I’ve had Joan Baez’s No Woman No Cry on my shelf for nearly 30 years, waiting for me to listen to it. This 1992 CD is a mishmash of songs and styles. Joan Baez sings a couple songs in Spanish. A couple Traditional songs–“Sing Low Sweet Chariot” and “Rambler Gambler/Whispering Bells”–stand out. And then there’s the pop songs: “No Woman No Cry,” “The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress,” and “Hand to Mouth.” “Famous Blue Raincoat” is my favorite song on this CD. There’s not a lot of flow on this CD. But, Joan Baez has an incredible voice no matter what she sings. Are you a Joan Baez fan? GRADE: B
TRACK LIST:
| 1 | NO WOMAN, NO CRY Vincent Ford/Bob Marley | JOAN BAEZ | 0.3:44 | |||
| 2 | The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress Jimmy Webb | Joan Baez | 03:08 | |||
| 3 | CarrickfergusPaddy Moloney / Van Morrison | Joan Baez | 05:37 | |||
| 4 | El Preso Numero NueveLos Hermanos Cantoral | Joan Baez | 03:15 | |||
| 5 | Famous Blue Raincoat Leonard Cohen | Joan Baez | 04:58 | |||
| 6 | Do Right Woman, Do Right ManChips Moman / Dan Penn | Joan Baez | 03:23 | |||
| 7 | Sing Low Sweet Chariot | Joan Baez | 03:42 | |||
| 8 | Hand to Mouth George Michael | Joan Baez | 04:31 | |||
| 9 | No Nos Moveran Traditional | Joan Baez | 02:12 | |||
| 10 | Rambler Gambler/Whispering Bells Traditional | Joan Baez | 05:04 |
I am a big Joan Baez fan, and have many of her albums, some on vinyl, many on cd. This oddball release has tracks from several different albums, and different types of albums, all mixed together — presumably whatever LaserLight could license. Oddly enough, I have not heard her version of “Famous Blue Raincoat,” which is off one of her many live albums. I don’t have many of those. And in fact, I don’t have too much of what’s on here. I think there’s two tracks each from five albums, of which I only have one. I do like her version of Jimmy Webb’s “Moon Is a Harsh Mistress.”
Jeff, I’m with you on the Joan Baez version of “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.” You’re right about NO WOMAN NO CRY being a hodgepodge of Baez’s songs.
I loved Baez from the time I first heard her in the sixties at least through the mid-seventies. Then she slowly fell off my radar. It’s not that I no longer liked her, it’s more that I stopped paying attention to her. Wish I could explain it.
Michael, Baez never seemed to seek the spotlight. She had a tremendous voice, but made some strange career choices. I’ve always believe Joan Baez could have been a bigger star than she was.
George, I’d never heard of Joan Baez until now but like new writers, I’m always open to listening to singers new to me.
Prashant, you’ll find plenty of Joan Baez songs on YOUTUBE.com.
if you don’t mind the super crappy audio.
Rick, the quality of the audio varies widely on NO WOMAN NO CRY. That’s always an issue with most compilation CDs.
Wow, I am surprised Prashant hadn’t heard of her. Funny who you think of as world renowned but in fact, is no longer.
I love her. I almost got to hear her live at the Ann Arbor Folk Festival, but her sister had just died (Mimi Farina, who I did hear live) and Peter, Paul and Marry stood in for her. Her voice was so pure. P,P & M mostly lectured us and sang an endless version of Puff, the magic dragon.
Patti, you’re so right about the purity of Joan Baez’s voice.
Patti, to be honest, I have discovered many Western singers after I started blogging and got to know you all. I am, of course, familiar with plenty of singers from the 60s through 80s but just not everyone or even the once-famous.
Prashant, many of those singers from the 1960s are pretty much forgotten today. But I still listen to them with regularity.
Another voice from my mis-squandered youth!
Dan, I had a crush on Joan Baez back in the 1960s.
I must admit I’ve never been a huge fan of her public persona (affected, perhaps, but NATIONAL LAMPOON’S LEMMINGS, which mocked her as “Phony Joanie”), but her voice has always been amazing. We’ve watched a couple of folk music documentaries and concerts lately, and they had a very young Baez with Dylan and Peter, Paul & Mary and Pete Seeger, among others. Jackie likes her version of “The Night I Drove Old Dixie Down.”
Jeff, “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down”–a song that The Band made famous–might be Joan Baez’s best selling single. Sad that she could not follow up that success with a string of hits.
I have trouble listening to her version because she screwed up the lyrics (which she admitted). The Band was really unhappy about it.
Jeff, I just thought Joan Baez was exercising “artistic license” with her lyric modifications.
I liked her in the 60s, when I saw her at The Ice House in San Bernardino. But I grew tired of her voice and politics by the mid to late 70s and stopped listening. I moved on from folk to other things. Crider liked her.
