POP MUSIC REVIEW : JOAN BAEZ OFFERS A TOUCH OF THE NEW AT UNIVERSAL

Joan Baez demonstrated Wednesday at the Universal Amphitheatre just what it is that has carried her from the Greenwich Village coffee houses of 25 years ago through Woodstock to the recent Amnesty International concerts: perspective.

The key to this was found not in her message songs--like many of her ilk, she tends toward smug political correctness--but in the often self-deprecating sense of humor revealed through some funny, surprising selections and a string of witty asides. How self-righteous can someone be while singing the Diamonds’ ‘50s classic “Little Darlin’,” complete with the original’s hiccuppy and falsetto interjections?

Baez seems to have benefited from her experiences on the Amnesty tour, as reflected in her choices of such contemporary topical songs as Peter Gabriel’s moving “Biko” and a medley of U2’s Martin Luther King tribute “MLK” and Pink Floyd’s (!) “Hold On to the Dream.” On these, Baez, accompanied by pianist Ceasar Cancino, transcended her over-formalized folk setting, which earlier undermined a version of Bob Marley’s “No Woman No Cry” (dedicated to Philippines President Corazon Aquino).

Still, too much time was spent looking back at past glories. And by looking back, someone in Baez’s position risks not just seeing, as baseball great Satchel Paige said, that something’s gaining on her, but that things have passed her by.

One who’s certainly been passed by is Don McLean, who preceded Baez with a largely soporific set that nonetheless was given almost as much adulation as Baez’s by the upscale, nostalgia-crazed audience waiting for (and ultimately rewarded with) “American Pie.”

Opening act Livingston Taylor showed remarkable physical and vocal resemblance to his big bro James, though with more emphasis on sugary whimsy.