Entertainment For Lively Minds
Joan Baez
Last night I finally caught up with "No Direction Home" on the iplayer, and it reminded me of my strong reaction against Joan Baez that I have never quite understood.
I can see that, in a more or less objective sense, she has a "good" voice, and yet I cannot stand to listen to it. To me, it's like nails on a blackboard, and whenever I hear Bob and Joan singing together, I just want her to stop so that I can hear Bob properly. I think possibly it's all that vibrato she puts on.
In a similar way, though I can see that she is in many ways a nice, intelligent, admirable person, concerned to help people & improve the world, I cannot bear her.
Does anybody else have this perverse and paradoxical reaction to this person who is, after all, a fine singer and a food citizen?
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She's
Had pretty much the same effect on me.I've never understood why. I love many singers who are not so different from her but, but...
Food citizens - they really take the biscuit.
Food citizen
You know, I read this through before I posted it. Truly, I am the worst proof-reader in the world.
Food for thought
It's almost impossible to proofread your own writing, just as (for the coders amongst us) it's almost impossible to debug your own programs: You see what you thought you wrote, not what is actually there.
P.S. I agree about Joan Baez.
I agree...
I've never liked her voice. And she always came across to me as much too "worthy". I can listen to music with a strong social or political message but I prefer it when there is a touch of humour in there and it doesn't come across as too po-faced.
Another agreeing
Reaction is the right word. You can intellectually sympathise with the lyrics and enjoy the melody/tune, but all the time there is that grating quality to her voice which makes you want to distance yourself far away.
Years ago I heard her version of "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" and hated it. When I heard The Band's version, I couldn't believe it was the same song.
Was always surprised that anyone could take her music in anything other than small bursts.
Joan Baez - Diamonds And Rust
Lovely song.
only when
Judas Priest do it
Down Arrow!
he-
heh
Up arrow!
;-)
Me too
In theory Joan Baez is fine but I just can't listen to her. I have tried over the years but can get no pleasure whatsoever from her singing
Her voice is dated
Women don't sing like that any more thank God. I can't stand her.
Yep
with you on Baez (her story is more interesting than her music)although I do like her cover of this Tom Waits gem
Dated women
Some do, but she doesn't. Some men are difficult to listen to as well...
I've learned over the years not to have, say, 'Where are you now, my son' or 'Silver Dagger' playing within range of other people, unless I want to clear the room, for which the former is heartily recommended. Sometimes, however, the reaction is favourable - for example, Baez & The Dead (in contrast, of course, to Dylan & The Dead).
Me too
She comes across as being utterly humourless and her singing voice makes me cringe
alright
knock the woman's music all you like, but you're wrong about her being humourless. If you've ever seen her interviewed (have you watched No Direction Home?) she can be very funny.
Sure, the way she is portrayed in the 60s suggests she may have been too earnest, but she was at the forefront of the folk protest movement so she could hardly have been otherwise. And at Woodstock, she was pregnant while her husband was in jail, so I think maybe she could be excused for being a little self-absorbed.
Me too
Can't stand Joan Baez's voice (and her material isn't strong or original enough to get past it). I have the same reaction with Melanie.
Indeed
http://www.wordmagazine.co.uk/content/joan-baez-doc
No argument from me..
I've always failed to appreciate her objectively "good" voice, my theory being that she reduces every song to the same one-note warble. One-trick pony doesn't say it at all, she seems to be able to sing, in effect, only one note. You never need to hear a second song, a whole album would be just sheer torture.
Charming woman, though, when she's not singing.
I like her.
About seven years ago I was given a ticket to see her in town and, despite knowing very little of her music, I went along for a look. As it turned out she put on a lovely show and was very funny to boot. She struck me as a thoroughly decent sort.
Granted I don't own many of her albums and rarely come across her music these days but I have very fond memories of that night.
And Josh Ritter, who has toured with her, wrote affectionately about life on the road in Italy with her here. http://www.bookofjubilations.com/2010/12/making-life-in-music-vol-7-unex...
She seems, to me, be a thoroughly decent sort.
What's to hate?!
Agreed, she has a good heart
She also comes across as very funny in No Direction Home with her pointed impersonations of Dylan.
Musically, though, her voice has always been just too soulless for my taste and almost operatic in its purity.
My very first job was at a music publisher in the West End. The old folk who had been working there seemingly forever had a lot of trouble with the names of some of the new fangled "rock & roll" artists. Consequently (and despite my protestations) Joan's name was usually pronounced Joan "Baize".
Was I the only one to stand up for her.....
...on Ola's thread earlier?
I don't own any of her records but she's on a few compilations I have.
Maybe it's a man thing to dislike her/her voice. I know jolean above dislikes her though.
As I said on Ola's thread, I saw her at a Concert for a Landmine Free World in Princes St Gardens in Edinburgh. It was an open air concert, sold out and I was on my own. After eventually finding my seat(concrete step), a woman, much the same age as me(early 40's...also on her own)sat next to me and asked who I was there to see. Ermm....Steve Earle, Billy Bragg, Chrissie Hynde, Emmylou...sheesh..all of them! Out of politeness, I asked who she was there to see. She said...My hero/heroine?.Joan Baez.
Shit...I hadn't even mentioned Joan.
Very nice lady she was too...she was in Edinburgh(from London)organising a part of the Book Festival. I recorded the concert, whilst she took photos using a telephoto lens and a couple of months later after keeping touch by email, we swapped the illegal goods...though I lent the photos to someone and never got them back.
Joan Baez
Well, I will stand up for the queen of
American folk music, with a once in a lifetime soprano
and a hard as nails attitude toward those who peddle violence.
The rest of you can get out your Mariah amd your Celine and your
Brittany CDs. Have fun.
Mariah, Celine & Britney?
No, no, no. The relevant contrast is with people like Joni Mitchell, Emmylou Harris, Laura Veirs, all of whom are ploughing adjacent fields (so to speak)to Joan Baez, and all of whom I love.
I would readily agree that there's more to admire in Joan Baez than there is in most people. That was part of my original point. Despite recognizing her admirable qualities, both as a singer and as a person, I don't like her - indeed I cannot stand her - in either respect.
I think with the voice, I find the vibrato too much. Similarly, although I can appreciate the technique, I cannot stand the sound of much operatic singing - it's too much for me. With the personality, I think there's something a bit self-congratulatory about her that I find deeply off-putting. She's like the Head Girl at school who can't understand why people less high-achieving than her don't warm to her.
reply
How can anyone not stand what he finds admirable? I will take the head girl, you take the ones in the back row. Emmylou? Stunning!
I'll come to her defence to a degree
I agree that with Joan solo a little bit goes a long way but I love the duets she did with Bob on the Hard Rain TV special (which was different to the live album of the same name). Railroad Boy and I Pity the Poor Immigrant are outstanding performanes in this regard imho.
Also, as the forementioned Hard Rain concert as well as No Direction Home and Don't Look Back will attest, she is a very accomplished guitar picker.
My parents adored Joan Baez
I think I heard her every day of life until I was about 11.
So I'm with the original poster here. I find her unbearable. The very personification of worthy but dull.