Joan Baez – Diamonds & Rust

A telephone call changes a song

Joan Baez wrote “Diamonds & Rust” in November 1974. In her own recollection, the song changed direction when Bob Dylan telephoned while she was working on it. The past entered a new composition in progress. On the album released in April 1975, this personal title song sits beside interpretations of other writers. Baez approaches memory both as an author and as a singer of someone else’s material.

The recordings were made in Hollywood in January 1975, at A&M Studios and Wally Heider’s. Baez, David Kershenbaum and Larry Carlton receive production credits. Experienced session musicians join her, extending the instrumental setting beyond the acoustic guitar associated with much of her earlier work.

The selection tells a story too

Bob Dylan’s “Simple Twist of Fate” shares the programme with Jackson Browne’s “Fountain of Sorrow” and John Prine’s “Hello in There”. “Never Dreamed You’d Leave in Summer” brings a connection with Stevie Wonder’s repertoire. These choices make the track list worth considering in its own right: personal memory, narrated lives and interpretation meet on one record.

With the borrowed compositions, listen to how Baez carries her voice through the melody. Which words receive emphasis within a phrase, and where does she leave a pause? There is no need to nominate a winning version. A familiar composition provides a reference point for following the decisions made by this particular singer.

Joni Mitchell joins the voices

Joni Mitchell contributes a vocal improvisation to “Dida”. This is a different kind of meeting from covering one of her songs: two voices occupy the same musical space directly. Guitarist Larry Carlton, keyboard player Joe Sample, drummer Jim Gordon and woodwind player Tom Scott are also among the album’s musicians.

The closing “I Dream of Jeannie / Danny Boy” medley is dedicated to Baez’s grandmother, Barbara Bridge. Between the autobiographical associations of the title song and this family dedication lies a programme with several personal connections. Continuing beyond “Diamonds & Rust” reveals how the famous opening song belongs to a carefully assembled album.

This double LP and its tape source

AAPF 175-45 presents the 1975 studio album on two 180-gram LPs at 45 RPM. Matthew Lutthans mastered it at The Mastering Lab, with pressing by Quality Record Pressings. Analogue Productions explicitly identifies a flat half-inch tape copy of the original analogue master tape as the cutting source. The publisher specifies 2,000 numbered copies. The later live album Diamonds and Rust in the Bullring is a separate recording and is not part of this edition.

Michael 45 holds the edition in Germany and ships it from Hilden, allowing customers in Germany and the EU to order without arranging a personal US import or waiting for customs processing.

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Musicians

Documented selection of participating musicians. Personnel may vary by track; this list does not claim to be complete.