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Come from the Shadows

1972 studio album by Joan Baez

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 2, 2026
Entity authorityQ2985140
Source-derived summary

Come from the Shadows is the thirteenth studio album (and fifteenth overall) by Joan Baez, released in 1972. After recording for the independent label Vanguard for more than a decade, Baez signed with A&M and attempted to point her career in a slightly more "commercial" direction (though the album still had overtly political overtones). In addition to her own compositions such as "Prison Trilogy", "Love Song to a Stranger", "Myths", and "To Bobby" (addressed to Bob Dylan), Baez included John Lennon's "Imagine", Anna Marly's "Song of the Partisan", and Mimi Fariña's "In the Quiet Morning (for Janis Joplin)".

"In the Quiet Morning" and "Love Song to a Stranger" were released as singles. The album was recorded at Quadrafonic Sound Studios in Nashville. The cover photo features an elderly couple being arrested at an anti-war protest, holding hands and flashing peace signs as they are led away.

The album's liner notes feature a Baez quote: "...In 1972 if you don't fight against a rotten thing you become a part of it."

The album peaked at No. 48 on the US Billboard Top LPs & Tape and at No. 41 on the Canadian album charts.

Critical reception

Noel Coppage from Stereo Review was underwhelmed by the album, finding much of it "merely generally pleasant" and "poorly constructed".

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Come from the Shadows” is 1972 studio album by Joan Baez. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Come, Shadows and studio, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewBest approached as a cultural-object dossier: authorship and date matter, but circulation and reception often explain the wider significance. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1972—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1972-05. For this dossier, Come, Shadows and studio is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “1972 studio album by Joan Baez” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 2, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2985140. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1972.

Critical limits

Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Come from the Shadows”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Come from the Shadows primary sources, Come from the Shadows archive and Come research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Come from the Shadows”?
  2. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
  3. Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
Subject index

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Come from the Shadows” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.