Search - Joan Baez :: Noel

A classic of the season

riwabo | 12/10/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If, like me, you heard this record every December when you were growing up, this reissue is a must-have. It is one of those Christmas classics for me, up there with the Waverly Consort's Christmas and New York Pro Musica's Play of Herod. It is also (I have to admit) one of my favorite Joan Baez albums.
I have to disagree with one of the prior reviewers, who questioned the need for an expanded reissue. Now I have to admit my prejudice here--I love expanded reissues. I love hearing what got left off the initial release, even if it was deservedly omitted the first time. In this case, the expanded reissue is worth it, if just to hear Joan's rendition of "the First Noel."
There is, as other reviewers have noted, a dark side to this album, a dark side that keeps it from slipping into treacly sentimentality. For that and other reasons, it has staying power. Brava, Joan. Bravo, Peter Schickle, the arranger. And bravo to the Solomons, the original producers and creative force behind the album. This team would go on to make the great, now-forgotten BAPTISM, an even darker album of songs and poetry. But that's for another season."

It was worth 5 stars the FIRST time ...

J. Williams | Rocky Hill, NJ | 07/15/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"now, the remastered release adds several tracks not present on the original. How could it get any better that that?

Being almost as old as Joan Baez is, I am now finally replacing my 60s LPs with CDs, remembering, recapturing a time I thought behind me. This recording of Joan Baez is different from her usual, as it is of traditional pieces, not of political protest. One gets to hear her voice, her lovely voice, and not be conflicted with a contrary point of view. Consequently it should be heard by a wider audience. This is about joy and the music simply sparkles

The hidden treat here is that the arrangements are by Prof Peter Schickele, too often unheralded for the excellent musician/musicologist he is aside from his more (n)famous PDQ Bach genre. I LOVE the percussive harpsichord in The Little Drummer Boy: it always gets REPEATS on my playlists.

I came searching Amazon for the album as originally released, and a can't be more pleased that it has 'grown', as well as matured. If pageants can be intimate, this sequence of vocal and instrumental tracks certainly qualifies."

Dark, brooding masterpiece that transcends the season

J. Williams | 12/04/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Joan Baez' "Noel" cranked playfully in the Christmastime of my past, alongside perennial muzak-favorites by Perry Como, Johnny Mathis, and Percy Faith. But for some reason, it called to a darker side of the season, perfect alongside cold weather and the mystery of childhood that I seem to recall now with the season itself.With years' distance and a little more musical maturity, this album strikes me as one of the most original and stark Christmas releases available. Whereas Vince Guraldi's "Charlie Brown" work brings to mind those funny cartoons dancing, and umpteen retro-heavy diva cassettes play on in Restoration Hardware and The Gap beckoning a million recycled memories, Joan Baez lifts the season up, up, out of itself, fusing American Indian, folk, medieval, and even African - sounding tones into a wicked, forlorn wintry masterpiece. The intro to "I Wonder As I Wander" chimes with a sort of otherworldly demeanor, and her soaring voice lends an almost angelic quality to "Ave Maria". In between her steadfast renditions of longtime favorites are a few contemplative instrumentals, nothing overdone, the entire record stately and misunderstood by even the (then) beatnik crowd that once embraced her.You can have your cheesy holiday schmaltz. This is, as Linus once intoned, "what Christmas is all about"."