Noël (Joan Baez album)

Noël
Studio album by Joan Baez
Released November 21, 1966
Recorded 1966
Genre Folk, Christmas
Length 41:00
Label Vanguard
Producer Maynard Solomon
Joan Baez chronology

Farewell Angelina
(1965)		 Noël
(1966)		 Joan
(1967)

Noël is a Christmas album by Joan Baez, released in 1966. Working with composer Peter Schickele (PDQ Bach), Baez, for the first time, recorded an album outside the standard guitar-based folk format. (She would go on to work with Schickele on her next two albums, both of which also featured classical orchestration).

Unlike holiday albums by many other popular artists, Baez included mostly traditional material, avoiding more lighthearted or commercial fare in favor of a somber, understated tone. She included both familiar ("The Little Drummer Boy") and more obscure ("Down in Yon Forrest") material. The album also contains several brief instrumental selections arranged by Schickele.

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Track listing

  1. "O come, O come, Emmanuel" (Traditional)
  2. "Coventry Carol" (Traditional)
  3. "Good King Wenceslas" (Traditional) - instrumental
  4. "The Little Drummer Boy" (K. Davis, H. Onorati, H. Simeone)
  5. "I Wonder As I Wander" (J. Niles)
  6. "Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella" - instrumental
  7. "Down in Yon Forest" (Traditional)
  8. "The Carol of the Birds" (Traditional)
  9. "Angels We Have Heard on High" (Traditional) - instrumental
  10. "Ave Maria" (Franz Schubert) (sung in German)
  11. "Mary's Wandering" (Traditional)
  12. "Deck the Halls" (Traditional) - instrumental
  13. "Away in a Manger" (J. Murray)
  14. "Adeste Fideles (O Come, all ye Faithful)" (Traditional) - instrumental
  15. "Cantique de Noël (O Holy Night)" (A. Adam)
  16. "What Child Is This" (Traditional)
  17. "Silent Night" (F. Gruber)

A 2001 CD reissue of the album included the following bonus tracks:

  1. "The First Noel" (Traditional)
  2. "We Three Kings" (Traditional) - instrumental
  3. "Virgin Mary" (Traditional)
  4. "Good Christian Kings" (Traditional) - instrumental
  5. "Burgundian Carol" (Traditional)
  6. "Away in a Manger" (J. Murray) - alternate version sung in French