Blessed Are - JOAN BAEZ***

Blessed Are/The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down/The Salt Of The Earth/Three Horses/The Brand New Tennessee Waltz/Last Lonely & Wretched/Lincoln Freed Me Today (The Slave)/Outside The Nashville City Limits/San Francisco Mabel Joy/When Time Is Stolen/Heaven Help Us All/Angeline/Help Me Make It Through The Night/Let It Be/Put Your Hand In The Hand/Gabriel & Me/Milanese Waltz-Marie Flore/The Hitchhiker's Song/The 33rd Of August/Fifteen Months/Marie Dolores/Deportee (Plane Wreck At Los Gatos)

The double LP Blessed Are was Joan Baez’s most commercially successful album since her mid 1960s protest songs heyday. It features several of her own compositions together with interpretations from a diverse cross-section of songwriters. Includes the US & UK top ten cover The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down. (US:11)

“One of Joan's most audacious albums, a double LP release featuring nine original tunes reflecting her newfound confidence as a songwriter as well as songs by Lennon-McCartney, Jagger-Richards, Robbie Robertson, Mickey Newbury, Jesse Winchester and Kris Kristofferson.”

“From the guitar chords of the opening of Blessed Are through the final song, this music and performance are not only beautiful, they bring back fond memories of the meaningful 1960s and 1970s - a period of incredible change for our culture. Joan Baez, through her music and persona, was and is a reminder of all that was good about that time.”

“This is one of her best sets as it has several hits and lesser known gems and very few low spots, A must have if you love her voice and her poetry.”

“This music stirs the soul, is melodic and engaging, but carries messages about the very meaning of our lives as well. For all that, somehow it is the Marie Flore medley which has the most impact for me. Superficially a wistful account of a chance meeting in a distant city, it is a metaphor for the brevity of life, the precious gift of every friendship, and the profound emotional connection we could make with each other if we would choose to do so.”

“I bought this album and became a Baez fan forever. I normally don't like cover versions, but Joan changed my mind. Her auto biographical songwriting style provided a snap shot of who she was where she had been and where she was going.”

“Joan Baez's musical interpretations have always been a favourite of mine, since the time of my youth, and she's one of the very few artists whose covers I can live with.”