Track Listing

1. Sailing
2. Many a Mile to Freedom
3. Miracles
4. Yellow Coat
5. Time Rag
6. Heartfelt Line or Two
7. I'm Blowin' Away
8. Luba the Baroness
9. Alter Boy and the Thief
10. Cry Me a River

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #156471 in Music
• Released on: 2000-01-01
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

No, you are not the only person who likes this album
The other reviews of this album make good points; it is not what I would recommend to someone wanting to buy their first Baez album. You have to know her work a bit to appreciate how different this album is compared to her albums prior to the release of "Blowin' Away". You would also have to know that she had just changed labels to "Portrait", a subsidiary of CBS Records. There is a small enclosure that came with the vinyl album when it was released in 1977 showing some recording "execs" trying to explain to Ms. Baez what they are hoping this album will be like; she sums up their blather with the comment "More commerical?" It may not be a milestone, but it is definitely unique, almost an oddity in Ms. Baez' work. And quite listenable.

"Time Rag" shows her spirit and probably represents what this album is, perhaps, about; "Rippin' along toward middle age/and my music career kinda missed a page". How well I believe most of Ms. Baez', um, "mature" fans can relate to that these days! And I've heard other versions of "Cry Me A River", but this is the one I think of more often than not - has more of a "bite" and bitterness to it than some of the more maudlin versions. "Yellow Coat" is similar to "Diamonds & Rust" in theme; people drift apart and are left with... ? However, when I bought the vinyl album in 1977 - yes I am quite ancient - I was most taken with "Altar Boy and The Thief". You would have to be quite young and just coming to terms with being gay to understand what such a song meant. That someone of Ms. Baez's stature and talent would have even bothered to write such a song, let alone put it on an album, in 1977, with a new recording company? Amazing.

As other reviews have pointed out, there are some excellent songs on this album, some may not be Baez at her peak, but overall it is an album I have listened to often since 1977 and that I still enjoy listening to - that makes it 5 stars for me!

Makes for a most enjoyable listen
As others have noted, BLOWIN' AWAY is hardly a milestone recording. What it is, is a gentle collection of songs, some self-penned, that allow us the pleasure of once more listening to Baez's inimitable voice. Among the noteworthy cuts are "Time Rag", a barb in rap about yellow journalism and "The Alter Boy and the Thief," a sweet portrait of a gay bar.

This is ideal listening for a rainy day.

Not for the unitiated
I have been a fan of Ms. Baez for nearly as long as she has been performing and recording. (I once drove 430 miles to see her in concert.) I had a very good collection of vinyl and 8-track at one time, but time has take care of them. Now I'm rebuilding and this is a good album, but I cannot in good conscience recommend it to those who do not know her work. There are many other albums which would be preferable to the novice. I found three of the cuts exceptional and all likeable (there is very little she has ever done which is not likeable). Sailing, Luba the Baroness, and Blowin' Away (title song) are the three exceptionals in that order. Cry Me a River is not her genre. She does it very well, but it's a definite "who cares?" I could certainly have done without it. Buy it if you are well prepared and knowledgeable, otherwise find another.