An Unremarkable, Faith-Based Compilation Ends My Study Of Joni Mitchell’s Works: The Beginning Of Survival.

The Good: Good lyrics, Good vocals, Some of the lyrics
The Bad: Musically murky and monotonous, Thematically overbearing, Overproduced
The Basics: The Beginning Of Survival by Joni Mitchell is a concept album that is overstated, overproduced, and unremarkable as far as compilation albums go.


I like concept albums, but I have a pretty low opinion in general of compilation albums. Most (not all) compilation albums provide no real value for loyal fans of a musical artist and are usually ways for record companies to make money off of previously-released material by an artist. In the case of Joni Mitchell, her compilation The Beginning Of Survival culls from a somewhat unremarkable period in the artist’s career and attempts to make a themed compilation album. The theme is spirituality and corruption in the modern world and while I applaud the idea of a concept compilation album, The Beginning Of Survival has unfortunately little to recommend it.

Long before I was done with my eighth listens to The Beginning Of Survival, it became somewhat painfully clear that when Joni Mitchell is singing about intellectual concepts and philosophical/theological problems, she tends to write songs that fit into a very tight niche. In other words, a good number of songs on The Beginning Of Survival sound like one another. The problem with the execution of that on The Beginning Of Survival is that the sound she comes out with is murky, overproduced (to the point that some of her smartest lyrics are overwhelmed by the instrumental accompaniment on the album) and oppressive. There is not a hummable tune on the album.

With sixteen songs, with over seventy-eight minutes of music, The Beginning Of Survival is a compilation that at least fills the disc! The Beginning Of Survival is the creative works of Joni Mitchell mashed together by producer Mike Ragogna. Are of the songs were written or co-written by Joni Mitchell, save Bob Nolan’s “Cool Water.” Joni Mitchell provides all of the lead vocals and she also plays guitar and keyboards on various tracks. How much creative control she had over the compilation itself is something of a mystery, but the pieces are very much hers.

All of the songs on The Beginning Of Survival come from a time when she was experimenting with more instruments and production elements. Gone is the “one woman and a guitar” folk sound that helped define early Joni Mitchell. Instead, The Beginning Of Survival is packed with guitars and keyboards are accompanied by bass and various drums on each and every track. Unlike many familiar Joni Mitchell albums, The Beginning Of Survival has the songs produced in such a way that the instrumental accompaniment frequently overwhelms the vocals. Sadly, The Beginning Of Survival has no truly compelling or memorable tunes that stick with the listener after they have turned the disc off.

Vocally, Joni Mitchell gives a familiar performance . . . save that her voice is harder to hear over the reverb, drum machines and instrumental production elements. Joni Mitchell has a dusty, lower vocal range on most of the songs on The Beginning Of Survival, though she has the ability to hold notes for a decent amount of time and go into the higher registers when she wants to. On The Beginning Of Survival, she seldom challenges her vocal chords and listeners are likely to be unsurprised by any of her performances on the album. She has a duskier sound to her vocals in the contemplative songs on The Beginning Of Survival. Utterly unsurprising to anyone who is a fan of Joni Mitchell, Mitchell has the ability to go into the soprano range and hold notes, which is cool, though she does it infrequently in the songs on this album.

Lyrically, The Beginning Of Survival is thematically focused on the plight of humanity and the corruption of spiritual aspects to commercial influences. Joni Mitchell’s songs are purposely focused to make a concept album, but the concept is overstated. Everything is bad on The Beginning Of Survival! As well, not all of the best songs were culled in order to make this compilation. Songs like “Lakota,” about the demise of the Native American Indians, lose their punch because of oft-repeated refrains (in this case the cry out of “I am Lakota!”). The song ends up as forgettable and indistinct instead of being potent and memorable.

That said, the messages in the songs on The Beginning Of Survival are good. Mitchell clearly had something to say when she wrote the lines “Hot winds and hunger cries – Ethiopia / Flies in your babies' eyes – Ethiopia / Walking sticks on burning plains / Betrayed by politics / Abandoned by the rains / On and on - the human need / On and on - the human greed profanes” (“Ethiopia”) and she makes that social message loud and clear. Mitchell can be a masterful writer and even this compilation captures that.

Mitchell is not without irony, either. There are very few widely-popular musical artists who still make clever stabs at organized religion. On The Beginning Of Survival, Joni Mitchell does! With lyrics like “Most girls come here pregnant / Some by their own fathers / Bridget got that belly / By her parish priest / We're trying to get things white as snow / All of us woe-begotten daughters / In the streaming stains / Of the Magdalene laundries / Prostitutes and destitute / And temptresses like me / Fallen women / Sentenced into dreamless drudgery / Why do they call this heartless place / Our Lady of Charity?” (“The Magdalene Laundries”), Mitchell mixes Biblical storytelling with contemporary issues in organized religion.

Even during the time period from which these songs were culled, there was more to Joni Mitchell’s albums than these focused songs. There is nothing new or unique on The Beginning Of Survival and one’s collection will easily survive without this compilation.

The best song is “The Beat Of Black Wings,” the low point is the unremarkable “The Three Great Stimulants.”

For other works by Joni Mitchell, please visit my reviews of:
Song To A Seagull
Ladies Of The Canyon
Blue
Turbulent Indigo
Taming The Tiger
Chalk Mark In A Rain Storm
Both Sides Now
Hits

3/10

For other music reviews, please check out my Music Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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More Produced Mitchell: Joni Mitchell Takes On More Sound With Chalk Mark In A Rain Storm!

The Good: Good lyrics, Good vocals, Growth in production
The Bad: Guest vocalists overwhelm, Lack of a hook, Short.
The Basics: With Chalk Mark In A Rain Storm, Joni Mitchell produces a very different sounding album, but one without an enduringly interesting sound to keep listeners coming back.


Sometimes, I think music fans and reviewers get so excited by a beloved musical artist doing something new that they do not stop long enough to objectively consider if the new direction is actually a good one. I applaud artistic creativity, but the simple act of creating does not make me completely re-evaluate the standards by which I listen to and evaluate a musical experience. In the case of Joni Mitchell, the moment I put Chalk Mark In A Rain Storm into my player, I knew I was listening to a very different Joni Mitchell album from any other Mitchell album I had heard. Right away, the heightened production and musical force behind the instrumental accompaniment (which was very late-1980s) sounded unlike anything I had heard from Joni Mitchell.

