Pop Reviews : Collins Strikes a Balance at the Greek

For anyone who came up through the ‘60s, the name Judy Collins immediately summons a heady, happy voice singing “Rows and flows of angel hair and ice cream castles in the air.”

It’s still those opening lines from her version of Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now” that churn up the Woodstock-generation memories. Collins acquiesced to audience demand on Sunday at the Greek Theatre, but she offered a new arrangement featuring a tricky time change and radically different phrasing.

Keeping the song fresh for her and her audience is professional technique. But the real heart and soul came with a dramatic reading of “Send in the Clowns.” The song touches on mid-life career crises and reflection, and it obviously has special significance for a performer who has gradually passed from pop prominence.

Collins is trying to strike a balance between past achievement and current viability. Her show omitted some of her better-known originals (“My Father”) and interpretations (“Who Knows Where the Time Goes,” “Suzanne”) in favor of new compositions that often centered on themes of emotional refuge and the passing of youthful idealism.

Though in the past her voice has sounded increasingly frail, on Sunday the high, strong, dulcet tones were fully empowered with an amazing grace. And when she dropped the show-biz stuff in favor of a warm, slightly mysterious and haunting version of Leonard Cohen’s “Joan of Arc,” Collins achieved the purity and transcendence of timeless art.