Day After Tomorrow

• Brand: BAEZ,JOAN
• Day After Tomorrow

Amazon.co.uk Joan Baez, whose career spans five super-impressive decades, proves she is still a force to be reckoned with on this 24th studio album. Focusing on major topics like wartime, religion and death, Baez has teamed up with Steve Earle, who has not only produced the album but contributed three songs (two new compositions, and an a cappella version of his "Jericho Road"). As on previous collections, what makes this particular record a resounding success is the choice of songs. Baez covers tunes by Eliza Gilkyson, Diana Jones, Elvis Costello, T-Bone Burnett, as well as British songwriter Thea Gilmore. Though the compositions are generally upbeat, the mood is reflective as Baez's famed soprano--shorn of some of its top notes by now--weaves its spell over these largely acoustic numbers. The standout song is perhaps the title track, an affecting Iraq War ballad originally penned by Tom Waits. Where Waits typically performs it in his inimitably grizzled manner, Baez plays it gently, accompanied by insouciant acoustic guitar, subsequently transforming it into an even more human and fragile moment. A dazzling collection. --Danny McKenna Product Description Recorded in Nashville, the 10-track album features an all-acoustic band consisting of Tim O’Brien, Darrell Scott, Viktor Krauss, Kenny Malone and Steve Earle. Earle notes the importance in choosing the lineup of players, explaining the need to find musicians that, “would bring the requisite virtuosity, as well as the appropriate reverence, to a record that would celebrate the 50th year of a remarkable career.” Of the assembled group, Earle says, “Within seconds of the first downbeat it was obvious that we had assembled the right crew. The band dug deep and found the pulse of the song and then Joan breathed life into it, and we all knew that we were a part of something special.” Highlights on the record include the Tom Waits-penned title track “Day After Tomorrow,” the Academy Award and Grammy Award-nominated song “Scarlet Tide,” written by Elvis Costello and T-Bone Burnett and “God is God,” one of three songs Steve Earle wrote especially for the project. Of the selected material, Baez notes, “It’s been a long time since I’ve had an entire album of songs that speak to the essence of who I am in the same way as the songs that have been the enduring backbone of my repertoire for the past 50 years.” Tracks: God Is God / Rose Of Sharon / Scarlet Tide / Day After Tomorrow / Henry Russell's Last Words / I Am A Wanderer / Mary / Requiem / The Lower Road / Jericho Road. Review It's heartening, even moving, to see such a venerated artist refusing to rest on her laurels, and seeking out new frontiers instead. -- The Daily Telegraph September 5 2008