Diamonds and Rarities
3 Out of 5 Stars
This CD serves as the soundtrack to the PBS special (and now on DVD) How Sweet The Sound, a biography of Joan Baez. Musically, it's an interesting batch of rarities and live cuts with a trio of choice studio selections. The rarities will delight fans; a pair of rare live songs from 1958 from Club 47 in Massachusetts. While the quality is not the highest, they showcase a young and pure voice already skilled at interpreting traditional folks songs ("I Will Never Marry" and "Barbra Allen"). Live songs later in the album find Joan in the 2000's interpreting modern folk classics writers like Steve Earle. She also shows here ability to reach the heart of other persons' songs, like Robbie Robertson's "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" (studio version) and Bob Dylan's "With God on Our Side" (live version). Her own writing has also yielded classics, with the obvious - "Diamonds and Rust," speaking of Dylan - here in a 2008 concert version. "How Sweet The Sound" contains this 15 song mixture, which makes it very nice for folkies or fans of Joan Baez, but not essential.
Also recommended:
Day After Tomorrow
Joan Baez' Greatest Hits
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