Joan Baez
Blowin' Away

"Blowin' Away" is an atypical album, with a peculiar nature all its own that leaves a bitter aftertaste and an unpleasant feeling of "what could have been if only..." and I am not referring to the poor cover art (admittedly by Joanie herself) but rather original and disorienting, but to the structure of the album itself. Perhaps stung by the failure of the previous "Gulf Winds," her first entirely self-composed album, a little misunderstood masterpiece, in the following album Joan Baez returns to the more canonical and usual solution for her, namely songs written by others and her own compositions; this formula worked great for albums like "Come From The Shadows" and especially "Diamonds And Rust," but not here, not at all. The album is not harmonious, it appears frayed, confused, fragmented, inconsistent yet, despite this unforgivable structural flaw, I love "Blowin' Away", and I still consider it a great album even before a huge missed opportunity.

Joan Baez, as you all know, is primarily known as an interpreter, but in those years she was in the grip of her own, personal, and unique whirlwind of singer-songwriter inspiration that had finally expressed itself fully in "Gulf Winds" and continued also in "Blowin' Away", perhaps with even greater inspiration: that's why, in such a context, everything that isn't Joanie's own is just annoying; this album deserved to be solely Joan Baez's, just like the previous one, and in that case, it would have been a five-star masterpiece, without a doubt.

This not to mention the dubious quality of the covers offered here: the bland "Yellow Coat" and the unnecessarily emphatic and melodramatic "Blowin' Away" are just mediocre sugary trinkets, which even Joanie's extraordinary voice struggles to keep afloat with dignity. It goes a bit better with the enthralling "Sailing", also successfully covered by Rod Stewart, and the brilliant pop-rock of "Many A Mile From Freedom", but we're at decent levels and not much more; the conclusion is excellent with "Cry Me A River", a beautiful and famous torch song from the '50s interpreted with warmth and sensuality over a soft jazzy arrangement.

Quickly dismissing the foreign bodies, we are left to focus on Joan Baez, on what of hers is in this album, and it consists of five beautiful songs: here there isn't that visionary aura, nor the subtly Dylan-esque influence that characterized "Gulf Winds", particularly "Seabirds", "Kingdom Of Childhood", "Oh Brother!" and the title track; the style offered here is more intimate but no less captivating.

The stunning ballad "Miracles" seems to emerge from the soft glow of dawn, then grows by coloring its folk soul with soul and jazz shades, in a harmonic flow of thoughts and reflections, while "Time Rag" captivates and surprises with its relentless bass groove and guitar flurries: an exquisitely funky rhythm that explodes in a damn catchy refrain; here Joanie delivers a decidedly ironic and incisive text, naturally and convincingly adopting a style that is not common for her, foreshadowing stylistic elements that would later be picked up by, for example, early Sheryl Crow.

"A Heartfelt Line Or Two", enriched by a brief but incisive guitar solo is simply a great folk-rock song, direct, immediate, brilliant, and perfectly interpreted, while "Alter Boy And The Thief" demonstrates the depth of Joan Baez not only as a folk singer but also in contexts more related to simple "sentimental" pop: this song, a declared tribute to her homosexual audience, sees the singer's clear and velvety voice accompanied only by the piano, thus creating a vaguely melancholic atmosphere without being cloying, all in a serene, simple, and composed sobriety that constitutes the intrinsic beauty of the song.

The last gem, in my opinion the best, perhaps the highest point ever achieved by Joan Baez as a songwriter is the majestic "Luba The Baroness", an intense waltz that stretches for seven minutes with an almost cinematic visual and emotional force. Joanie, accompanied by orchestrations, piano, and mandolins, manages to create a powerful, romantic, and neoclassical sound, a first and splendid example of perfectly successful operatic pop.

Faced with such magnificence, there's almost the temptation to evaluate "Blowin' Away" with a star for each new song, thus reaching the highest score, but unfortunately, one has to consider the album as a whole, which is practically like a solution of water and oil. Adding further salt to the wounds, there's also the fact that after the five wonders of "Blowin' Away" Joan Baez would no longer be able to repeat herself on the same levels, already heading with the next album "Honest Lullaby" towards a dignified but inevitable "Sunset Boulevard", gradually returning to being a simple interpreter.

That beautiful illusion, that creative impulse of the '70s thus fades away little by little; Joan Baez the songwriter, except for "Diamonds And Rust" was never really understood, unfortunately remaining material for a few devoted fans. A bit like this album, a missed opportunity, but certainly not Joanie's fault.