Golden Hour, Vol. 2

AMG Review of Golden Hour, Vol. 2

Dave Thompson
All Music Guide

The Golden Hour, Vol. 2 picks up precisely where its predecessor left off, by continuing to scratch the surface of Joan Baez's career in search of the performances that would most entertain the casual listener. And it succeeds at least as well as volume one, and that despite the very cream of the crop having already been devoured. The formula remains the same, a blending of raditional folk numbers ("Silver Dagger," "House Carpenter"), contemporary balladeering (Paul Simon's "Dangling Conversation"), and the ubiquitous Dylan -- "North Country Blues," "Love Is Just a Four Letter Word." But "Joe Hill" spirals out of her landmark Woodstock performance, and there is no better version of "Banks of the Ohio" than hers. Of course there are far weightier introductions to Baez on the market today, but still the Golden Hour -- both volumes -- holds its own alongside a lot of them.