But even through my first of eight listens to Chalk Mark In A Rain Storm, I quickly came to realize that while Mitchell was experimenting more with sound and production, not all of those experiments played out well for her. Instead, Chalk Mark In A Rain Storm is a full-sounding but strangely indistinct album that sounds more repetitive than many of Joni Mitchell’s other albums. And, despite my love of musical albums as a medium without the need for a single, the more I listened to Chalk Mark In A Rain Storm, the more I realized that the album lacks a single hook. There is no defining or overly memorable single song on Chalk Mark In A Rain Storm that would be worthy of putting on a “Best Of” album by Joni Mitchell.

With only ten songs, clocking out at 46:11, one of the immediate detractions to Chalk Mark In A Rain Storm is its lack of duration. Even in 1988 when the album was originally released, compact discs could hold more music than this album presents, so for a prolific musical artist like Joni Mitchell, Chalk Mark In A Rain Storm represents a failure to live up to her potential on the front of presenting a volume of songs. That said, Chalk Mark In A Rain Storm is largely the creative vision of Joni Mitchell. Outside “A Bird That Whistles (Corrina, Corrina),” the songs are all written or co-written by Joni Mitchell. Joni Mitchell provides all of the lead vocals, though on Chalk Mark In A Rain Storm she employs several other famous musical notables for backing or duet vocals, which is a departure from her norm. Mitchell also plays guitar and keyboards on various tracks and on two of the songs, she was responsible for the drum programming. Given that Mitchell is credited as a co-producer of the album, it is hard not to imagine that she had enough creative control to produce and release the work that she intended.

That work is a far more musically-diverse album than most of Joni Mitchell’s works. A clear departure from the “one woman and a guitar” folk sound that helped define early Joni Mitchell, Chalk Mark In A Rain Storm is loaded up with instruments on each track. Numerous guitars and keyboards are accompanied by bass and various drums on each and every track. Unlike many familiar Joni Mitchell albums, Chalk Mark In A Rain Storm has the songs produced in such a way that the instrumental accompaniment frequently overwhelms the vocals. But even though there is a greater instrumental presence on the songs on Chalk Mark In A Rain Storm, there are no truly compelling or memorable tunes. Chalk Mark In A Rain Storm has a generic Adult Contemporary Light Pop-Rock sound to each and every track. The murky nature of the vocal production compared to the instrumental accompaniment makes for an indistinct listening experience.

Vocally, Joni Mitchell gives a familiar performance . . . save that her voice is harder to hear over the reverb, backing vocalists and instrumental production elements. Joni Mitchell has a dusty, lower vocal range on most of the songs on Chalk Mark In A Rain Storm, though she has the ability to hold notes for a decent amount of time and go into the higher registers when she wants to. On Chalk Mark In A Rain Storm, she seldom challenges her vocal chords and listeners are likely to be unsurprised by any of her performances on the album. On Chalk Mark In A Rain Storm, Joni Mitchell is accompanied on various tracks by Peter Gabriel, Billy Idol, Tom Petty and Don Henley. The backing vocals range from subtle (like Gabriel on “My Secret Place”) to overwhelming (Idol on “Dancing Clown”) to annoying (Willie Nelson on “Cool Water” is repetitive like scratching at a scab).

Lyrically, Chalk Mark In A Rain Storm is thematically rich, but often poorly executed. Joni Mitchell sings about a wide range of political issues, but she seems to run out of steam and ends up with a number of songs that are painfully repetitive. Songs like “Lakota,” about the demise of the Native American Indians, loses any punch it might have had by Joni Mitchell’s almost constant, numbing refrain of “I am Lakota.” The song ends up as forgettable and boring as opposed to meaningful.

In a similar fashion, “Cool Water” has a good message. When Joni Mitchell and Willie Nelson sing “All day I face the barren waste / Without a taste of water / Cool water / Old Dan and I / Our throats slate dry / Our spirits cry out for water / Cool clear water / Keep on movin' Dan / Some devils had a plan / Buried poison in the sand / Don't drink it man / It's in the water”(“Cool Water”), they clearly have something to say about an important issue. Unfortunately, they dilute their own message by repeating the title over and over again.

The album, however, has songs that have Joni Mitchell’s trademark sense of political and social activism. She creates a musical storysong that is one of the most poignant representations of a soldier’s angst with “The Beat Of Black Wings.” Singing for a sense of reason and pacifism, Joni Mitchell creates a musical protagonist who cries out, “’They gave me a gun,’ he said / ‘They gave me a mission / For the power and the glory-- / Propaganda--piss on 'em / There's a war zone inside me-- / I can feel things exploding-- / I can't even hear the fucking music playing / For the beat of--the beat of black wings’" (“The Beat Of Black Wings”). Mitchell has a well-rounded view of the struggle and anguish veterans and soldiers have and she manages to make it musical on that song.

Ultimately, though, the cons and pros about even out and while Joni Mitchell should be praised for her creativity on Chalk Mark In A Rain Storm, the musical creativity is largely overshadowed by the repetitive nature of the lyrics and the gimmicky quality of some of the guest vocals. In the end, the album is a wash; it’s not likely to make new Joni Mitchell fans, but it gives those who love her works something very different sounding to tune into when they get tired of her distinctive sound.

The best song is “The Beat Of Black Wings,” the low point is “Snakes And Ladders.”

For other works by Joni Mitchell, please visit my reviews of:
Song To A Seagull
Ladies Of The Canyon
Blue
Turbulent Indigo
Taming The Tiger
Both Sides Now
Hits

5/10

For other music reviews, please check out my Music Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Hits By Joni Mitchell Are Not All Her Best Works!

The Good: Lyrics, Most of the music is good, Vocal range
The Bad: Moments of vocals.
The Basics: With a long and varied career, any Hits album might be difficult for Joni Mitchell, but she gives it a fair shake.


As I finish off my exploration of the works of Joni Mitchell, I thought I should check out one of her (infrequent) compilation albums. When I was able to easily get in Hits, it almost seemed like kismet. Hits was a 1996 compilation and, not counting live albums, was Mitchell’s first compilation album of previously-released works (released in conjunction with Misses). Hits might just be that (Misses more of the artist’s “Best Of” vision), but after a while of not listening to Joni Mitchell albums, the thing that caught me was how many songs of Mitchell’s I enjoyed and pegged as the best of an album were not present.

With fifteen tracks, clocking out at an hour and thirty-four seconds, Hits is an adequate expression of Joni Mitchell’s talents. Mitchell wrote all fifteen songs (save the “Unchained Melody” portion of “Chinese Café/Unchained Melody”) and she provides all of the primary vocals (though, interestingly, her version is not always the most popular/successful version of the song that appears on the album). On each song, Joni Mitchell plays at least one musical instrument – guitar, piano, dulcimer, billatron and keyboards – and Mitchell is a producer for the album.

