Search - Buffy Sainte-Marie :: She Used to Wanna Be a Ballarina

Buffy's Best Collection

Chino | US | 06/24/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Buffy is often forgotten among the group of female singers, like Joan Baez and Judy Collins, who sang protest songs in the 70's but Buffy is among the best. The war protest songs "Moratorium" and "Song of the French Partisan" are some of the most moving in the collection. "Soldier Blue" gives a lump in the throat when you listen. The title track "She Used to Wanna Be a Ballerina" touches everyones sense that their hopes and dreams when they were young were never met. All the tracks are a pleasure to listen to, but each listener will have a sense that one or two speak for their soul."

An album of scope and attainment

Steven Thornton | East Bentleigh, Victoria Australia | 09/24/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I first bought this record 25 years ago and subsequently replaced it with the c.d. Few artists could match the range and strength of what is her most complete recording. The fact that Buffy wrote about half the album and the choices she made in selecting songs to cover, make this a certain Desert Island Disc. HIGHLIGHTS:1 The stunning version of Neil Young's Helpless with it's thumping drums, lamentive lyric and authorative vocal. Buffy expresses the meaning of the song so well. 2 The Surfer, Stratospheric vocal-has to be heard to be believed. 3 Song of the French Partisan- earily melancholic. 4 Now You've Been Gone-An acoustic treat. Other delights await. One of my all-time favourite album's from an artist who truly deserves the epithet."

Poorly Remastered

Music Fan | NYC | 07/19/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"A somewhat dated sounding album from Buffy--you can tell it was from the late 1960s/early 1970s based on the arrangements and instrumentation. Still, even dated sounding, I really enjoy the album since Buffy's vocals are never dated. Some of the songs feature simple piano backing and some have more rockish elements. Her performance of Carole King's Smackwater Jack is one of my favorite Buffy performances. The real problem with the CD however is that it was really poorly remastered. I don't know if the engineer was having a bad day or something, but a number of cuts have bad feedback and distortion that was not on the original album. It almost sounds like Vanguard lost the master tape and remastered this from a used LP. Vanguard is one of the least user friendly labels these days and often issues the original CD for a few years and then a new version with bonus tracks, so that collectors have to shell out additional money. To the extent they ever get around to re-issuing this album as an expanded CD version, hopefully they will give it the proper remastering that the album deserves."