of her career.<\/p>\n
Bill Wood was a local folk singer and a Harvard undergraduate, while Ted Alevizos was a member of the Harvard faculty. Both have long since disappeared from the music scene, but they could sing, and here they leave their mark in these studio performances with the then-18-year-old Baez.<\/p>\n
The Debut Album Plus<\/i> is an essential early \u201960s release. The music may underscore a simpler time but it remains historically significant, particularly in light of the turbulent era in which the U.S. would soon be immersed.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":30726,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[8445],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-42400","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-joan-baez","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42400"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42400\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=42400"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=42400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}