Hello, Demonoia

Overall Album Score: 8.5 out of 10

FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, JOAN BAEZ........... I forgot what I was going to say. It probably had to do with hippies. Why Joan Baez had to fascilitate all this folk-hippie stuff is pretty crazy if you ask me. Some woman stands on a hill, strums an acoustic guitar, and sings an old song that nobody remembers ... and some people actually enjoy it. And, I'm like ... HUH??????

But, ya know, if *nobody* did that, then Bob Dylan probably wouldn't have done that, and ... ohhh, what would this world be without Bob Dylan? ... It would SUCK!

This album would suck if it wasn't for Bob Dylan, too. He gave Joan Baez four songs to sing here, two of which ("It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" and "Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall") are prominently featured on Bob Dylan albums. Two Bob Dylan songs, however, were not recorded (on official releases) by him and they are the title track "Farewell Angelina" and the top-notched (and brief) "Daddy, You Been on My Mind." Baez messes up "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" a little bit, but the other three songs are excellent.

Other highlights of this boring folk album include a version of Pete Seeger's "Where Have All the Flowers Gone" in which Baez made the bizarre decision to sing in German. Woody Guthrie's "Ranger Command" is given a nice treatment here ... highly straightforward, of course, but that's the point. "Satisfied Mind" is a passionate song, but not overly passionate (which Baez can do).

Not only does Baez cover Dylan, she covers Donovan, another one of her contemporaries who wrote some excellent folk songs in England. She sings "Colours" ... it's not a fantastic rendition, but solid.

Baez really makes a mistake with "Pauvre Rutebauf" in which her normally pretty voice is made unbearable. The guitars are too quiet as well. It's not that I mind hearing somewhat a cappella songs, but ... not when she's giving an annoying vocal performance.

All the other songs are fine ... some could've used a little *life* in them, but ... this is Joan Baez! She's a boring folkie! Boring the minds out of everybody is her *job*! But in all seriousness, Baez can sing these folk songs while mostly being tasteful with it. While she rarely ever moves me, I know she's sincere and she doesn't get corny. She's also the devil.

Overall Album Score: 8.5 out of 10 (Joan Baez ... another album full of folk covers ... pretty voice ... she doesn't go beyond the material ... I don't expect her to.)

Average Song Score: 8.6 (The abundance of Bob Dylan songs makes this an unnaturally high score for Baez. Dylan songs RULE.)

Album Tilt: 8.5 (Apart from a few boring bits ... and an annoying track or two ... this is a decently consistant album. The songs basically sound alike, but this is folk. You should know that when you come in!)

Artist Rating: 8.5 (Baez is mightily tasteful ... she only messes up one song on here and makes only a few somewhat minor questionable choices.)

Track Reviews

Farewell Angelina 9/10

SING IT, JOAN!!!!!! SING THE SONG!!!!!!!!! SINISNSISNNNGNGNGNNNGNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't know, but you might already be aware of this: Folk is boring. Boring. Boring. Boring. Boring. Boring. And I haven't been bombarded with hate mail after posting those first Joan Baez albums like I thought it would, so I'm not going to refrain from making fun of folk anymore. ... But why would I make fun of folk here? This song is so not-embarrassing that it is ... um ... respectable, actually. That's probably because this is a BOB DYLAN song. As we might already know, Bob Dylan recognized the value of folk music so well that he went electric the year this album was released. (Way to go, Bobby! Break yourselves from the chain!) He also broke himself from another chain ... he wasn't going out with Joan Baez any longer when this album was released. (Way to go, Bobby, twofold!) But seriously. This is a good song. It's not great, mind you. Baez gives a solid performance, but her light and flighty voice doesn't do a Bob Dylan song full justice. (I think Dylan wrote this one for himself, but ... I really don't know.) That's fine, though. Baez still has a pretty voice. And she's singing a very catchy tune that features some acoustic guitar... Yup, this is folk music. Folk. Folk. Folk. Folk. Folk.

Daddy, You Been on My Mind 10/10

Well, this is an excellent rendition of (ahem) yet another Bob Dylan song. The melody this time is suits Baez's voice perfectly, which suggests to me (without being a researched historian) that Dylan *did* write this song for her. The folky instrumentation is enchanting this time as opposed to being BORING (exaggeration) and the melody is simple yet sweet and catchy. The best thing about this song? It's only two and a half minutes long. Awesome.

It's All Over Now, Baby Blue 8/10

Baez gives a much more passionate performance in this rendition of (ahem, ahem) another Bob Dylan song, but ... I much prefer the simplicity of "Daddy" than this ... which, honestly, I don't think it's much better than Dylan's version, but ... this is fine. Baez seems to try to be moving with her voice (which would fit the lyrical matter), but she seems to be a bit out of her element. Her voice is pretty, but ... she doesn't really have a gift for expressionate singing.

The Wild Mountain Thyme 8/10

Well, this isn't a Bob Dylan song, and it shows! How does it show, do you ask? BECAUSE IT'S BORING, THAT'S WHY!!!!! HAHHAHHAHHAHHAHHAHHAH!!!!!!! Yet, this is a perfectly pleasant song. The melody isn't very catchy at all, but this is an old timey song written by Joan Baez's favorite composer, Hans Traditional, so it's all forgivable and whatnot. People in the olden days were incredibly boring people. Bob Dylan probably would have been hanged in 1810 for being a witch or something singing songs as uncharacteristically excellent as the ones he wrote in the 1960s. Baez's singing and guitaring is nice as usual.

