Joan Baez 1960. debut LP

The Album-that-has-launched-thousands-of-imitations presents very young but already dead serious and determined Joan Baez in a sparse voice & guitar frame, singing traditional folk songs that in 1960. came as a breath of fresh air to everybody tired of heavily orchestrated pop music of the time.

In a industry still crowded with arrangers, big bands and session players, Baez album was in its way revolutionary - deceptively simple folk songs could be played in any student room, had a romantic appeal of old-time stories (all those "maidens" gone wrong like in famous "House of the Rising Sun") and in spite of humble origins, this music sounded far more arty & literate than any of the hits of pop charts. Just listen to "John Riley", "Mary Hamilton" or "Henry Martin" and it's easy to understand why audience all over the world swooned to this strange album full of stories - even today, this music sounds haunting and hypnotic but it's not a communal experience, like all the best folk albums it's best appreciated when listened alone and it might even inspire you to pick up a guitar.

Baez of course was fantastic from the very first moment - she was probably born to do this.

Some might say she was too serious but her refusal to play the business game and pose as smiley cheesecake was a very strong attitude against commercialism that at that time polluted music. She would milk traditional songbook for a few more years,than turn her attention to contemporary songwriters notably one "unwashed phenomenon" who rose to fame because of her support. Half a century after its original release album still sounds magical - if her later albums sound squarely placed in their retrospective decades by than-current music arrangements, Baez debut it timeless because voice-and-guitar music could be played anytime,anywhere and still sound appealing.

Personal favorite: "East Virginia". Loved it from the first moment way back and still do. The closing song "El Preso Numero Nueve" hints at the future - Baez would not only re-record it for her spanish-language album but use it in her anti-war crusades. It might have been fight with windmills but it gave her dignity and purpose.