Joan Baez - Any Day Now
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Music CD Cover Artist: Joan Baez Edition: Music CD CD Release Date: 2005-02-08 Music Label: Vanguard Records Soundtracks:
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Free Music Notes for Any Day Now Album
Free Music Review: A solid cover album and an intimate tribute
Hit: 4 Stars
Any Day Now finds Joan Baez backed by a decidedly pop ensemble, covering the 60's folk and folk-rock songs of her one-time lover Bob Dylan. As is often the case with cover albums, some of the songs hit harder and better than others, but Baez couldn't have chosen a better oeuvre to sample, so most of the lulls are due to performance issues. All in all, though, if you like Joan Baez and/or Bob Dylan, Any Day Now is a great choice.
As the album opens, it's clear that this music is not the stripped-down folk that typifies earlier Baez recordings. She's accompanied by steel guitar, drums, electric guitar and...sitar? It's interesting to hear Joan backed by a pop ensemble and, for the most part, it works.
The less-convincing numbers on this album are mainly due to Baez's choice of songs. It's not that the songs are bad, they just don't fit her as well as they could. For instance, Baez's calculated, classic, vibrato-heavy singing voice has a little trouble relaxing the way Dylan would on "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere." "Live Minus Zero/No Limit" is slightly bizarre, since it's sung about a woman, as is "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands." The latter was an epic, mysterious love song on Blonde on Blonde, but for Baez it makes you wonder why she's singing an 11+ minute love song to a woman. "Tears Of Rage," though it's admirable that Baez makes an artistic risk to sing the entire tune a cappella isn't all successful--this version doesn't come close to touching The Band's definitive rendition, or even Gene Clark's excellent version (from White Light).
Though Baez doesn't perfectly match up with some of Dylan's songs, she breathes new life and meaning into several of them. She brings gritty reality to the dark ballad "North Country Blues," and her arrangement brings new narrative life and emotion to the classic "Boots of Spanish Leather." Likewise, she chooses some lesser-known Dylan songs like "Love is Just a Four-Letter Word," "Walls of Redwing" and "Walkin' Down the Line," that bring a few surprises and mix things up a bit.
Any Day Now was originally a double album--it's great that it all fits onto one disc, even with two (disposable) bonus tracks to boot. Overall, I think it's a worthwhile album, with some excellent interpretations of Dylan's songs that occasionally brings them into new, unique light.