BAPTISM features Joan Baez singing and reading poems and prose by Walt Whitman, Federico Garcia Lorca, James Joyce, William Blake, Arthur Rimbaud and others, to the accompaniment of scores by Peter Schickele.

Personnel includes: Joan Baez (vocals); Peter Schickele (conductor).

Recorded at Vanguard's 23rd St. Studio, New York.

Probably Joan Baez's artiest record, and therefore one not widely appreciated by many folk traditionalists, 1968's BAPTISM is partly traditional folk songs and partly readings and musical settings of poetry and prose by authors like Walt Whitman, Federico Garcia Lorca, James Joyce, William Blake and Arthur Rimbaud. The whole is arranged and produced by Peter Schickele--better-known as classical-comedy composer/performer P.D.Q. Bach and host of the public radio program Schickele Mix--and in many ways, this is much more a Peter Schickele album than a Joan Baez album. Baroquely over-orchestrated and exceedingly precious, most of BAPTISM works in spite of itself, largely due to the wit of Schickele's arrangements. Traditional folk fans may not like this at all, but fans of Van Dyke Parks or Judy Collins' collaborations with Joshua Rifkin may really enjoy it.

Rolling Stone (10/12/68, p.29) - "...BAPTISM is an intriguing collection of poetry and prose sung and spoken by Miss Baez. It is also an intensely personal vision communicated through a legacy of shared insights spanning several centuries..."

Spirituality & Health (Vol. 7, No. 2, p.68) - ?Rarely has a voice in American pop music rung with such a lastingly moral tone.?

Mojo (Publisher) (p.130) - 4 stars out of 5 - "[I]ntriguing, arty, angry, experimental..."