Born to the Breed : A Tribute to Judy Collins

This album is a wonderful tribute to Judy Collins' underappreciated career as a song writer. All of Ms Collins hits have been written by others -- Both Sides Now, Someday Soon, Amazing Grace. But she has a wonderful catalog of her own songs. This album contains her own songs covered and interpreted by other artists.

Ms Collins's songs tend to be rather melancholy and poetic. In the original recordings, she frequently accompanies herself on the piano with highly romantic sweeping arpeggioes that keep the song in a constant fluid and floral motion. Rufus Wainwright's cover of the dreamlike "Albatross" maintains this arrangement. But many of the songs have been stripped of their original romanticism down to more austere roots: Shawn Colvin's version of "Secret Gardens," Dar Williams on "Weaver Song (Song for Holly Ann)" and Chrissie Hydne's version of "My Father." These new arrangements all work beautifully and let long time fans hear the songs freshly.

With the range of artists here, the songs get a range of treatments from classic folk to country (a fun take on "Fisherman's Song" by Dolly Parton) to Broadway (a warbling Bernadette Peters on "Trust Your Heart") to a surprising techno-dance take on "Che" that actually works.

With the range of styles, every listener will find things they love and things that just don't quite work for them.

Overall, however, this is a really strong collection of songs and arrangements. With live musicians, the songs all have a real freshness to them and haven't been overproduced (the techno infused "Che" being the one exception).

I've been a big fan of Judy Collins for a long time. I adore her stuff from the 70's and 80's. In my opinion, she's made some real missteps late in her career with low budget, throwaway collections of Broadway and "classic folk" songs among others. I was a little apprehensive this would be another low budget affair, but thankfully it's not.

For any long time fan or anyone who really isn't familiar with her work, this is an absolutely wonderful collection of songs written by Judy Collins. From reading the little blurb that Amazon put for this album, it sounds like Ms. Collins produced the album herself. This was obviously a labor of love and she has to be thrilled with the result. It's a fitting tribute to a career that's spanned five decades. I highly recommend it.

There are some wonderful interpretations of original Judy Collins songs by very well known artists, most notably Chrissie Hynde on "My Father," the unexpected and truly gorgeous "Trust Your Heart," warbled by Bernadette Peters, and a dream come true, Baez doing my all-time favorite Collins song, "Since You've Asked." None other than Jimmy Webb himself croons "The Fallow Way," to roughly elegant effect. The younger generations offer their takes on Judy, too. Rufus Wainwright does a knockout quasi-classical rendition of "Albatross," and while staying faithful to the Collins arrangement, he manages to make it his own. Dar Williams, once mentored by Baez, has grown into a unique, contemporary folk artist, as has Shawn Colvin. Colvin's "Secret Gardens" felt rushed to me, but then I was comparing it to Judy's own version, surely one of her own finest recorded moments, to be fair I listened a few times; after a while Shawn's subtle and quicker version is growing on me. The little-known songs "Easy Times" and "Weaver Song (Holly's Song)," done by Jim Lauderdale and Dar Williams, respectively, are also highlights of this recording. Dolly Parton throws her hat into the ring with a spirited version of "Fisherman's Song," and Leonard Cohen himself shows up to recite a reprise of "Since You've Asked.

But the Judy cover that impressed me the most was not by a super famous act: that's "Fortune Of Soldiers," by The Webb Sisters, whom I think topped the Collins original (the only song representing the FIRES OF EDEN album). The unusual version of "Che" by James Mudriczki also deserves special note. I wonder how popular it will be with some Judy Collins and/or folk fans, but I like this one a lot. It is the one entry that truly took a risk. Sort of Clannad meets Gypsy Kings, gets mixed up with a Techno Lounge Lizard (think Cerrone), and surrenders to a DJ. Psychedelic, man.

Few tribute albums in recent memory, mine anyway, have as many fine performances. This is what a tribute record should be. Each of these artists did it their own way, and this meant that some of the tracks were relatively unchallenging. Doesn't matter, because most of them give it their all, too. Letting in some younger musicians was a good move, and while this may or may not be a Judy Collins vanity project (she's founder and CEO of the Wildflower music label, which released this), a wide range of interpretations and musical styles, with some artists totally hitting theirs out of the ballpark, combine to provide an insightful overview of an influential, iconic songwriter and vocal stylist.

I was only disappointed by two things about this fairly generous album (it's over an hour long): no one writing about Judy Collins. I would have liked at least a few brief sentences from each performer, and a nice little bio would have been good, too. The second thing is entirely subjective, and that's the absence of "Home Before Dark" and the title song from one of Judy's best (and underappreciated) albums, FIRES OF EDEN. "Song For Judith (Open The Door)" was another one I'd hoped somebody would do, and although this was a tribute to Judy the writer more than the performer, Sandy Denny's "Who Knows Where The Time Goes" would have made a fitting finale. Maybe somebody like Annie Lennox or k. d. lang could do that one - maybe together! And why didn't Joni Mitchell show up? Her "Both Sides Now" helped get Mitchell noticed, but it was also a HUGE hit for Judy... Okay, so much for wishful thinking - this is still a very fine tribute, so I'm giving it five.

I must say upon purchasing this cd, i didn't know what to expect. However, each of the songs on here are a great tribute to Judy Collins long under rated career as an interpreter and songwriter. I believe each artist was paired well with each song. All songs stand well on their own and have been updated to the current folk style. Joan Baez, Ms. Colvin, Dolly Parton, Dar Williams, and Ms. Hyde and the haunting, Trust Your Heart sung by Bernadette Peters are perfect matches. However, i was quite surprised at the very innovative take on Che. My opinoin it is a cross between the techno style that one would hear in a club. Although, my die-hard traditional folkies might frown at the CHE song, i believe it is a A GREAT UNIQUE INTERPRETATION to a great song from her True Stories CD. I GIVE THIS CD A 5 STAR BASED ON THE UNIQUENESS OF THIS SONG.The closure of Leonard Cohen reciting Since You Asked as a Spoken song, was a great innovative closure to a wonderful set. The only drawback is that i would have liked to see maybe Ms Collins and Ms. Baez do a duet on this cd. A couple of songs ignored from the 1980's (Shoot First--from Home Again) and from the 1990's (The Blizzard or Home Before Dark) from the Fires of Eden cd were ignored. I wonder why?