Joan Baez- better than before?

Subject: Joan Baez- better than before?
From: Ebbie
Date: 03 Nov 03 - 10:07 PM

Last night I saw Joan Baez on Mountain Stage. I checked her tour schedule and it appears this particular show in West Virginia was put on in April.

Anyway I was favorably impressed with the mellowness of her voice. On a few notes she went into that thin piercing mode- it's why I never cared much for her voice- but mostly she sang at a comfortable but clear pitch. There were a couple of songs that were very impressive. Steve Earle's 'Christmas in Washington' was one of them. Wow.

I had no idea that she has as busy a schedule as she still does. Is it the rush a performer gets from an audience that keeps them going all over the place?

Subject: RE: Joan Baez- better than before?
From: Sorcha
Date: 03 Nov 03 - 11:55 PM

You got it in one! But, I don't 'go all over the place" but it sure is the Rush of being in front of an audience, preferably a good, responsive one.

Subject: RE: Joan Baez- better than before?
From:
Date: 04 Nov 03 - 04:33 PM

That's very good to hear. I queued all night to hear her in London in the sixties. When is she coming to Uk again? Anyone know? I would like to repeat the experience.

Subject: RE: Joan Baez- better than before?
From: jaze
Date: 04 Nov 03 - 08:54 PM

I've always liked Joan Baez and her music. Friends who've seen her in concert(I never have) swear she puts on a great show. I'm personally partial to her early music- the more traditional songs. Since I learned so many from her lps, it's probably why I like her versions. They were the first versions I heard of many traditional songs. Her voice has certainly mellowed and deepend with the years. But I guess for me I miss that Achingly Pure Soprano. Even with her deeper range and choice of more contemporary songs, she definitely has a unique style and phrasing. I'd like to see her in concert if the chance arises. I've been kind of surprised she's not better liked on Mudcat.

Subject: RE: Joan Baez- better than before?
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 04 Nov 03 - 09:00 PM

I heard her on an NPR interview, pushing(of course) her new CD. I perked up my ears, because I used to love her work, back in the dim, dead days beyond recall. They played a few excerpts of the new CD. Nooooooooo, thanx!

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: Joan Baez- better than before?
From: hobbitwoman
Date: 04 Nov 03 - 09:22 PM

I've been fortunate enough to see Joan in concert twice in the past 7 or 8 years - the last time in 2002, when she was touring with Richard Shindell. Both were great concerts. I actually prefer her voice today, I think - well, there are good things about her "new" voice and there were good things about her "old" voice, too.

I heard a radio broadcast of a concert online recently -I'm sorry I don't have the link. She did a lot of material from her new CD, Dark Chords on a Big Guitar. I have to say, I still like the old songs best.

Go here for her UK tour schedule:

http://www.baez.woz.org/tourschedule.html

Annie (hi, Jaze! :o))

Subject: RE: Joan Baez- better than before?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 04 Nov 03 - 09:50 PM

Joan always puts on a great show, and I like most of her material very well, regardless of what period it's from. She's quite a lady.

- LH

Subject: RE: Joan Baez- better than before?
From: Franz S.
Date: 21 Mar 04 - 07:46 PM

I've only seen her once in concert, at San Francisco City Hall on Christmas Eve 1978, shortly after Jonestown and the Moscone/Milk assassinations. It wasn't a concert exactly, more like a night street rally. We took our daughters, then 4 and 2, and they couldn't possibly have appreciated it (I don't think), but we stood in the street in the dark and sang, and it was very good. Don't know how I'd review it as a performance, but nobody cared then and I doubt that anyone who was there then cares now.

Subject: RE: Joan Baez- better than before?
From: matai
Date: 22 Mar 04 - 08:19 PM

She came to NZ in '73 (my daughter, a babe, babbled loudly all the way through the concert, Joan called out, where is that child and we unashamedly held her up. since then Joan has been like my hero, my mentor, the person whose music I play when I become musically stuck.
Like 'Dark chords...' I played it and the first song (not hers) spoke to me.
'I will take you with my children
From the clover to the creek
When Orions gone a hunting
Through fields our wishes seek
And we all can love each other
Like sugar in our tea
Sleeper come and go with me'

Subject: RE: Joan Baez- better than before?
From: GUEST
Date: 23 Mar 04 - 03:24 PM

Certainly as good as ever...voice different? Anyone out there who's voice isn't different from twentyfive years ago? Material different? Let's hope so. Could you imagine Neil Young doing nothing but his old stuff over the last two decades? One of the pleasures of following artist, - vocal, literary, cinematic, painters, or craftspeople - is appreciating the changes of their works over time. Only alternative I think would be to exist in arrested development in a time capsule.

HG

Subject: RE: Joan Baez- better than before?
From: GUEST,hfg
Date: 03 Apr 04 - 10:30 PM

Saw the Dark Chords concert in Knoxville two weeks ago. Hats off again to JB for putting out such quality music to so many people. Her rendition of Earle's Christmas in Washington is gonna have legs, for sure. The facility of her musicians and the range of their playing is exquisite.

Subject: RE: Joan Baez- better than before?
From: cobber
Date: 04 Apr 04 - 12:23 AM

I wish she'd come back to Australia. Her concert here was the best I've ever seen.

Subject: RE: Joan Baez- better than before?
From: freda underhill
Date: 04 Apr 04 - 12:29 AM

i love here voice & material. i wish i could see her perform in real life - i'd sleep happy.

Subject: RE: Joan Baez- better than before?
From: MAG
Date: 05 Apr 04 - 11:06 PM

Weel. the friends I saw in Chicago over an intense weekend got tix for Friday night at Northwestern U. and it was very wonderful. I have said elsewhere on Mudcat that I like that she has worked on the pronounced break   her voice used to have. It is much more connected, and, yes, she puts on a great concert. Stilll passionate about making the world better and very inspiring. She had a cold and did not let it stop her. (I wish a rather selfish audience didn't insit on 2 encores.) She creates a warm and personal atmosphere. I heard her 20 years ago at People's church, a much bigger (and less classy) place and she did the same. Her band was kind of rocked up but they didn't play the whole time; they disappeared for a good stretch while she accompanied herself on the old stuff. I personally loved the Steve Earle songs she did.