Rick, I may have acquired NO WOMAN NO CRY on Bill Crider’s recommendation.
I never was a big Joan Baez/folk music fan.
In college I roomed with a friend who played a lot of that stuff. I didn’t mind it but I also didn’t feel the urge to run out and get those albums for myself.
Beth, Joan Baez pretty much vanished for me in the 1980s. I was listening to other artists and groups.
Baez is just one of the many folk singers from the 1960s who disappeared from my radar. Still have many LPs in ny basement that I haven’t looked at for many years. In the past couple of years I have reconnected with a friend who I took to most on the concerts and we try to remember by email which ones we saw when their names resurface. That happened the other day with Peter, Paul and Mary, who I think I saw twice. I will have to ask her about Joan Baez as I’m not sure.
Kent, I used to keep all my concert tickets (and programs) but somehow they were lost in one of my moves. I do know I never attended a Joan Baez concert.
Thanks, George!
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress – have to admit that I didn’t remember this at all.
So I just listened to it – and also the version by Joe Cocker, a bit crazy.
Jimmy Webb wrote many really good songs.
Wolf, “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress” has been recorded by dozens of artists, check this out:
Title Performer Release date Info
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress Joe Cocker July 1974 First release
The Moon’s a Harsh Mistress Glen Campbell October 1974
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress Judy Collins March 24, 1975
The Moon’s a Harsh Mistress Wings Livinryte 1975
The Moon’s a Harsh Mistress Jeannie Lewis 1976
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress Ronnie Aldrich, His Pianos and Orchestra with The Ladybirds 1977
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress Jimmy Webb 1977
The Moon’s a Hard Mistress Julie Mairs & Chris Stowell 1977
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress Linda Ronstadt September 1982
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress Radka Toneff – Steve Dobrogosz 1982
The Moon’s a Harsh Mistress Malcolm McNeill 1982
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress Spencer Davis & Band 1986
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress Joan Baez June 1987
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress Jerry Hadley February 18, 1994
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress Christine Andreas 1997
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress Sheila Jordan May 11, 1999
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress Lee Lessack May 1999
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress Ruth Cameron July 27, 1999
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress Tom Wopat October 2000
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress Bob Rowe December 2000
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress Kassie DePaiva 2000
The Moon’s a Harsh Mistress The Walker Brothers 2001
The Moon’s a Harsh Mistress Nah Youn Sun 2001
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress Grażyna Auguścik 2001
The Moon’s a Harsh Mistress Jimmy LaFave 2001
The Moon’s a Harsh Mistress Jack Donahue February 12, 2002
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress Rigmor Gustafsson with Nils Landgren and The Fleshquartet September 2003
The Moon’s a Harsh Mistress Michael Feinstein October 7, 2003 Editor’s cover song pick
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress Karrin Allyson June 8, 2004
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress Renée Fleming with Fred Hersch and Bill Frisell May 10, 2005
The Moon’s a Harsh Mistress Sherri Roberts 2005
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress Albert Lee April 11, 2006
The Moon’s a Harsh Mistress Christine Collister 2006
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress Vigdis Wisur 2007
The Moon’s a Harsh Mistress Megan Birdsall January 2008
The Moon’s a Harsh Mistress Maureen McGovern April 29, 2008
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress Wesla Whitfield & Mike Greensill 2008
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress Voxtasy a cappella September 10, 2009
The Moon’s a Harsh Mistress Hannah Svensson 2009
Moon Is a Harsh Mistress Susanne Vogt – Woody Mann 2009
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress Celtic Woman January 26, 2010
The Moon’s a Harsh Mistress Rumer July 30, 2010 Editor’s cover song pick
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress Katy Bourne 2010
The Moon’s a Harsh Mistress Nils Landgren August 26, 2011
The Moon’s a Harsh Mistress Eden Atwood November 21, 2012
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress Susan Powell 2012
The Moon’s a Harsh Mistress John Hollenbeck – Theo Bleckmann, Kate McGarry, Gary Versace and The Frankfurt Radio Big Band January 15, 2013
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress Josh Groban February 5, 2013 Editor’s cover song pick
The Moon’s a Harsh Mistress Jimmy Webb featuring Joe Cocker September 10, 2013
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress Lana Wolf October 25, 2014
The Moon’s a Harsh Mistress Maria Damore 2014
The Moon’s a Harsh Mistress Nick Krgovich September 29, 2015
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress Paal Flaata October 13, 2017
The Moon’s a Harsh Mistress Véronneau January 5, 2018
The Moon’s a Harsh Mistress Bill Overton June 2018
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress Travis Moser September 2019
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress Peter Campbell March 2020