Diamonds

there is nevertheless much that is valuable on Diamonds, the trouble is that, despite Tobler's opinion, the A&M period was less "a commercially and artistically profitable" one than a transitional and uneven one for Baez, so that selectivity is the key to a good compilation, and she is not best represented by her covers of songs better known in the versions recorded by their authors (John Lennon's "Imagine," John Prine's "Hello In There") or by the umpteenth performances of songs from her Vanguard period ("Love Is Just a Four Letter Word"). Rather, this was a period when Baez was emerging as a writer. But Tobler has excluded many of her originals in favor of retreads. So, don't waste your money: if you want a good sampler, get the Greatest Hits; if you want more, go ahead and buy the full-length albums that have been oddly truncated here.