vinylfanatics.com

**Joan Baez - Farewell, Angelina**
★★★★☆

By 1965, Joan Baez had already witnessed the folk revival's golden age begin to splinter. Bob Dylan, her former lover and artistic collaborator, was about to go electric at Newport, sending shockwaves through the purist community that had embraced them both. Perhaps sensing the winds of change, Baez delivered "Farewell, Angelina" as both a love letter to traditional folk and a bold step toward something more expansive—a gorgeous, melancholic meditation on endings that would prove remarkably prescient.

The album opens with Dylan's title track, and immediately you sense something different in Baez's approach. Gone is some of the stark, almost austere presentation of her earlier work. Instead, we get lush string arrangements and a more sophisticated production courtesy of Maynard Solomon that allows her crystalline soprano to float over richer musical landscapes. It's as if she's bidding farewell not just to Angelina, but to the simpler times when a voice, a guitar, and righteous conviction were enough to move mountains.

"Farewell, Angelina" showcases Baez at her most adventurous, drawing from an eclectic mix of sources that would have made folk purists nervous. Alongside Dylan's contributions—including the haunting "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" and the tender "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue"—she tackles everything from traditional ballads to contemporary songwriters like Donovan. Her interpretation of "Colors" transforms Donovan's whimsical original into something more profound and searching, while her take on the traditional "Wild Mountain Thyme" reminds us why she became the queen of folk interpretation in the first place.

The album's genius lies in its careful sequencing and thematic coherence. Each song feels like another chapter in a story about transformation and loss. "The Water Is Wide," with its ancient Celtic roots, flows seamlessly into more contemporary material, creating a timeless quality that transcends any single era. Baez's voice remains the constant thread, that remarkable instrument capable of conveying both intimate vulnerability and epic grandeur, sometimes within the same phrase.

What makes "Farewell, Angelina" particularly compelling is how it captures Baez at a crossroads. This was the woman who had introduced Dylan to large audiences, who had marched with Martin Luther King Jr., who had become the conscience of a generation. Yet here she sounds almost uncertain, questioning, as if the certainties that had driven her early career were beginning to crack. That uncertainty, rather than weakening the album, gives it an emotional complexity that her more overtly political work sometimes lacked.

The production deserves special mention for striking that delicate balance between enhancement and restraint. The string arrangements never overwhelm Baez's voice but provide a sophisticated backdrop that elevates songs like "Saigon Bride" from simple protest to genuine artistry. It's folk music for grown-ups, acknowledging that the world is more complicated than even the most passionate songs can fully address.

Standout tracks include the devastating "Saigon Bride," which manages to be both a specific anti-war statement and a universal lament for love destroyed by conflict. "The River in the Pines" showcases Baez's gift for finding the emotional core of traditional material, while her reading of "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" feels like both a personal statement and a broader commentary on the end of an era.

In retrospect, "Farewell, Angelina" stands as a crucial bridge between the earnest folk revival of the early '60s and the more complex, introspective singer-songwriter movement that would dominate the decade's end. While Baez would continue recording for decades, tackling everything from country to pop, this album captures her at a unique moment—still connected to folk's roots but reaching toward something more sophisticated and emotionally nuanced.

The album's legacy has only grown over time. Contemporary artists from Emmylou Harris to Gillian Welch have cited its influence, and its careful balance of tradition and innovation feels remarkably modern. In an era when authenticity often gets confused with simplicity, "Farewell, Angelina" reminds us that the deepest truths sometimes require the most sophisticated expression. It remains Joan Baez's most complete artistic statement—a farewell that was really a hello to artistic maturity.