Diamonds And Rust

Description

Originally released on A&M Records in 1975, Diamonds & Rust marked a turning point in Joan Baez's career. Her politically charged and emotionally resonant songs took on a decidedly commercial dimension, allowing her to re-enter the US Top 20 for the first time in four years. This reissue, released to celebrate the album's 50th anniversary, faithfully reproduces the original British A&M version and is pressed on 180g vinyl.While Joan Baez's importance to Western culture may have been overlooked by the general public, Monica Barbaro's portrayal of her in the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown highlights her central role in popularizing folk music in the early 1960s. Indeed, it is her relationship with Dylan, a decade earlier, that happily hovers over Diamonds & Rust. The title track evokes a barely disguised former lover who calls her out of the blue; it remains one of her most beloved songs in a 65-year career. It features a spirited cover of "Simple Twist Of Fate," taken from Dylan's then-recently released album Blood On The Tracks, complete with an imitation in a later verse; and "Winds Of The Old Days," written in reaction to Dylan's return to touring after a long hiatus.Diamonds & Rust is a perfect, sun-drenched album, a rock sound with West Coast American folk accents, carried by renowned session musicians. One could almost believe it was a signal sent to all the newcomers on the music scene — many of whom are friends and colleagues like Joni Mitchell, Carole King, and Maria Muldaur — to remind Joan Baez that she was the first and that she was gently reasserting her authority. Just listen to her mastery on "Children & All That Jazz," her cover of Stevie Wonder's "Never Thought You'd Leave In Summer," and the poignant final medley of "I Dream Of Jeannie/Danny Boy."