Who Knows Where the Time Goes

By the late 1960s, Judy Collins was hitting her stride and approaching her peak. Her albums were stocked with the finest emerging songwriters, her voice was in ear-raising form and her album productions struck the correct balance between their folk roots, their art song ambitions and the demands of radio. With a stellar backing ensemble, Collins tackles two Leonard Cohen tunes, the iconic “Bird On the Wire” and the Biblically haunting “Story of Isaac.” Ian Tyson’s “Someday Soon” became a standard. Bob Dylan’s slightly more obscure “Poor Immigrant” and Sandy Denny’s title track are the virtual definition of Collins’ constant sophistication with the modern folk song. Collins’ own “My Father” adds a personal note to the proceedings. However, she hardly needs to pen her own songs to convey her deep emotional connection to the material. The Incredible String Band’s “First Boy I Loved” could have come the pages of her own diary considering the intimacy she conveys. Who Knows Where The Time Goes is a career highpoint and an absolute essential of the era.