Diamonds and Rust, Joan Baez

Continuing the alphabet of albums, D is for Dylan's orbit.

Diamonds and Rust, Joan Baez, 1975, :41

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

An album with several references to Baez's relationship with Bob Dylan, plus some covers. The references to his blue eyes, bluntness ("my poetry was lousy you said"), songwriting, ("thank you for writing the best songs / thank you for righting a few wrongs"), and vagueness in his personal life paint a picture of a man who didn't so much as break her heart as puzzle it. Her weird Dylan imitation in the middle of his own "Simple Twist of Fate," between verses sung in her natural voice, I found off-putting. I like the John Prine cover "Hello In There," about the loneliness of the elderly, but I found 'Children And All That Jazz," a jazzy little number about the wonder of kids, out of place on the album. Favorite tracks: "Diamonds and Rust," "Winds of the Old Days," the Allman Brothers cover "Blue Sky."

Blessed Are…, Joan Baez

Blessed Are…, Joan Baez, 1971, 1:30

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

A double album from the queen of folk music. Baez' rich soprano, while strong and pleasant, isn't my favorite instrument and I'm not really a folkie, so this didn't grab me like it might have.  There's nothing boring about it, it just rarely rises to the level of inspiring.  Favorite tracks: the covers of "Salt of the Earth" and "Let It Be" are both terrific versions.  I also like "The Brand New Tennessee Waltz."