Dawn of another day (Brian Auger's Oblivion Express) (LP 4113 - 4117)

Brian Auger's Oblivion Express  A Better Land (Vinyl, RCA Records, 1971) ****  

Joan Baez  Speaking of Dreams (CD, Gold Castle Records, 1989) *** 

Donovan  Sutras (CD, American Recordings, 1996) *** 

Jan Hammer Group  Oh Yeah? (Vinyl, Nemperor Records, 1976) **** 

Aldous Harding  Warm Chris (Vinyl, Flying Nun Records, 2022) **** 

Genre: Jazz fusion, folk rock, Nemperor Records

Places I remember: Real Groovy Records (all except Joan Baez - charity shop, Aldous Harding - JB Hi Fi)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Magical Dog (Oh Yeah?)

Gear costume: Tick Tock (Warm Chris)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6

Active compensatory factors: Recent acquisition catch up: A Better Land by Brian Auger's Oblivion Express is dominated in a good way by guitarist Jim Mullen. He composes or co-composes most of the songs and his fluid guitar lines create a beautiful sound. I can't think of a bad record associated with Brian Auger - the man is all class!!

So too is Joan Baez. I was delighted to find a copy of Speaking of Dreams at a charity shop for $2. It's on Virgin Vault - their budget line, but there's nothing budget about the music from Joan. She writes a few songs (they are always special - I wish she'd write more) and there are some heavy guests appearing on the album - Paul Simon, Jackson Brown and The Gypsy Kings. 

It's not as good as Gone From Danger but that's a really high bar. She still successfully manages to combine her love of traditional music, a concern for topical political issues and an international flavour.  

I've been after a copy of Donovan's Sutras for ages. I used to own a copy but stupidly sold it off many years ago before I really got into a new appreciation for his art. So I'm thrilled to get a new CD copy from Real Groovy.

Beyond that thrill - it's a long way from being my favourite Donovan album. Producer Rick Rubin brings his austerity/ stripped back aesthetic to play and normally that would suit Donovan but this leans more towards a clinical exercise that removes some of his warmth and humour from the delivery of songs (which are uneven on Sutras).  It's good, but it could have been great!

Same deal with Jan Hammer in terms of being a long-term member of my wants list. It's on Nemperor Records and I collect that label. Sadly, the label on the record is Atlantic but it's still a Nemperor catalogue item - NE 437. Only one more Jan Hammer album on Nemperor to collect - Melodies. Oh - and the music? Good jazz fusion with a funkiness that is appealing.

Final album - Aldous Harding's latest - Warm Chris, was in the sale bins at JB Hi Fi, so a no-brainer. She has a variety of voices and swaps them around to suit the material quite magnificently. I've now heard two of her four albums and I'm intrigued enough to search out the other two.

Where do they all belong? All for now - I did buy an album by The Youngbloods with those above so we'll get to that one eventually.

Hello in there (Joan Baez) (LP 2799 - 2800)

Joan Baez  Diamonds and Rust (CD, A&M Records, 1975) ****  

Dr Tree Dr Tree (Vinyl, EMI Records, 1976 this copy was reissued in 2024) ****  

Genre: Folk rock; jazz fusion/ NZ music

Places I remember: Real Groovy Records

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Eugeno D (Dr Tree)

Gear costume: Hello In There (Joan)

Active compensatory factors: Two classic albums which I have recently purchased thanks to a gift voucher from my previous employer. The Dr Tree album cost $103, so the voucher came in very handy!

As readers of my other blogs know, I am a Joan Baez fan, currently reading her 1987 autobiography and still catching up with her vast back catalogue. I am cherry picking though, as I'm not a completist.

Diamonds and Rust came out amidst the Rolling Thunder Revue tour with Dylan and it's a beauty. Not a five-star classic, but near as dammit.

Her own songs hold their own, but the best songs are covers of Dylan (Simple Twist of Fate), Jackson Browne (Fountain of Sorrow), John Prine (Hello In There) and Dicky Betts (Blue Sky).

Dr Tree was a legendary NZ fusion band put together by drummer Frank Gibson Jnr. No disrespect meant to the other musicians, but it stars him, Kim Patterson (trumpet), Murray McNabb (electric piano), and Martin Winch (guitar).

I've heard stories about the album over the years but never been able to find a copy. Luckily, it's been reissued this year in double record format (the original plus a record of outtakes) and made in the EU - hence the expensive price tag.

It's definitely worth it though as this album is relentlessly brilliant. Although, there is maybe a bit too much trumpet; Jimmy Sloggett adds some brilliant tenor sax to an outtake and I'd have loved to hear more from him, but that would be tampering with history. Still, it's great to hear now on the expanded edition.

Where do they all belong? Definitely not the last Joan Baez album I'll be buying.

Edge of glory (Joan Baez) (LP 2246)

Joan Baez  Play Me Backwards (Vinyl, Virgin Records, 1992) ***  

Genre: Folk rock 

Places I remember: Electric City Music (Napier)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Stones In The Road (a live version, as this album isn't on Spotify)

Gear costume: Strange Rivers (an earlier live version)

Active compensatory factors: This is a reissued version of the album, complete with a second record of demos. I'll start there because it's as good, if not better than the actual album because it's just pure Joan with acoustic guitar. It's recorded brilliantly and really acts as its own distinct thing.

The liner notes call this a gateway album to Joan's third act - which leads to Gone From Danger and others. I think that's right - there are hints of an Americana approach here, while a few tracks hark back to her Nashville albums of the late sixties/early seventies or even further back to the folkie days.

Her voice is making that transition. Strange Rivers is a good example of that. 

Although my two featured songs are covers, the other aspect of note here is how many tracks are her co-writes. They sound good, and are not weak in any way compared to the other songwriters featured like Janis Ian or Mary Chapin Carpenter.

Where do they all belong? I dare say I haven't finished collecting Joan Baez albums. She's got her hooks in me.

Colours (Donovan) (LP 2082 - 2083)

Joan Baez  In Concert Part 2 (Vinyl, Vanguard Records, 1963) **  

Joan Baez  Farewell Angelina (Vinyl, HMV/Vanguard Records, 1965) ****  

Genre: Folk 

Places I remember: Second hand shop in Turakina

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: It's All Over Now, Baby Blue (Farewell Angelina)

Gear costume: Farewell Angelina 

Active compensatory factors: Her growth in confidence from 1963 to 1965 was astounding.

In Concert Part 2 joins with my already owned/reviewed Part 1 to make a complete pair (I hate owning incomplete sets of things). I've downgraded a star compared to Part 1 because it is way too polite and therefore it sounds quaint and dated, plus my copy, although it plays well generally, has a few jumps (it's 60 years old so that's okay).

The best parts are the sleeve notes by Bob Dylan and her version of Don't Think Twice, It's Alright. It's worth restating that these early recordings are not my favourite Joan period.

Farewell Angelina is much better. It's still a transition record as she is slowly heading towards Joan as her own person, rather than an interpreter of others' songs. Having said that, the album does have some strong song selections - Dylan gets four, Donovan one, Woody one.

Where do they all belong? I seem to add to my Joan collection fairly regularly so I'm sure there will be more to come.

Kumbaya (Joan Baez) (LP 1079)

Joan Baez  In Concert (Vinyl, HMV Records, 1962) ***

Genre: Folk 

Places I remember: Spellbound Wax Company (Gisborne)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Pretty Boy Floyd

Gear costume: House Carpenter

Active compensatory factors: This is an original NZ pressing from 1962, i.e. without the Part 1 title. It's also in mint condition - I take from this that folkies take good care of their records!

Given it's 1962, it's all very fresh and innocent. Kumbaya features a singalong and loads of music teachers were obviously listening as this became a go to at Royal Oak Primary School when I was there (1962 to 1968).

Joan's career was just getting off the ground and her voice is much more pure and fragile at this point. The audience sit quietly appreciating each song but also get her humour when it surfaces.

This isn't my favourite period of Joan, but I love holding an artifact like this from 1962 in my hand.

Where do they all belong? I continue to pick up her albums when I come across them. 

Who do you think I am (Joan Baez) (LP 1042)

Joan Baez  Gone From Danger (CD, Guardian Records, 1997) ****  

Genre: Folk, Americana 

Places I remember: Amoeba Music (LA)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Reunion Hill

Gear costume: Mercy Bound

Active compensatory factors: I used this album recently as my album of the week selection for the WTW Music Club. I aim to only use 4 or 5 star rated albums for my selections and I was pretty confident my mates would like it a lot. Which they did.

You don't have to love Joan, as I do, to appreciate the joys of Gone From Danger. Joan sings superbly of course, but these songs and the instrumentation fits snuggly in the Americana genre, hence broadening her appeal.

I love my CD copy, which I found recently on our trip to California at Christmas time, but it's also worth exploring this Spotify link for the expanded version as it includes some incredible live material showcasing this album and more. 

Where do they all belong? Always on the lookout for more albums from Joan. That's it for now though.

Sweeter for me (Joan Baez) (LP 989)

Joan Baez Gulf Winds (Vinyl, A&M Records, 1976) ** 

Genre: Folk 

Places I remember: Record fair in Waipukarau

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Gulf Winds

Gear costume: Time Is Passing Us By

Active compensatory factors: An interesting album in that all the songs are written by Joanie, and those songs were written during Dylan's Rolling Thunder tour - a time of great creativity for both of them.

Being Joan, it's nicely introspective, with a sly glance at Bob (O Brother is a nice nod and deliberate reference to Dylan's O Sister), and autobiographical at times - the title track is a good example.

The music is pretty standard fare, except for Gulf Winds which has Joan return to a guitar/vocal combo to telling effect. The simple arrangement of Time Is Passing Us By and Stephanie's Room are more to my taste than the mid seventies band arrangements.

So, all up, I'm afraid it's a bit meh: interesting with some peaks, but not as memorable as some of her other seventies albums.

Where do they all belong? I've had a surge of appreciation for Joan and I'm still collecting her albums - I'm particularly keen to find a copy of Gone From Danger.

The salt of the earth (Jagger/Richards) (LP 845 -846)

Joan Baez   David's Album (Vinyl, Vanguard Records, 1969) ***  

Joan Baez   Blessed Are... (Vinyl, Vanguard Records, 1971) ***

Genre: Folk

Places I remember: Real Groovy Records

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Let It Be (Blessed Are...)

Gear costume: The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down (Blessed Are...)

Active compensatory factors: These two albums represent the start and the end of her country phase on Vanguard - and Blessed Are... was her final album for the label.

They don't have the genius touch that One Day At A Time has but they are full of great songs and Joan's powerful in-the-pocket vocals.

Blessed Are...is a double with a lot of Joan's own excellent songs - she's definitely underrated as a composer. Probably because she is so gifted as an interpreter of others' songs.

Here she takes Let It Be,  The Beatles gospely edged song that Aretha does so well, and makes it a folk song! Stunning!!

Where do they all belong? I've only bought these recently in the Joan Baez rediscovery phase. She is a marvel!

I live one day at a time (Willie Nelson) (LP 814)

Joan Baez   One Day At A Time  (Vinyl, Vanguard Records, 1969) *****  

Genre: Folk 

Places I remember: Real Groovy Records

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Sweet Sir Galahad

Gear costume: No Expectations, A Song For David

Active compensatory factors: Recently I picked up her First Ten Years compilation from Spellbound Wax Company in Gisborne and my ears pricked up when I got to a couple of tracks in a more country mode.

I knew Sweet Sir Galahad from her Woodstock performance - it's a real highlight of the Volume 2 set, and I really enjoyed the studio recording on the compilation. Her version of The Rolling Stones' No Expectations was also stunning so I needed to track down a copy of the album those songs came from - One Day At A Time.

Real Groovy came to my rescue with a beautiful American copy in excellent condition, and cheap! Joan is not a marquee player these days I guess; lucky for me.

She recorded the album in Nashville, so the band on the album features many amazing players like Pete Drake, Ken Buttrey, Charlie McCoy, Jerry Reed, Norbert Puttnam, David Briggs, and Grady Tate. Cream of the sessioner crop names that are familiar to readers of album credits.

It all works. Joan sounds amazing naturally and the sympathetic arrangements with judicious use of steel guitar, and fiddle are perfect for her. She even sounds great when she goes full bore country on songs like Carry It On.

The two Baez written songs - Sweet Sir Galahad and Song For David are stand outs showing clearly that she is a quality songwriter as well as a gifted musician and singer.

What a talent!

Where do they all belong? I've added it to Joan's folk albums but it could easily cross over into folk rock or country rock.

There but for fortune (Joan Baez) (LP 406)

Joan Baez Joan Baez/5 (Vinyl, Vanguard, 1964) ***

Genre: Folk

Places I remember: Chaldon Books and Records (Caterham on the hill)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: There But For Fortune




Gear costume:  It Ain't me, Babe, I Still Miss Someone 

Active compensatory factors: When Joan is on form - There But For Fortune, there is no one to touch her. This record is worth whatever I paid for it (actually I know it was seven pound 50p) just for that one song.

Within that one interpretation, there's sincerity, clear vision, pathos, expressiveness without sentimentality.

Langston Hughes in his liner notes to this album says: when something is arty, it is held in the hand and looked at with conceit. But when something is art, it is the hand.

I think he'd just heard There But For Fortune when he composed that pithy remark.

The rest of the album has huge variety, with Joan taking on Dylan and Johnny Cash (successfully) and some old English ballads and a Brasileiras (less successfully to my ears). 

In the middle ground are songs like Stewball (daft song about a horse that The Hollies also had a go at) and Richard Farina's Birmingham Sunday.


Where do they all belong? In the end, it's There But For Fortune that wins the day.

Just take what you need and leave the rest (Joan Baez)

Joan Baez The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down/ When Time Is Stolen  (Vanguard, VRS 35138 1971)

A Joan Baez hit! Well, yes, although hard to believe, Joan made the top five in the pop charts with this copy of The Band's song about Old Dixie. It peaked at number three I think. You couldn't invent this stuff.

It's the only Joan Baez record I own if you discount her performances with Bob Dylan (The Rolling Thunder Revue) and at Woodstock, and I'm not quite sure how it has escaped the various purges of singles I've had over the years. It's not like I love it to bits or it has sentimental value. I bought it in 1971 and it's never been played much but there it is - still in the singles racks.

It's a catchy song and a great sing along. Well done to J. Robbie Robertson who wrote it. Their version is vastly superior to Joan's but she had the hit with it. Weird ole world innit.

Hidden Gem: Um...no. The B side is a Baez original and done in her trilly folky voice which doesn't move me really. I DO love her Woodstock performance - maybe not Joe Hill so much but Sweet Sir Galahad is a genuine work of art.

Here's to the dawn of their days (Joan Baez)

I have spent a large portion of today trawling through my 6 CD box set of Woodstock (40th Anniversary version). It's a glorious way to spend the day (Fridays in the Middle East being a particular slow day and Ramadan means no cafes until 8pm) .

I managed to get the set from Fives in Leigh-on-Sea for a great price. I'd seen it at The Virgin Mega-store in the Mall of the Emirates (Dubai) for 700 dirhams (about $240NZ or 120 pounds) but that seemed a lot so I thought I'd wait and see if I could get it in the UK. It's not like it wouldn't be there when I returned from holiday at 700 dirhams right?

So - we went to London and then Paris and no one had it. Not Virgin, or HMV or FOPP. They all told me it would be tough to find as it came out in 2009. If I could find one, it was listed at 75 pounds - a lot cheaper than in Dubai, so I kept looking.

Until we went to Leigh-on-Sea for a day trip. Of course Fives had one. I gave a run down of my search in vain to the lady who owns and runs Fives and she said, "You mean like that one up there?", pointing to the collection of box sets on the wall!

My heart was beating fast as I asked her how much?

"52 pounds", she replied!

And it's fantastic. Tons of tracks not on any other version and some old favourites like Sweet Sir Galahad that appeared on the Woodstock 2 double album.

I love this song (a rare Joan Baez original) and I always think that line "but oh, was I born too late?" relates to me somehow, with my fascination for an event that took place when I was 11 in Nu Zild, a country so different to 1969 America that we might as well have lived on a different planet in a different solar system!

Joan Baez is an acquired taste and her warble can irrate me at times but her singing on this song is divine.

Go to you tube via the link for a Woodstock treat.
http://youtu.be/S4y2equAIdI

or else play this one from the Smother Brothers TV show: