tracks.
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1.StopOld Welsh Song – Joan Baez 01:16
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2.StopI Saw the Vision of Armies – Joan Baez 01:16
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3.StopMinister of War – Joan Baez 01:10
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4.StopSong in the Blood – Joan Baez 04:28
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5.StopCasida of the Lament – Joan Baez 01:01
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6.StopOf the Dark Past (Ecce Puer) – Joan Baez 01:59
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7.StopLondon – Joan Baez 01:19
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8.StopIn Guernica – Joan Baez 01:00
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9.StopWho Murdered the Minuets – Joan Baez 03:21
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10.StopOh, Little Child – Joan Baez 01:25
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11.StopNo Man Is an Island – Joan Baez 00:56
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12.StopFrom Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man – Joan Baez 02:14
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13.StopAll the Pretty Little Horses – Joan Baez 01:14
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14.StopChildhood III – Joan Baez 01:08
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15.StopThe Magic Wood – Joan Baez 02:27
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16.StopPoems from the Japanese – Joan Baez 02:21
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17.StopColours – Joan Baez 01:13
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18.StopAll in Green Went My Love Riding – Joan Baez 03:24
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19.StopGacela of the Dark Death – Joan Baez 02:09
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20.StopThe Parable of the Old Man and the Young – Joan Baez 00:51
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21.StopEvil – Joan Baez 01:30
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22.StopEpitaph for a Poet – Joan Baez 01:15
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23.StopOld Welsh Song – Joan Baez 01:20
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24.StopMystic Numbers: 36. Wedding Song [#] – Joan Baez 01:06
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25.StopWhen the Shy Star Goes Forth in Heaven [#] – Joan Baez 01:24
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26.StopThe Angel [#] – Joan Baez 01:31
Joan Baez's most unusual album, Baptism is of a piece with the "concept" albums of the late '60s, but more ambitious than most and different from all of them. Baez by this time was immersed in various causes, concerning the Vietnam War, the human condition, and the general state of the world, and it seemed as though every note of music that she sang was treated as important -- sometimes in a negative way by her opponents; additionally, popular music was changing rapidly, and even rock groups that had seldom worried in their music about too much beyond the singer's next ****** conquest were getting serious. Baptism was Baez getting more serious than she already was, right down to the settings of her music, and redirecting her talent from folk song to art song, complete with orchestral accompaniment. Naturally, her idea of a concept album would differ from that of, say, Frank Sinatra or the Beatles. Baptism was a body of poetry selected, edited, and read and sung by Baez, and set to music by Peter Schickele (better known for his comical musical "discoveries" associated with "P.D.Q. Bach," but also a serious musician and composer). In 1968, amid the strife spreading across the world, the album had a built-in urgency that made it work as a mixture of art and message -- today, it seems like a precious and overly self-absorbed period piece. Baez lacks the speaking voice to pull off an album's worth of readings, though her interpretations of Federico García Lorca's "Casida of the Lament" and "Gacela of the Dark Death" show her achieving a level of compelling expressiveness that is lacking elsewhere; and the recording of Countee Cullen's "Epitaph for a Poet" features some beautiful accompaniment by Schickele. Additionally, the sung portions, including "Old Welsh Song," "Who Murdered the Minutes," "The Magic Wood," and "Oh, Little Child" by Henry Treece, "Of the Dark Past" by James Joyce, "All in Green Went My Love Riding" by e.e. cummings, and the lullaby "All the Pretty Little Horses" are beautiful and sustain those portions of the album. Baptism is primarily for Baez completists, however, although it is also a singular reminder for '60s history buffs that not all of the antiwar movement's music, or the work coming out of the folk scene in 1968, was necessarily loud, harsh, or bitter. [The 2003 reissue adds three previously unreleased tracks from the original recording sessions, Treece's "Mystic Numbers: 36. Wedding Song," Joyce's "When the Shy Star Goes Forth in Heaven," and William Blake's "The Angel." It's easy to see why these minor additions from writers already represented on the album were left off the original release, but their inclusion gives a fuller sense of the creators' intentions. Arthur Levy's 2003 liner notes provide a sense of historical context and emphasize Vanguard Records co-founder Maynard Solomon's primacy in the creation of the album. How many label heads would sign off on, much less initiate, as seemingly uncommercial an idea as this one for a flagship artist? Probably only one.] Bruce Eder William Ruhlmann, Rovi
- Genre: Rock, Folk
- Subgenre: Contemporary Folk, Psychedelic/Garage, Folk/Country Rock
- Category Contemporary Folk, Folk-Rock, Psychedelic
- Format: CD
- Release Date: October 14, 2003
- Artist: Baez Joan
- Additional Artist: Joan Baez (Vocals)