In the '60s and '70s Joan Baez was a folk empress, leader in the anti-war movement and all that jib-jab. She still speaks and sings at protests and does the whole aging-hippie thing wonderfully, but like many other old peaceniks, she has kind of lost her edge. Her new album _Day After Tomorrow_ still features Baez's fantastic voice, but the album fails to replicate the fantastic drama of her earlier work.
Unlike great songs Silver Dagger"" or ""SONG"" the instrumentation plays a much smaller role, acting as a frame for Baez's vocals. _Day After Tomorrow_ features some great collaborators like Elvis Costello, Steve Earle and Tom Waits, but their presence is subtle, and listeners have to stretch their ears just to pick out the help. Taken as a whole, almost every song blends into the next in a way an inattentive listener would barely know it had changed.
The album is pleasant and easy listening, great for the people that grew up at the same time as Baez. It is perfect for a lazy day around the house or in the hybrid, but not for those times when you just want to stick it to the man. As a folk album _Day After Tomorrow_ is fine, but it does not invigorate or pull on heart strings the way a great folk album should.
As a rule, most generally lend skepticism toward any album with phrases like ""day after tomorrow,"" and that holds true here. Any album that places such low emphasis on its title, the first contact most listeners will have with the piece, usually turns out to be lazily compiled. Baez spent a lot of this album covering the work of her collaborators, but rather than taking the songs to a new or higher level she simply puts them into folk format.
With _Day After Tomorrow_ Joan Baez seems to say ""I am still around, working with popular, talented, relevant people, listen to me."" It is a fine album, but only in the sense that Baez has a beautiful voice, even with Steve Earle producing, the instrumentation is a behind the scenes character. It is lackluster, still up to par, good but not great.
