Diamonds (1996)

About this title: The same year that A&M U.S. released the single-disc, 20-track Greatest Hits, A&M U.K. released this double-disc, 33-track compilation from the same period of Joan Baez's career, i.e., her five-year, five-album sojourn at the label from 1972 to 1976. You'd figure that this one would get the nod over the shorter American disc, right? Wrong. Compiler John Tobler, who also wrote the perfunctory liner notes, devotes the first disc to abbreviated versions of Baez's first A&M album, Come from the Shadows (nine of 12 tracks), and her third, Diamonds & Rust (eight of 11), and the second disc to an ... read more

Tracks:

1. Prison Trilogy (Billy Rose) [Baez]
2. Rainbow Road [Fritts/Penn]
3. Love Song to a Stranger [Baez]
4. Myths [Baez]
5. In the Quiet Morning [Farina]
6. To Bobby [Baez]
7. Song of Bangladesh [Baez]
8. Tumbleweed [Van Arnsdale]
9. Imagine [Lennon]
10. Diamonds & Rust [Baez]
11. Fountain of Sorrow [Browne]
12. Never Dreamed You'd Leave in Summer [Wonder]
13. Children and All That Jazz [Baez]
14. Simple Twist of Fate [Dylan]
15. Blue Sky [Betts]
16. Hello in There [Prine]
17. Jesse [Ian]
18. (Ain't Gonna Let Nobody) Turn Me Around [Traditional]
19. Suzanne [Cohen]
20. I Shall Be Released [Dylan]
21. Myths [Dylan]
22. Stewball [Herald/Rinzler/Yell]
23. The Ballad of Socco and Vanzetti [Baez/Morricone]
24. Joe Hill [Robinson/Hayes]
25. Love Is Just a Four Letter Word [Dylan]
26. Forever Young [Dylan]
27. Boulder to Birmingham [Harris/Danoff]
28. Swing Low, Sweet Chariot [Traditional]
29. Oh Happy Day [Hawkins]
30. Please Come to Boston [Loggins]
31. Lily, Rosemary and The Jack of Hearts [Dylan]
32. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down [Robertson]
33. Amazing Grace [Newton]

Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is further described below.