For those who have not heard the music of Joni Mitchell, Hits might be a decent starter album (though I would argue some of her classic albums are more indicative of her sound and talent). Mitchell is largely a slow, mellow, folk singer and Hits not only captures that, but some of her more upbeat poppy tracks, like “Free Man In Paris” (which sounds, musically, like a 1970s Bowie track) and “You Turn Me On I’m A Radio.” Generally, though, Hits captures the mellow, depressing tone of much of Mitchell’s works and balances them with similar-sounding folk tracks that have direct and pointed political messages.

Vocally, Joni Mitchell has an incredible range . . . but on Hits she does not stretch or strain from it. Mitchell has done more recent albums that illustrate impressive range. On Hits, she stays very comfortably in her alto-soprano range without going much lower (“River” is the only notable exception, though even there she is not hitting her lowest registers). The net result is that the vocals on Hits are somewhat boring and obvious. Mitchell is articulate and clear (save on “Raised On Robbery,” where is sounds like she’s saying “raised on rubber beef” when she sings the title!) and on some songs she both sings high and holds notes for an impressive duration, but she does so on track after track after track, diminishing the impact some.

What is uncompromisingly great, even on Hits are the lyrics of Joni Mitchell. Mitchell is a poet who sings about all sorts of things. With songs from the 1960s through 1990s, it is unsurprising that many of Mitchell’s songs are political or environmental (especially for a modern folk rocker!). One of her biggest hits was a pro-environment, anti-capitalism tune “Big Yellow Taxi” where she sings about the relationship between environment and commerce and pits it against a relationship falling apart. With more than a little irony, she observes “They took all the trees / And put them in a tree museum / Then they charged the people / A dollar and a half just to see 'em / Don't it always seem to go,/ That you don't know what you've got / ‘Til it's gone / They paved paradise / And put up a parking lot” (“Big Yellow Taxi”). You don’t get songs like that these days! (At best, an artist will do a cover of “Big Yellow Taxi!”)

Generally, pop music does not tackle issues of life and death, either. Yet, Mitchell is fearless about exploring existential matters, as she does with the lines “And the seasons they go round and round / And the painted ponies go up and down / We're captive on the carousel of time / We can't return we can only look / Behind from where we came / And go round and round and round / In the circle game” (“The Circle Game”). Few people make regret, nostalgia, loss and hope sound so good!

Mitchell is brilliant at making historical angst and emotional longing musical as well. To the best of my knowledge, the first time I heard “Come In From The Cold” was on Hits. Opening with Mitchell singing “Back in 1957 / We had to dance a foot apart / And they hawk-eyed us from the sidelines / Holding their rulers without a heart / And so with just a touch of our fingers / I could make our circuitry explode / All we ever wanted / Was just to come in from the cold” (“Come In From The Cold”), the song is an incredible and articulate exploration of longing and desire. Mitchell has a great perspective that she expertly presents on “Come In From The Cold” and most of the songs on Hits.

Ultimately, I usually expect to say “If you only pick up one album from this artist, this compilation will fit the bill,” but with Hits I found myself noticing more the better tracks of Joni Mitchell that never charted. So, Hits is not the essential Joni Mitchell; hopefully, we’ll have many more years of her making music before such an album even becomes possible.

The best song is “The Circle Game,” the weak link was “Chelsea Morning.”

For other works by Joni Mitchell, please visit my reviews of:
Song To A Seagull
Ladies Of The Canyon
Blue
Turbulent Indigo
Taming The Tiger
Both Sides Now

6.5/10

For other music reviews, please check out my Music Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Who Are These People Who Are Doing A Tribute To Joni Mitchell?!

The Good: Moments of vocals, Joni Mitchell's lyrics
The Bad: Simplistic instrumentals, Inappropriately bubbly vocals on moody songs, Nothing at all inspired.
The Basics: When a group of unknowns cover Joni Mitchell, the result is an album that is a bland recreation of Mitchell's songs to a pop-rock beat that is pretty lousy.


When I got in my stack of Joni Mitchell c.d.s to start reviewing, I thought it was possible I had gotten in a bum c.d. with Came Upon A Child Of God - A Tribute To Joni Mitchell. After all, it was a cover album with artists presenting Joni Mitchell songs, but there were no liner notes, no acknowledgments of who the artists were performing and it did not take much in the way of listening to this disc to figure out why. Came Upon A Child Of God - A Tribute To Joni Mitchell is a tribute album, but the artists are unknowns and this is little more than an album available that presents karaoke type performances to fairly generic instrumentals of Mitchell's songs.

In other words, this is a cover album of the same caliber of A String Quartet Tribute To Oasis Actually, that style tribute at least takes people playing instruments to sell the concept; Came Upon A Child Of God does not have evidence that even that much went into the production. Dressed To Kill produced the album in England and they provide no information about the disc other than the track listing.

With ten tracks clocking in at 38:09, Dressed to Kill's Came Upon A Child Of God is a collection of some of the popular favorites of singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell. I shall be completely straightforward on this count: the Joni Mitchell albums I have listened to the last few weeks did not include all of the original versions of the songs included on this album, so it is hard to judge all of the songs as covers. As a result, I shall judge the album, as much as possible, by what it is.

Unfortunately for this disc, that does not work necessarily in the favor of it.

What Came Upon A Child Of God has are the lyrics of Joni Mitchell. Classic songs like "Big Yellow Taxi," "Woodstock," and Both Sides Now appear on the album and they are presented with Mitchell's lines. As a result, some of the songs I had not heard are presented in ways that they are entirely comprehensible.

So, for example, I had not heard "Cary" before and it has some decent lines. The song is about traveling around the world with a partner who they are not really in love with. In addition to describing eclectic places, the story song has the quirky lines, "Cary get out your cane / I'll get out some silver / You're a mean old daddy / But I like you fine" ("Cary"). I'm not sure why that exchange stuck out for me, but it did. It does illustrate Mitchell's somewhat eccentric streak and it works.

I had been surprised to hear "Chinese Cafe" because I did not realize that song was a Joni Mitchell song. Okay, here's the thing. Joni Mitchell has a song called "Chinese Cafe" that includes the lyrics to "Unchained Melody" - which is the part of it I had been recognizing. "Unchained Melody," for those as surprised as I, is a Joni Mitchell song and it is possibly best known for the cover of it that was done for the film "Ghost." Here is it covered by David Hay.

The songs range from the environmentally-conscious relationship song "Big Yellow Taxi" to the contemplative “Both Sides Now” to the direct plea "Help Me." There are the more obscure tracks like "Cary" and "You Turn Me On" and "River." As I understand it, the track "Chelsea Morning" was one more associated with another artist's cover of Joni Mitchell's lyrics.

