Joan Baez

This is Joan Baez’s first record, on Vanguard, from 1960, and it’s serious and pure, and old-seeming; it has the feeling of a record that came out in some year more like 1860 than 1960. I mean it’s hard to argue with this record, for what it is, but I feel no more compelled to put it on again than I do to dutifully eat my vegetables. I think my problem with the performance here is that it seems like it is playing way too fast; to me it sounds like an LP played at 45rpm. I really wish I had one of those old record players that actually had “16″ speed, roughly half the speed of a 33 and 1/3! Did anyone ever actually have a 16rpm record? Someone must have. Or maybe that speed was just put on turntables for reasons such as this: so the listener could shape the music to their needs. Though really, I don’t want her voice lower. I like her voice. I just want it slower. Okay, this is pointless. Forget I even said anything.