judy collins: paradise

Legendary folkie and political activist Judy Collins may now be in her seventies but her voice remains as clear as a mountain stream. Paradise, her first release since 2007’s Sings Lennon & McCartney, draws on that half century of musical experience to rich interpretative effect. The “hopeless jumble” that opens ‘Over The Rainbow’ (and the album) has been loved and abused by many over the years, but Collins turns in a comforting rendition that swaps wide-eyed youthful hope for mature reflection on a lived life. A pair of notable duets crop up; Collins is joined by Stephen Stills on Tom Paxton’s ‘Last Thing On My Mind’, creating a homely slice of rustic Americana, while Joan Baez helps lend a melancholy note to her own 1975 composition ‘Diamonds & Rust’. The two voices interweave in their similarities, rescuing Baez’s meditation on the passage of time from its status as a prime candidate for questionable cover versions.

Elsewhere, the cowboy legend of ‘Ghost Riders In The Sky‘, always pure spaghetti western, is barely saved by Collins despite being temptingly soaked in the finest country cliché, and on ‘Emilio’ her voice is lost beneath the soft schmaltz of the Spanish guitar. Dead señoritas are swapped for dead soldiers on Tim Buckley’s ‘Once I Was’, Collins re-affirming her political concerns with tender effect, and the contemporary smalltown folk of Amy Speace’s ‘Weight Of The World’ turns out to be a beautifully evocative piece of clarified storytelling. There are spirits abroad trying to ease her mind, and on folk staple ‘Dens Of Yarrow’ those spirits find their purest voice. With an arrangement guaranteed to prompt goosebumps, Collins’ great gift for interpreting the tradition comes to the fore. Haunting yet warm, it’s an interpretation that will stand alongside the best of her lengthy career.

[Wildflower; June 8, 2010]

Written by: Martyn Clayton

Tags: joan baez, judy collins, paradise

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 25th, 2010 at 9:04 am and is filed under albums & EPs, reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.