Okay, I've pussyfooted around this review for far too long. I'm surprised to see that there are so many participants on this tribute album because "Came Upon A Child Of God" sounds like it only has two artists, the female voice (Vera Haime) and a male voice on two of the tracks (David Hay). Every single track on the album sounds like it is by one of those two people. In other words, the vocals are presented in a way that makes them appear identical to one another! This is an album that is terrible in regards to presenting vocals that are distinctive. Eight of the tracks have the same bubbly feminine voice and it's strange to believe that only three of them truly are Vera Haime.

The vocals range between nondescript (David Hay presents a strangely casual sounding, upbeat take on "Chinese Cafe") and terribly misapplied. Treasure presents Both Sides Now with an upbeat, perky sound that completely guts the emotional resonance of the song. Instead of being contemplative and deep, it is upbeat and ridiculous. It sounds almost like a carnival ride soundtrack, so perky is the voice presenting that song.

Similarly, the sound of "Woodstock" is not one that is anywhere near as moody or interesting as Joni Mitchell's original. I have no problem with making a song one's own. I frequently cite the way Sophie B. Hawkins took Bob Dylan's track "I Want You" on her debut, Tongues And Tails (reviewed here!) and completely reinterpreted it. It's magnificent and it sounds nothing like the original. "Woodstock" on this album is not reinterpreted that way, it is simply an upbeat version of the song and it does not reveal anything deeper or more interesting about the song. Instead, this album has the feeling of artists who are afraid or unable to go dark.

Musically, this album is a disappointing homogenous presentation of guitar-driven covers. They all sound the same because Mitchell's more complicated (and less complicated) tracks are all presented with the standard "guitar/bass/piano/drums" standards that define bland and typical pop-rock these days. In fact, that's the real aspect of Came Upon A Child Of God most likely to disturb Joni Mitchell fans; these tracks take classic folk rock songs and transforms each and every one of them into a bland and disappointing pop rock presentation that lacks inspiration and any sense of musical vision.

The problem with Came Upon A Child Of God is that there's no suggestion of why the artists felt the need to cover the songs and what they hope to add to the body of the collective unconscious or music in general by presenting this work. Instead, it feels like a cheap album assembled to make a buck. None of the tracks pop with any musical insight and it's unfortunate that Mitchell (presumably) signed off on this project.

Fans of Mitchell's works will likely be disappointed by the lack of emotional resonance in the tracks on this collection. Casual listeners would also do better to get the songs the way they were originally presented. This whole album reminds me of the traumatic experience of hearing a calypso version of "Wind Beneath My Wings" in the Bahamas. Everything on this album is pretty much that off.

The best track is "Cary," the worst is "This Flight Tonight."

2/10

For other music reviews, check out my Music Review Index Page!

© 2014, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Joni Mitchell Returns With A Much More Worthy Effort, Both Sides Now.

The Good: Excellent acoustic versions to classic songs, Decent concept, Good voice
The Bad: Rather homogenous sound/presentation.
The Basics: Joni Mitchell's concept album Both Sides Now is a depressing collection of cover songs that dwell on the dissolution of love and the anguish of relationships.


I like concept albums and the truth is, too few of them are so clearly labeled to let the listener know what the concept is or that there is supposed to be a binding concept to an album. Now, I'm not suggesting most listeners aren't smart enough to figure out if they are listening to a concept album or not, but the truth is, it seems like some of them are either so vague or so veiled that the concept could either be multiple things or the collection, the album, seems like a generic collection of pop-rock songs.

With Both Sides Now, singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell presents a cycle of songs that portrays a relationship from the exciting beginning to the turbulent middle to the desire to work a relationship out through the end. It is a collection that has a powerful and straightforward concept and the listeners who do not pick it up from the song cycle (though it's made almost impossible when one actually listens to the lyrics, songs like "You've Changed" and "Answer Me, My Love" come so naturally together).

With twelve tracks clocking in at 51:29, Both Sides Now represents a concept that is produced and arranged by Joni Mitchell, but represents very little of Joni Mitchell being presented. While two of the tracks are written by Mitchell, the other ten are considered Torch songs and they are classics, many of which have been covered by virtually every jazz or big band singer to put out a work of covers. Mitchell is given a co-producer credit, but beyond that, this is simply Mitchell singing. She does not play any instruments, which is a departure from most of her prior albums.

But for a change, I have a pretty enthusiastic recommendation for a Joni Mitchell album. This is, ultimately, a good collection of music and the sound of it is ideal for a night of quiet contemplation and just careful holding. This is not a particularly romantic album, though it traces the course of a relationship. This has very much Joni Mitchell's trademark encompassing melancholy throughout it. Instead of being true and joyful with love, this is about the turbulence of romance. By track four, the relationship being sung about is on the rocks and falling apart because of the disillusionment of the protagonist toward love.

So, ultimately, the mood of the album is more sad than celebratory.

Mitchell collects a series of songs that truly speak to one another and allow the listener to progress through the relationship that is being depicted. She includes early on a song so simple in its horrific implications that it is heartwrenching to hear and it becomes impossible not to feel empathy for the musical protagonist. With "You've Changed," she sings the powerful and easy lines, "You've changed / The sparkle in your eyes is gone / Your smile is just a careless yawn / You're breaking my heart / You've changed. . . / Your kisses now are so blasé / You're bored with me in every way / I can't understand / You've changed / You've forgotten the words I love you / And the memories that we've shared / You've ignored all the stars up above you / I can't realize that you ever cared. . ." By the time she gets to the lines "You're not the angel I once knew / No need to tell me, I know we're through / It's all over now" ("You've Changed") pretty much anyone who has had a recent breakup over similar issues will be more or less ready to take their own life. It's a powerful song, despite its simplicity.

But it fits perfectly with the track that follows, "Answer Me, My Love," with its lines like, "Just what sin have I been guilty of / Tell me how I came to lose your love . . . / You were mine yesterday / I believed that love was here to stay / Won't you tell me how I've gone astray . . ." The thing is, it works so well next to the prior song because at the end of relationships, so many of us are emotionally stupid. We recognize the changes and rationally know it's over, but then we become desperate to know why and attempt to fix it. And it's sad and Mitchell presents it true.

And it's sad to see the direction this relationship goes in. As the protagonist struggles for understanding and basically begs for the partner back ("Don't Go To Strangers") to accepting that the other is not coming back ("Don't Worry 'Bout Me") to just wanting it all over ("I Wish I Were In Love Again"). It's an impressive and sad cycle but it works because each track tells another part of the story.

Vocally, Joni Mitchell's presentation is somewhat monolithic. From the lyrics and orchestration the concept of the album becomes quite clear. However, Mitchell tries to make it utterly undeniable what the concept is by presenting stiflingly similar presentations on every track. Conceptually, this is problematic because songs like the yearning and celebratory "At Last" and the melancholy and struggling "Don't Go To Strangers" are presented in the same sultry voice.

