Customer Reviews
One of the best...... - By: Mr. B. May, 21 Apr 2006 
Having bought the single way backin the 70's when it was first released & heard what seemed the fashionable comment at the time that "some records were too good for the charts" I wanted to buy the album when funds permitted. No disappointments - this is a classic that doesn't waste a track. Differentin style to other albums that Joan Baez has done but more than worth hearing & at a fantastic price. Buy, play, enjoy, you will not regret.
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DIAMONDS AND RUST DELIVERS... - By: Lawyeraau, 19 Feb 2003 
This is an excellent CD from a more mature Joan Baez. Her own musical composition, "Diamonds & Rust", which is the signature song on the CD, is simply outstanding, both lyrically & melodically. Couple it with her own glorious set of pipes, & what one has is a winner! It is simply a beautiful song, sung beautifully.
This CD clearly shows a transition from the more folk based earlier CDs to one which is a little more contemporaryin feel, with lusher and, yes, more commercial musical arrangements. There, I said it. Which is not to imply that it is bad. It is simply a change & a different direction than that which had been previously taken by Ms. Baez. Best of all, it works!
Clearly, she can make the transition to a wider audiencein this fashion, & she deserves to be heard by as many people as is possible, such is her talent. This CD holds many pleasant surprisesin store for the listener.
Masterpiece of moving love songs - By: Pieter, 30 Nov 2002 Masterpiece of moving love songs
This elegant album is a seamless blend of her own & others' literate but moving love songs & just a nod to her folk rootsin the medley of I Dream Of Jeannie/Danny Boy. She covers songs by Jackson Browne, Stevie Wonder, Dylan, John Prine & others, while contributing her beautiful own compositions like the title track, Children And All That Jazz, Winds Of The Old Days (reminiscent of Gulf Winds) & Dida. Her interpretation of Browne's Fountain Of Sorrow is particularly poignant, & so is Jesse, the Janis Ian song. Another classic is the reflective Winds Of The Old Days. Unlike some of her ventures into the art songin the 1980's, this album really works, as she sings with warmth & conviction & make the songs her own. Diamonds & Rust is a successful move away from her pure folk roots.
Joan Baez writes a really great song about her and Dylan - By: , 16 Nov 2002 I have been mulling over the idea that "Diamonds & Rust" is the best folk album of the Seventies, & it has made me realize that I am always going to think of Bob Dylan as being a folksinger even when his guitar is electric. So I would still give the nod to "Blood on the Tracks," especially since that is where Joan Baez's cover of "Simple Twist Of Fate" comes from. But I have no problem with the idea that this is the best Joan Baez album & no doubt whatsoever that "Diamonds & Rust" is her greatest accomplishment as a songwriter...
Of course the song is about Dylan "the unwashed phenomenon"; what else would make more perfect sense? More importantly, the elegance of the dichotomy offered by those two words is simple genius, which inspires instant recognition on the part of the listener. My biggest compliment that would be "Diamonds & Rust" is the best Dylan songs not written by Dylan. Baez has never sounded any better than she does on this album. In addition to the title song my other favorites are "Hello In There" & "Jesse." The argument can certainly be made by armchair psychologists that the title song was an important catharsis for Baez, which could explain the dramatic improvementin both her songwriting & singing. The latter is probably less obvious simply because Baez & Judy Collins were the standards by which all female folk singers were judgedin the Sixties & Seventies. But I think it is obvious that her rich soprano voice with its distinctive vibrato never sounded better. Still, that title song is just so impressive. I would have to say it is one of the ten best songs of the Seventies.
Yes, "Tangled Upin Blue" would also be on that list on diamonds.
