Dark Chords on a Big Guitar: Joan Baez: Amazon.ca: Music

1. Sleeper

2. In My Time of Need

3. Rosemary Moore

4. Caleb Meyer

5. Motherland

6. Wings

7. Rexroth's Daughter

8. Elvis Presley Blues

9. King's Highway

10. Christmas in Washington

Product Description

From Amazon.com

Though she was earliest known as a folk traditionalist, Joan Baez has long been recognized for her good taste in contemporary songcraft. Four decades after introducing the young Bob Dylan to a wider listenership, she here finds kindred spirits in a range of artists from Greg Brown ("Sleeper," "Rexrith's Daughter") to Gillian Welch and David Rawlings ("Caleb Meyer," "Elvis Presley Blues") to Natalie Merchant (whose "Motherland" could have been written made to order for Baez) to young Josh Ritter ("Wings"). Her empathic version of the standout "In My Time of Need" by Ryan Adams shows that whatever she's lost in the upper register of her soprano, she's gained in the interpretive depth of her lower register. She also covers the comparatively quirky "Rosemary Moore" by Adams' former Whiskeytown bandmate, Caitlin Cary. Though the closing "Christmas in Washington" finds her pristine vocal smoothing the emotional rough edges from Steve Earle's original, most of the rest finds her not only selecting inspired material, but doing justice to it. --Don McLeese

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Customer Reviews

29 Reviews

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

Average Customer Review

3.9 out of 5 stars (29 customer reviews)

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3.0 out of 5 stars A little over-rated but still ok, April 16 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Dark Chords on a Big Guitar (Audio CD)

I love Joan Baez's music and consider her to be the most prolific female/singer-songwritter in the past 100 years. Her voice, her delivery, her emotions and her music is quite addicting. She's a living legend. She has soul and integrity. No question about it! Having said that, I like this album but I'm biased towards her 1960 thru 1979 material. Since the 80's, her studio albums have leaned towards the more produced sound (when I prefer her with the accoustic guitar and her voice).

A testimonial to her being 62 and able to put out a good album like this. Although the album is good, it lacks the spirit and beauty of her 1960's/1970's material. Her voice is still powerful and has aged like fine wine. The fact that this album is quite different from her "classics" tells me that she has been able to successfully adapt to the times. Although not as good as her classics, I'll take this album any day to the so-called top-40 selections that you see in a music store.

Joan still has it!!! I'm "secretly" hoping that she'll put out another studio album in the same vein as her "Blessed Are" album with songs like "Three Horses" and "Blessed Are". Those types of songs are lacking on "Dark Chords" (could be perhaps due to her not writting any of the songs on Dark Chords).

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1.0 out of 5 stars No Behind Blue Eyes--Of Course! Why didn't I think of that?, Mar 14 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Dark Chords on a Big Guitar (Audio CD)

Monkeytot--another right-on review! Thank you for your remarkable insight and spot-on observations. Joan should definitely start covering covers. You are my Amazon Review God.

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5.0 out of 5 stars What a great album., Jan 27 2004

By

C. Bagwell "osopup" (colorado) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Dark Chords on a Big Guitar (Audio CD)

Don't let the bad reviews about the sound quality put you off. I think those reviewers downloaded their copies from a certain legal download company. I did too and the first time I tried to make a cd of it it sounded horrible just as described. I went back and downloaded it again and I think it sounds great. This is one of Joan's best albums. Really it's unusual for an artist to peak when they are in their 60's but that's just what Joan Baez has done with this one. I guess it's time to replace all the old lps with cds, since all my records are worn out. I sure hope that Joan Baez continues to record more music. This album is fantastic.

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Voice, Great Songs, Poor Recording
I absolutely LOVE Joan Baez's new recording. She once again prove's to be a keen selector of song's. Read more

Published on Jan 17 2004 by Johnny Jemimah

1.0 out of 5 stars Horrible recording!
I've been a Joan Baez fan all my 42 years life, and these songs are certainely beautiful... if only they could be heard in the midst of the atrocious soundtrack! Read more

Published on Jan 3 2004 by Frederic