Mitchell keeps each track slow and in the safe alto/tenor range that defines the smoky sound one associates with Mitchell and nightclub singers. This cycle evokes the image of a darkened bar with the performer singing the story and the sad thing is, by the time the final track, Both Sides Now comes around, it is hard to accurately and truly judge its intent because it is presented with the same slow, deliberation and sadness as the rest of the album.

There are few exceptions to the slow, sad vocals and the only one that comes immediately to mind is the more upbeat jazzy "Sometimes I'm Happy." Truth be told, Mitchell's vocals are only faster on that track as opposed to higher or otherwise testing her range. At least all of the vocals on Both Sides Now are clear, direct and can be understood clearly and with the passion they are presented with. This is a refreshing change from some of her other albums, like Taming The Tiger.

The entirety of Both Sides Now is presented with an orchestral jazz band. There are oboes, bassoons, clarinets, flute, violins, cellos, saxophones, horns and pianos that accompany Mitchell throughout the musical and lyrical journey she is taking the listener on. She is accompanied by notable soloists like Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, and Mark Isham.

But here the album becomes problematic; Both Sides Now is presented with such a homogenous sound that the tracks begin to lose distinction. Outside "Don't Worry 'Bout Me" and "Sometimes I'm Happy," the tracks have near identical instrumentation and production with the orchestra being well drown out by Joni Mitchell. As a result, the album becomes very difficult to listen to over and over again on a musical level as well as a conceptual/lyrical level. In other words, one of the challenges to replaying this album is not just that it's depressing, one feels by the third track they've already heard all of the music a second time again.

The repetitive quality is exacerbated some by the choice of songs. As presented on Both Sides Now, the orchestral arrangements for "At Last" and "Stormy Weather" are eerily similar. In fact, they share some of the same melodies, it seems. "I Wish I Were In Love Again" has a remarkably strong similarity to the presentation of "Sometimes I'm Happy." And while I completely dig the arrangement and sensibilities behind putting "You've Changed" beside "Answer Me, My Love," the two tracks are presented with almost identical instrumentation so they blend right together.

Still, this is a generally satisfying concept album and it's a worthwhile album for anyone who likes concept albums and/or vocal and orchestral jazz. Mitchell is clear and the concept is strong and the artwork in the liner notes is interesting. But it's definitely one that the listener has to be ready for something somewhat depressing in order to appreciate the depth and range of this work. And I've a feeling when I'm in a better mood, I won't be picking this one up and playing it nearly as much as I am now.

The best track is "You've Changed" (though I do like the new version of the title track) and the low point (strangely considering it might well be the high point in the relationship depicted in the story) is the unmemorable "Comes Love."

For other works by Joni Mitchell, please visit my reviews of:
Song To A Seagull
Ladies Of The Canyon
Blue
Turbulent Indigo
Taming The Tiger

7/10

For other music reviews, please check out my Music Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2014, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Indistinct Joni: Taming The Tiger Disappoints The Listener

The Good: Moments of vocals, Moments of lyrics
The Bad: Songs blend together, Mitchell's voice is mumbly and unimpressive, Most music, Overproduced
The Basics: In the course of my review, I trundle out of denial to admit that Joni Mitchell made a real lemon with Taming The Tiger.


There's a disappointing quality to some of the Joni Mitchell works I've been listening to of late; the way she began to overproduce some of her works in the late-1990s, for example. And when I put Taming The Tiger on my high rotation play to be able to write about it, I suddenly discovered that Mitchell's works were truly disappointing me. After seven listens to Taming The Tiger - the eighth spinning of the disc is happening as I write this review - I realized I couldn't say what exactly I had heard. I've listened to this album over and over again and not one track has stood out, not one line, not one lyric.

With Taming The Tiger, Joni Mitchell presents an overproduced, melancholy album that blends from one track to another into an indistinct musical mess.

With eleven tracks clocking in at 44:19, Taming The Tiger was produced by Mitchell and she wrote all of the songs and sings the primary vocals on all of the tracks. As well, she plays the bass, keyboards and percussion. She is presented as the album's mixer, co-art director and arranger as well. This represents another very pure vision of the singer-songwriter's musical and lyrical intent. This means that Mitchell bears the responsibility for the results.

And it's a boring album. The tracks generally sound like one another, the lyrics are nowhere near as distinct or interesting as her prior albums and there is nothing new on this album that pops and informs the listener that Mitchell still has something to say.

The strong point for Joni Mitchell's prior albums has been her lyrics. On Taming The Tiger, Mitchell seems bored with writing and presents some of the most disappointing and repetitive lyrics of any of her albums. Take, for example, the album's title track. After a few indistinct lines, the song degenerates into multiple repetitions of just "Tiger tiger burning bright / Nice kitty, kitty / (Boring!)" (Taming The Tiger). And the way the song is presented, all that can truly be heard is "tiger tiger" and "kitty kitty" and it is just wrenchingly dull to the ears.

Unlike prior albums, Taming The Tiger is not a collection of musical stories. Instead, this is a philosophical album with Mitchell presenting her thoughts on love ("Love Puts On A New Face," "Face Lift"), changes in friendship ("Stay In Touch"), and the failure to deal with the consequences of history ("No Apologies"). The songs generally lack the innovative poetics and high level of diction usually associated with Joni Mitchell's poetic works.

Take, for example, "Lead Balloon," which does manage to use the word "kowtow" (which she spells "cowtow"). The title is repeated twenty five times. What is worse is that "lead" is repeated an additional thirty-two times! It's repetitive and indistinct and it is boring to listen to in a way I never would have suspected Mitchell could sink to. But believe me, after one hears "lead balloon" sung with repetition and a disturbing lack of enthusiasm, the word "mind-numbing" becomes the best one may say about it.

In fact, on the entire album, the only line that stands out is ". . . Love takes so much courage / Love takes so much shit" ("Face Lift"). Unfortunately, even that line is undermined by what comes after it, song dialogue that rhymes that line with "Snap out of it" and it just makes even "Face Lift" seem like the songwriter was bored while writing it.

Part of the problem with the lyrics on Taming The Tiger is the presentation of them. Mitchell abandons her previous soprano range for vocals that are entirely in the alto and tenor range. Mitchell has the ability to sing with a smoky quality that instantly evokes sultry nightclubs and genuine passion. On Taming The Tiger, that is not evident.

Instead, Mitchell mumbles through "Harlem In Havana" and "Life On Mars." She fails to sing in front of her own production on "Love Puts On A New Face," "Face Life," and "My Best To You." She is drown out by her own percussion and instrumentals on virtually every song and the only song that has a truly comprehensible lyric is "Lead Balloon," with its repetitive refrain and its opening of "Kiss my ass!"

