Joan Baez

Joan Baez in Concert, Pt. 1, Baezs third widely distributed album, marked the apex of her success and influence as a traditional folksinger, her repertoire still almost wholly comprised of traditional folk songs delivered with only her own guitar as accompaniment. Actually recorded at various concerts, the album was phenomenal success, reaching the Top Ten and staying in the Top 40 for more than a year. Many folk albums of the era, not just Baez's, had a consciously eclectic span of traditional material from numerous sources, but Baez was more skilled than anyone in getting such a diverse mix to such a wide audience. And many musicians undoubtedly learned these songs from the Baez interpretations on this album, foremost among them "Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You," done not just by other folkys, but eventually by Led Zeppelin. "House Carpenter," "Black Is the Color of My True Love's Hair," "Kumbaya," "Matty Groves," and "Geordie" were also staples of many a folk set, and were rendered by Baez with stark, somber dignity. Amongst the child ballads and such were somewhat less expected choices: the Brazilian love song "Ate Amanha," Woody Guthrie's "Pretty Boy Floyd," and the first recording of Malvina Reynolds' classic nuclear danger warning "What Have They Done to the Rain" (later a pop hit for the Searchers). The Reynolds cover might have been the real milepost on the album, as over her next few albums Baez would slide her focus from traditional folk to songs by contemporary writers. The 2002 CD reissue is an excellent package with extensive new liner notes, adding a previously unreleased song from a 1961 concert ("My Lord What a Morning") and two songs from the same era from Very Early Joan Baez ("Streets of Laredo" and "My Good Old Man") that were previously unavailable on CD. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide