American folk music legend Joan Baez’s interpretive skills are undervalued. Many know her through her one-time partner, Bob Dylan, and, to a lesser extent, from her remarkable, vibrato-heavy soprano and decades of political activism. However, some of her best-known covers, especially her 1971 hit version of the Band‘s “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down“, can feel woefully inappropriate, with or without botched lyrics.
Still, a new reissue of her 1965 album, Farewell, Angelina, shows Baez in generally stronger form singing work by Dylan, Donovan, Pete Seeger, and Woody Guthrie, bolstered by Kevin Gray’s new all-analog mastering, cut directly from the original tapes. Pressed on heavyweight (180 gram) vinyl in a faithfully replicated jacket, the LP sounds warmly inviting and enveloping, providing a welcome alternative to listening on CD or streaming.
Amid the booming folk revival of the 1950s and 1960s, 18-year-old Baez and her dulcet voice first came to public attention when she performed at the 1959 Newport Folk Festival. In the years that followed, she became known for championing young songwriters like Dylan and for marching alongside activists like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Farewell, Angelina provides a transition between Baez’s early acoustic work and her more electric and orchestrated recordings of the near future. The album was recorded the year Dylan went electric at the same festival, and it is the first Baez record to feature an electric guitar. Whether Baez’s new direction was more commercially or artistically motivated (if such a separation is possible), the album shows Baez changing with the times, however tentatively such work might suggest today.
The title track, the first of four Dylan songs, is gorgeously understated, opening Farewell, Angelina with a gently apocalyptic omen. Baez sounds more in her element, regardless of instrumentation, than on some tracks. Another acoustic track, the traditional “The Wild Mountain Thyme“, sounds less muted but also has Joan Baez sounding like she’s at her most comfortable.
On the other hand, the electric guitar might have been a novelty in American folk music at the time. Still, despite the loveliness of the instrument’s accompaniment on “Daddy, You Been On My Mind,” it sounds more like an accessory than a necessity today.
In addition, with hindsight, some potentially exciting tracks sound out of place: a chipper, strident rendition of Dylan’s “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” is the most awkward track. Other versions of Baez singing the song, like on Live at Newport, sound steadier and more naturally performed. In contrast, the version with a louder electric band on Baez’s underrated 2005 live album, Bowery Songs, is interpretively superior to either version.
The most haunting moment on Farewell, Angelina is “Sagt Mir Wo Die Blumen Sind“, a German translation of Pete Seeger’s “Where Have All the Flowers Gone“, recorded two decades after the end of World War II. Though it lacks the cultural cachet of the Dylan covers, “Sagt Mir Wo Die Blumen Sind” is the album’s greatest track, in its subdued mourning.
In fact, to my ears, the record’s ending is stronger and more startling than its more celebrated beginning, as mentioned in the three consecutive Dylan covers. “Sagt Mir Wo Die Blumen Sind” and a sparely electrified, but declarative closer, Dylan’s “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall“, rivet the listener and bring Farewell, Angelina full circle with the apocalyptic specter of nuclear war on the opening title track.
The reissue’s sensitive mastering brings out the acoustic bass and the high tremors of Baez’s voice well, and the record sounds excellent in this incarnation. The album, especially in this reissue, is strong enough to warrant repeated listenings. However, at times, Joan Baez sounds as if she’s in a transitional state—not only with the electric guitar behind her, but also with her interpretive skills. However, the reissue is nuanced enough to appeal to many fans of (mostly) acoustic music, not only American folk music of the time.