How for art thou, lovers of jams?
Album Title: Noel
Album Artist: Joan Baez
This one's another Radio Wasteland score, guys, and for a mere $3, I figured 'why the hell not?' Joan Baez is a legend, a folk singer who has as much musical street cred as Bob f***ing Dylan, and as such I assumed a Christmas album by a talented folk artist would make a nice addition to my ever-expanding Holiday record collection. And again: $3.This one basically sounded just as I thought it might. Baez's voice sounds exactly as it does on her mainstream songs - that high-pitched tremolo of hers - and the album (for being as old as it is) has some really nice depth to it. The recording on this album is well done: very sparse, to the point where you can almost hear how far back they placed the microphones in the room. I looove that with quieter arrangements on vinyl.
Anyway, the song selection is also pretty much as-could-be-expected. Don't expect Joan Baez to break into folksy versions of 'Frosty the Snowman' or 'Up on the Housetop' on this LP; hell, I'd wager Baez is the sort of person who maintains a level of deep pensiveness on an out-of-control rollercoaster. On fire.
No, the songs on this collection definitely plays to her demeanor:
What did raise an eyebrow, for me, was the style of arrangement for these standards: this music sounds straight out of a Renaissance festival. It almost passes off as the soundtrack to a movie where an ultra-hip folk singer from the '60s Greenwich Village scene stepped into a payphone booth and suddenly - and unexpectedly - traveled back in time to Ye Olde Medieval Europe. And, because it's Joan Baez, she didn't so much as utter a sigh of agitation after the whole ordeal. No, instead, she just continues to sing all folks-ily to the people gathered around her as if nothing at all out of the ordinary had transpired (although she probably adjusts her subject matter slightly as to not give the local peasantry cause to think her a witch, lest she be burned at the stake.)
This album caused a "What the hell are you listening to?" from Kris as she passed through the Study this evening. I mean, Baez's singing is an acquired taste for most, but in addition to that we've got harpsichords, lutes, bells, fiddles, pan flutes, actual harps, and all other instruments straight out of the Middle Ages on this LP. And when coupled with ol' Joan's given song choices ("Cantique de Noel," which is sung in frickin' French, "Ave Maria," sung in German, "Down in Yon Forest," "Good King Wenceslas," etc. etc.), one's led to believe that this whole time-travel-to-the-Medieval-Era yarn of mine might have actually happened. The subject matter and execution of the delivery is too perfectly matched to be a coincidence.
Rest assured, if time travel is ever invented, I'd be tempted to travel back to the 1300s with copies of this LP on hand, 'cause I guarantee they'd sell like frickin' hot cakes.
VERDICT: 6/10 - Decent (Baez is Baez, but the Medieval-ness of this music can take some getting used to. Still, it's interesting enough to keep around throughout the rest of the Season, so I'm going to make an exception of my 7-and-up rule.)
- REMAINS IN CIRCULATION -