Ranger's Command 9/10

This song was written by a complete loser. (OH, DID I JUST MAKE YOUR LEFT EYE TWITCH????) Actually, this wong was not written by a complete loser. It was just written by Woody Guthrie. And, if you even think about saying anything bad about the holy name of Woody Guthrie, then you risk having hit squads sent on your trail. This is a good melody and Baez performs it solidly. The voice is mixed MUCH more loudly than the guitar, which I think was a mistake, but this still turned out well.

Colours 8.5/10

JOAN BAEZ SPELLED 'COLORS' WRONG!!!! ... Or maybe she's just trying to pretend she's Canadian like all Lefties. ... Or maybe the song was written by Scottish musician Donovan, who I'd actually MUCH rather listen to than Joan Baez. (I still can't believe that I missed Donovan who came to Wichita ... how was I to know he was tagging along with John Cougar Freaking Mellencamp?) Anyway, Baez heeded my advice and let her guitar shine and ... this is nice. Donovan's version is a whole hell of a lot better, though, and Baez doesn't actually add anything to it.

Satisfied Mind 9/10

There's some mandolin here or something. ... I like it when songs aren't just Baez's voice and a stupid old acoustic guitar. What Joan Baez really needed was to team up with Keith Richards so that he could play some wicked electric guitar solos in the background! OHHHHHH, MAN! I'M JUST GETTING GOOSE-PIMPLEY THINKING ABOUT KEITH RICHARDS PLAYING ELECTRIC GUITAR SOLOS TO JOAN BAEZ'S STUPID FOLK COVERS!!!!! But anyway ... back to the boring old folk song ... I might think this is phenomenally boring, I have to but my biases aside and say to you: "Hey, now. This is a very pretty song. Baez has a pretty voice ... she even gains some passion here, and she doesn't blow it."

The River in the Pines 8/10

I have such an anti-folk mentality that I'm using my imagination to picture what a violin would bring to this song. COME ON, JOAN, YOU MUST KNOW WHAT A VIOLIN IS!!!!!!!!! What's wrong with these folkies???????????? She had violins in her last album, so I guess there wasn't some sacred thing that folkies had against using violins! ... Well, I suppose the art was still in its childhood, and she was being boring, because that's all she could be. This is another Hans Traditional song. It's depressing sounding. It's given the usual treatment.

Pauvre Rutebauf 6/10

About boring folk songs. I was basically joking about it all ... until NOW. Something went wrong here. Baez's vocals are annoying and the guitars are so quiet that if you want to hear them properly, you have to turn up the volume ... in which Baez's annoying vocals will totally deafen you. I don't really like this song, anyway. I'm sure it had its purpose when it was written, but ... not here ... not now ...

Sagt Mir Wo Die Blumen Sind 9/10

Even Captain Von Trapp from The Sound of Music had the courtesy to sing his folk songs in English. What's strange is that this Pete Seeger song was ... um ... recorded in English as "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" I suppose that it's possible that the folk-heads have listened to this song so much that Baez wanted to do something starkly different and sing it in German. It's also possible that she just wanted to be pretentious! Or maybe she's trying to bring Seeger's message to Germany, who was recovering from their Nazi era... I'm baffled! What she does do differently here is provide instrumentation ... Pete Seeger, arguably an even bigger dork than Joan Baez, sang this one a cappella. Anyway, I like this song a lot ... I just miss out on the motive.

Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall 10/10

YET ANOTHER BOB DYLAN SONG!!!!!!!!!!!! ... Hey, I like Bob Dylan songs. Joan Baez doesn't do original material (at this point), so she'd might as well rip someone off who's extremely good. Anyway, Baez does a pretty good job interpreting this one. Her voice actually works pretty well here as opposed to her disappointing work with "It's All Over With, Baby Blue." She even makes this thirty seconds longer than the original composition, which ........ yeah, it's clear that you've got to be really patient to be able to sit through a Joan Baez folk song! Anyway, there's no touchin' the original Dylan composition and Baez doesn't screw it up, so ... nice job, babe.

One Too Many Mornings 8/10

This is a bonus track technically (and ... yeah, I've been counting bonus tracks on previous Baez records ... I started doing it unconsciously, but ... these things don't actually *hurt* the album). This is a relatively short (and pretty boring) old song with ... acoustic guitar and singing ... not too exciting. Solidly performed? Yes. There's really not a whole lot to mess up here.

Rock, Salt and Nails 9/10

I kind of like this song ... It's another oldie tune with a simple melody and it's still as boring as folk music normally is. Nevertheless, this is enjoyable to me. Baez does a lot of things right here for once! (...I'm only kidding ... Baez does a lot of right things a lot. She's not corny for a start! Man, if I ever try reviewing Peter, Paul and Mary, I'll probably go mental.)

The Water is Wide 8.5/10

The water ... is wide ........... I guess this old folk song was written by someone who must've been an LSD pioneer. This song is very slow and very pretty. It's just Baez singing this mesmerizingly slow song ... her voice flutters away like it always does ... and it's boring ... naturally.

Everybody goes to Vietnam here.