Come from the Shadows
1972 studio album by Joan Baez

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".
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.
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.
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.
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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.