2024 can be kinda lame...
Come Join us in 1974
Joan Baez
Farewell, Angelina
Released: October 27th, 1965
The events we write about at Gaslight Records happened in some form or another 50 years ago to the day. Roll along with us and imagine you are back in 1974.
Support Gaslight Records
In the fall of 1965, Joan Baez released her sixth album, Farewell, Angelina. The album signalled a change and a departure in the subtlest of ways towards more contemporary songs, without discarding the folk songs and ballads that had built her reputation. Baez had included Bob Dylan songs on her two previous albums, In Concert Part 2 and 5, (including changing the former after its release to include “With God On Our Side”), and Farewell, Angelina was no exception, including four Dylan covers. In addition, while previous Baez albums included occasional accompaniment by other musicians, this album featured string bass on every track and electric guitar, (actually a Martin acoustic with a pickup), by Bruce Langhorne on several songs.
The title track – a previously unknown song by Bob Dylan – was the album’s highlight, though the entire album was strong. The melody was based on the traditional “Wagoner’s Lad”, the song that opened Baez’ second album, but it was also the melody of the cowboy song, “I Ride An Old Paint”. The lyrics, however, were among the most poetic and surreal that Dylan had delivered, with startling imagery: a table standing empty by the edge of the sea, cross-eyed pirates shooting tin cans with a sawed-off shotgun and the make-up man's hands shutting the eyes of the dead not to embarrass anyone. Each verse ended with a farewell and a vision of the sky; at times embarrassed, trembling, on fire, or erupting.
The second song was one Baez had been singing onstage as a duet with Dylan for the previous year, “Daddy, You Been On My Mind”. Interestingly enough, Judy Collins also released a version of the song on her fifth album, almost simultaneously. Track three was “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue”. At the time of release, few knew that Baez had broken off her relationship with Dylan, who would marry another woman not long after the album’s release. The details of that relationship wouldn’t be revealed until the following decade.
Track four was a beautiful version of the Irish “Wild Mountain Thyme”, made famous by the McPeake Family. Decades later, a version of the song would emerge in footage cut from the film Dont Look Back, sung informally with Dylan in a hotel room in England. This track was followed by a strong version of a Woody Guthrie ballad, “Ranger’s Command”, which few people knew of at the time. Side One concluded with Donovan’s “Colours”, including beautiful guitar from Langhorne.
Side Two began with the country song “A Satisfied Mind”, a hit for Porter Wagoner, and then moved into familiar Baez territory with the traditional American ballad “The River In The Pines”. Consistently a better guitar player than she’s given credit for, Baez’s playing on the track is simply haunting. There are then two foreign songs; one in French and “Where Have All The Flowers Gone”, sung in German. Both are okay, but they remain the weakest songs on the album. The album concludes with a powerful “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall”, accompanied by Langhorne.
Farewell Angelina was the last of Baez’ – for lack of a better word – folk albums, and it remains one of her best.
2024 can be kinda lame...
Come Join us in 1974
Recomended for you
If you like this album you may also like
More recent news
News
August 26th, 1972: John Prine returns with second album
News
August 24th, 1972: Joni Mitchell recording 5th studio album
28-year-old Joni Mitchell has begun recording her 5th studio album in Hollywood, California. For The Roses is Mitchell's follow up to her 1971 album Blue.
News
August 23rd, 1972: Bruce Springsteen has begun recording debut album in New York
John Hammond signed Springsteen to Columbia Records earlier this year.
News
February 7th, 1970: Black Sabbath share debut single "Evil Woman": Listen
The English rock band's debut album is due out this week.
News
December 30th, 1969: Norman Greenbaum releases "Spirit In The Sky" from his debut album: Listen
Greenbaum's sings the gospel on his new single
News
December 23rd, 1969: Watch The Jackson 5 perform single from their debut album on Ed Sullivan
Diana Ross Presents The Jackson 5 is the latest release from Motown
News
December 20th, 1969: The Clancy Brothers have released a new album of Christmas songs: Listen
Irish folk group, The Clancy Brothers have recorded 11 songs to bring a little joy to your Christmas
News
December 18th, 1969: See photos from The Doors album cover shoot in Los Angeles today
The new Doors album is due for release early next year.
Article
December 10th, 1969: Four people died over the weekend at The Altamont Speedway Free Festival
Here's the story of Altamont in quotes from many of the people involved.
News
December 5th, 1969: The Rolling Stones have released a new studio album ahead of their free concert tomorrow at Altamont
As The Stones finish their run of U.S. concert dates they have released their eighth album, Let It Bleed.
News
December 3rd, 1969: Emmylou Harris covers Bob Dylan on debut album
Listen to Harris's cover of Dylan's "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight" from her album Gliding Bird
Live At The Gaslight
Peter Stone Brown covers Bob Dylan's "She Belongs To Me"
Recorded in Atlantic City at Dylan Fest in 2015