Mitchell does not challenge the listener to hear anything different in her performance than what she has given us on prior albums in the past and this disappointing lack of range and musical vision. Instead, she sings with an understated quality that exists entirely in the lower ranges of the voice and she blends her voice with the keyboards and bass so it is even harder to understand what she is singing. This is especially troubling on "No Apologies" where she mumbles and hits her pitch almost precisely on the same places as the keyboards.

In other words, when Mitchell isn't mumbling her way through her own lyrics, she is producing the vocals into the music in a way that blends them so that the experience is more inarticulate than anything else.

Musically, Taming The Tiger is a light rock/jazz sound that blends one track to another in a way that makes it difficult to differentiate one track from another. In fact, the only song that has any distinction musically is the beginning of "Harlem In Havana" and it did not take me long before I realized that the reason that sounded familiar to me was that it begins sounding like "Jolene" off Janis Ian's God And The F.B.I. (reviewed here!).

Here's the thing, Taming The Tiger has gone over into a ninth spinning as I've tried to articulate my thoughts for this review and the truth that I've been avoiding - and was prepared to deny in my ultimate rating - is that this is a terrible album. As the ninth listen comes to a close and I type faster to try to avoid hearing this album again, I realize that I dread the thought that I might have to. This is narcolepsy-inducing music and truth be told, my desire to rate it at a 4 is just denial of that fact.

None of the lyrics pop and if they did, the vocals are so garbled and mumbled through and produced over that the only ones that come through are the over-repeated ones. The instrumentals are dull and similar track-to-track and are virtually all slow and carry a melancholy weight to them and it's a boring album. Joni Mitchell has done better and anyone who wants to hear and enjoy her works would do best to avoid this outing.

Ultimately, I could not even figure a single track from this album that might appear on a "Greatest Hits" anthology if ever her entire body of work were anthologized. That's how indistinct these songs are and how disappointing this slow, cumbersome album is.

The best track might be the instrumental finale, "Tiger Bones." The album is pretty homogeneously dull, though.

For other works by Joni Mitchell, please visit my reviews of:
Song To A Seagull
Ladies Of The Canyon
Blue
Turbulent Indigo

2/10

For other music reviews, please check out my Music Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2014, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Blue With Disappointment In The Generic Quality Of Joni Mitchell's Supposed Great Album.

The Good: Moments of lyrics, Moments of voice
The Bad: Sounds like virtually every other early Joni Mitchell album, Dull instrumentals, Short.
The Basics: Dull, slow and sounding like virtually every other Joni Mitchell album, Blue disappoints anyone ready to be wowed by her whole album (not just lyrics and voice)!


A little while back, I went through an intensive study of the works of Joni Mitchell and I was disappointed when I found there were gaps in the collection I was evaluating. One of those gaps was one of her early albums, Blue, which several individuals informed me was one of Mitchell's seminal albums and without it my study was more or less wasted. I was therefore excited when two weeks ago I managed to get Blue in and I listened to it right away.

It's taken me two weeks and twelve listens to muster up the enthusiasm to write a review of it. Those who believe this might be the ultimate Joni Mitchell album might not have heard her other early works because Blue is hard to argue as her best when it sounds like, pardon the rhyme, the rest.

With ten tracks clocking in at 36:15, Blue is inarguably the work of Joni Mitchell. She wrote all of the songs and provides the primary vocals for all of them. While the album's liner does not credit Mitchell with any instrumentals, it also does not credit anyone with the piano which is evident on several tracks, like Blue. It seems a fair assumption that Mitchell might be providing that. Strangely, there is no production credit in the liner either, the closest being that the album engineer was Henry Lewy. Regardless, it seems like this is a distinctly Joni Mitchell work.

The fundamental problem here is that the album sounds like virtually every other early Joni Mitchell work. One could swap tracks from Blue, Song To A Seagull and Ladies Of The Canyon and not truly tell the difference. It's a sad commentary to consider that Mitchell might have grown so little as an artist over those few early years that such an exercise would be possible and easily executed.

What Mitchell had from the beginning, and displays right from the beginning of Blue, is the ability to write. Joni Mitchell is a rather decent poet and songwriter and Blue seems a concept album about places, travel and relationships. Mitchell's musical persona journeys through the album between places and relationships searching for the place she fits. And each song works independently and the album comes together quite well as a collection of poems.

So, for example, on "Carey," Mitchell sings about feeling trapped in both a place and a relationship with lines like, "The wind is in from Africa / Last night I couldn't sleep / Oh you know it sure is hard to leave here, Carey / But it's really not my home . . . Get out your cane / And I'll put on some silver / Oh you're a mean old Daddy, but I like you fine." She has a wonderful sense of imagery and includes many subtle references to things that keep her trapped, like beach tar and the silver which is reminiscent of shackles. She wonderfully creates a sense of building up to moving on and many of the songs that follow "Carey" have her on a journey, like "California," "This Flight Tonight" and "A Case Of You."

She manages some decent lyrics with the sense of finding place on tracks like "California." There, she writes and sings, ". . .He cooked good omelets and stews / And I might have stayed on with him these / But my heart cried out for you, California / Oh California I'm coming home / Oh make me feel good rock 'n' roll band / I'm your biggest fan / California, I'm coming home" ("California"). She creates an enticing image of all she misses and the lines work to embody and idealized place.

Similarly, she has wonderful lines on "A Case Of You," where her musical protagonist begins to pick apart her traveling companion. Lines like "Oh I am a lonely painter / I live in a box of paints / I'm frightened by the devil / And I'm drawn to those ones that ain't afraid / I remember that time you told me, you said, / 'Love is touching souls' . . . Oh you're in my blood like holy wine / You taste so bitter and so sweet" ("A Case Of You") perfectly capture the duality of what attracts us to another and the realization that we can no longer live with them. This captures well the emotional resonance of the drifting apart and lyrically, it's hard to argue that Blue does not have something good going for it.

Similarly, it's difficult to argue that Joni Mitchell does not have a great singing voice. Mitchell has a wonderful soprano voice that she sings out clear and high on tracks like "A Case Of You," "California," and Blue. Mariah Carey has nothing on Joni Mitchell the way Mitchell performs "The Last Time I Saw Richard." She is able to go lower and smoky on tracks like "Carey" and "My Old Man."

The problem comes when one listens to the album with any sense of context of her body of works. There is nothing vocally new here that anyone who has heard any other Joni Mitchell album has not already heard. There is no growth, no stretching, no differentiation between what Mitchell had put out before and what is on this album. She goes in no new directions, she keeps everything slow, moody and within her extensive vocal range. There is no auditory challenge for the listener on Blue to make one think anything other than that she is phoning the album in from her comfort zone.

At least as bad is how unimaginative the music is. If it's not a stark-sounding folk guitar track, it's a piano and vocal driven track that sounds like the quiet guitar tracks, save on piano. Mitchell uses some of the same chords in the same progressions on the album's opener "All I Want" and three tracks later on "Carey." If you're going to resuse elements of your harmony over, it helps to put them far apart on the album!

"Little Green" opens with the same chords as "The Circle Game" and Mitchell's vocals have some of the same resonances, making it a disappointingly similar musical experience for anyone who has heard her other works. Moreover, it illustrates a lack of growth in Mitchell as time went on. She simply reused a tune that worked and how that won't disappoint anyone who wants to like Joni Mitchell's works is a mystery to me.

There is one interesting musical moment on Blue, but it is the use of a production element as opposed to any genuine change in the musical style. On "This Flight Tonight," Mitchell sings about what is on the radio and she produces the lines to be scratchy and mono-sounding to embody the sound of an old time radio. It's actually pretty cool and there ought to be credit for the imagination of it.

Ultimately, though, this is a tough c.d. to recommend, which I see puts me in the minority. The thing is, it easily could have been put on the same disc with one of her adjacent albums to give the disc added value, but one suspects that this would only have revealed the depth of her musical lack of imagination and/or innovation over the albums. Then again, it could have been a stronger overall listening experience or at least given the listener more for their money.

The strongest track is the bitter "A Case Of You," the weakest endeavor might actually be the title track, Blue.

For other works by Joni Mitchell, please visit my reviews of:
Song To A Seagull
Ladies Of The Canyon
Turbulent Indigo

4/10

For other music reviews, please visit my Music Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2014, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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A Perfect Song Kicks The Mediocre Turbulent Indigo Up A Notch!

The Good: "The Sire Of Sorrow," Lyrics, Moments of voice
The Bad: Generic overproduced quality to much of the album, Musically boring.
The Basics: Joni Mitchell creates a good, if not mind-blowing album with Turbulent Indigo, a slower, sadder album saved by one truly depressing song.


Poor Joni Mitchell. That's not entirely true, she's richer in many ways than me, but poor Joni Mitchell that as I've been listening to her works, I can't seem to find anything I'd really strongly recommend. She's a great songwriter, but her music on her early albums and her vocals are so limited that it makes it hard to recommend any of her albums I've thus heard. Then, I went to some of her later works, including Turbulent Indigo and whatever that newer one is that I have on in the car (yeah, review pending. :) ). Where Mitchell's early works are simple and unimaginative musically and vocally contrasting brilliant poetry, Mitchell's later works seem to be very much lyrically as powerful, but as vocally boring and overproduced in contrast to her prior stark sound.

So, after my third listen of Turbulent Indigo, I was prepared to write another review of a mediocre album and this time have the fortitude to actually not recommend it. Two listens later, I was distraught and driving (always a good combination!) and I actually heard the final track on the album. There are moments that a song can resonate so powerfully in one's life that it changes everything. And "The Sire Of Sorrow (Job's Sad Song)" has become that for me. There are albums where they are average but the strength of one song can make it something better. In my pantheon and rating system, that is an extraordinarily rare thing, but Turbulent Indigo is one of them.

With ten tracks clocking in at a total of 43:02, Turbulent Indigo struck me immediately with its poetic title and the richness of sound compared to the earlier works of Joni Mitchell. To leap from the early works to this 1994 album, is quite something, but it's just how I received the albums. Written entirely by Joni Mitchell, she provides the primary vocals on all ten songs. As well, she plays guitar, piano and keyboards as well as percussion on some of the tracks. She takes a producing credit on the album and it won her a Grammy, so I think it's a fair assessment to say that this is very much the musical vision of Joni Mitchell.

And it is good.

But it's also not the album that is going to light the world on fire and I'm actually somewhat surprised it won the Pop album of the year for 1994.

Lyrically, Turbulent Indigo is an album that may be judged by its title. Isn't Turbulent Indigo a great, poetic title? Mitchell utilizes wonderful diction not only in the titles, but in the songs. With lines like, "You snipe so steady / You snub so snide / So ripe and ready / To diminish and deride! / You're so quick to condescend / My opinionated friend / All you deface, all you defend / Is just a borderline" ("Borderline") she illustrates an ability to articulate complex ideas using complex phrases not frequently found in pop-rock music. "Borderline," which is a very repetitive song is saved from the frequent mentions of its title by the incredible vocabulary and message between refrains.

Turbulent Indigo is an album that is a lot more philosophical than narrative; unlike many of Joni Mitchell's works that are musical stories with a protagonist and a plotline to follow, Turbulent Indigo is much more about the poetics. It is a collection of thoughts put to music. For sure, there are stories, in fact, most are presented with a microcosm for the point that she's trying to make - like "The Magdalene Laundries" and "Sex Kills" - but the stories are more a collection of references as opposed to straightforward linear narratives like her songs that were character names on her earlier albums.

She tackles environmental calamities and current events on songs like "Sex Kills," laments about the draconian conditions of homes for unwed mothers on "The Magdalene Laundries," and tackles spousal abuse with "Not To Blame." She has a captivating series of poems on Turbulent Indigo and the title of the album wonderfully prepares the listener for the experience. In fact, the only truly poetically lame aspect of Turbulent Indigo are the titles. I once wrote of Heather Nova's album Storm (reviewed here!) that the titles were obvious and basically come up in the songs as exactly what you would expect the title of the song to be. Poetically, it is disappointing. Mitchell does that with "Turbulent Indigo;" most of the songs have the obvious title.

And then there is "The Sire Of Sorrow (Job's Sad Song)." And damn. That's a song you don't want to hear on your worst day because it'll inform you that you're in exactly the place Man is meant to be. It is powerful, depressing, dark and sad and scary and wonderful. Seriously, I wish I could just post the lyrics here and everyone who read them would say "I need to hear that song" and either go out and buy the album or legally download the song. Mitchell deserves money for that song! I've chosen to illustrate how great the song is with this passage from it, though: "Once I was blessed; I was awaited like the rain / Like eyes for the blind, like feet for the lame / Kings heard my words, and they sought out my company / But now the janitors of shadowland flick their brooms at me / Oh you tireless watcher! what have I done to you? / That you make everything I dread and everything I fear come true" ("The Sire Of Sorrow (Job's Sad Song)"). And no, Mitchell's brilliance extends to there being no catharsis from the sorrow. It is a truly wrenching song.

Unfortunately, it reveals some of the problems with Turbulent Indigo as an album ("The Sire Of Sorrow (Job's Sad Song)" is a perfect song. Absolutely perfect.) and they are all musical. "The Sire Of Sorrow (Job's Sad Song)" sounds like "Borderline," and "How Do You Stop." Turbulent Indigo, the track, has a lot in common with the slower "Not To Blame" and the entire album has a richly produced, generic adult pop-rock sound. So while the albums are no longer Mitchell's voice right in front of the lone guitar for that late '60s folk-rock sound, it has the generic smoky club-produced sound to it that seems to capture a lot of more mature artists.

There is a richness of bass, for example, deeper chords that are not present in earlier works but appear on virtually every track. The best way to phrase this problem is this way: if the earlier albums are too empty with too much space and not enough sound, Turbulent Indigo seems afraid of silence. Deathly afraid of a moment without multiple levels of music.

In fact, the closest to a quiet song on the album is "Last Chance Lost," which featured a contemplatively picked guitar and Mitchell's voice with minimal other instruments. And in contrast, it feels a bit boring alongside the other songs. There's little balance on this album and the result is mostly a bigger sound to the album, yet all of the songs are slower and could easily be characterized as adult contemporary. I doubt this would light the world of many young people on fire.

This may seem a weird complaint, much like the way others did not like Dar Williams' more musically rich End Of The Summer (reviewed here!) because it departed from a more simple musical style. In the case of Turbulent Indigo, the problem truly is that the sound of the album is strangely homogenous and it is somewhat musically boring as a result. And none of the tracks actually shout out "I'm different!" by the music (which is probably why it took me so long to find that perfect song nestled at the end of the album).

What Mitchell has is a great voice. She is able to traverse from soprano to tenor and she does it just fine. On Turbulent Indigo, she carries herself mostly as a smoky-voiced alto and she does not deviate from that sound much on the album. The songs all fall within a pretty standard range and, like the music being somewhat homogenous, hearing Mitchell's slow, clear voice track to track becomes more expected than extraordinary. She is good and her voice is melodic, but this album does not challenge her range any.

But it is worth a listen and that one song seriously makes it worth the buy. Anyone looking for contemplative, well-lyricked music will find Turbulent Indigo to be a good album, and a great album for keeping one in a funk if they're in one. It's not a happy album as it presents deeper songs of personal tragedy and misfortune, but it does set out to do what it promises:

It is turbulent and it'll make or keep one blue.

The best track is the perfect song "The Sire Of Sorrow (Job's Sad Song)," the weak link is the dippy and repetitive "Yvette In English."

For other Artist Of The Month works, be sure to visit my reviews of:
The Collection - Alanis Morissette
50 Greatest Hits - Reba McEntire
Western Wall: The Tucson Sessions - Linda Rondstadt

8/10

Check out how this album stacks up against others I have reviewed by visiting my Music Review Index Page where the albums are organized from best to worst!

© 2014, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Decent Lyrics Cannot Save Joni Mitchell's Ladies Of The Canyon From Mediocrity!

The Good: Good lyrics, General voice, Soothing sound
The Bad: Homogenous vocals and instrumentals end up bland upon repetition, Short!
The Basics: Joni Mitchell presents a musically unimpressive album that has a few wonderful lyrics and an impressive -if repetitive- vocal range with Ladies Of The Canyon.


I'm beginning to feel like I might have liked Joni Mitchell a whole lot better if I had started with one of her Greatest Hits albums because, so far, having listened to Song To A Seagull (reviewed here!) and now Ladies Of The Canyon (I have another I've been listening to, too) I have been strongly underwhelmed by the singer-songwriter. Actually, while I find myself disappointed by the music and the general straightforward and boring vocals, Joni Mitchell continues to impress me as a songwriter. Lyrically, Ladies Of The Canyon is all right, the problem is how the lyrics are presented.

With twelve tracks clocking in at exactly forty-five minutes, Ladies Of The Canyon is very much the work of Joni Mitchell. She composed and arranged the album, as well as provided the primary vocals, guitar and piano. All of the songs were written by Joni Mitchell. She did not produce the album, but it does seem likely that she was heavily involved in the creative process at that level as well. Regardless, with so much of the lyrics, instrumentals and vocals falling under her pen, it seems reasonable to call this Joni Mitchell's creative endeavor.

The problem is, it is boring. Vocally, musically, this is a surprisingly dull album; it is limited in sound and scope and it literally came down to the toss of a coin for the "recommend" I ultimately gave it. Ladies Of The Canyon is hampered by tracks that sound similar to one another and a lack of musical and vocal diversity that makes listening to the album - especially over and over again - a less enjoyable experience than it ought to be. If one has heard other works of hers, and in my case coming right off Song To A Seagull probably did not help, the album suffers even more because there is no real growth between the albums. Had Mitchell combined this album with another when it was converted to a compact disc format, it might have given it greater value to make it worth the investment.

As it is, Joni Mitchell presents a very straightforward folk-light rock album with Ladies Of The Canyon and as a result, the album lives with the conceits of the folk-rock genre and comes close to dying on the limitations of a solo artist in that same genre. Well known for being less produced than rock and roll and especially pop-rock, folk rock is especially limited when presented by an artist who is not careful and very skilled.

So, for example, "Conversation" begins with a remarkably similar straightforward guitar strumming and tune as "Big Yellow Taxi." Despite almost completely different tempos of the vocals, the instrumentals and the latter's more melody-based theme, both ultimately have the same general feel and sound because of the strong, generic guitar strumming that recalls the other. Similarly, "Morning Morgantown" and "The Circle Game" have similar tunes and instrumentals.

The only real musical surprise that is pleasant in the instrumentals is the appearance of the clarinet at the end of "For Free." After a rather placid and predictable tune that follows the same format as the rest of the album (I have it on constant rotation, so despite it being the second song on the album, this phrase applies) the vocals cut out and a new instrument breaks out and it is euphoric to hear because it is so different from the rest of the album.

Ladies Of The Canyon is a fairly slow album with almost all of the instrumentals carrying slow, ponderous music. "Willy" blends almost seamlessly into "The Arrangement" via the contemplative and almost mournful piano in both songs. It seems like only "Big Yellow Taxi" and "The Circle Game" dare to crank up the tempo and even then, "The Circle Game" only truly breaks out of the tempo rut when it is presenting the chorus.

Yes, this is a slow album and it is more narcolepsy-inducing than intimate in its lack of tempo. The slow pace translates into a lack of pep on the album and it makes it hard to listen to more than once at a time.

That said, the instrumentals are almost outdone in their blandness by the vocals. This is one of the stranger musical arguments to make, yet here it is. On Ladies Of The Canyon, Joni Mitchell displays incredible vocal range. She is a comfortable soprano who goes high and clear on songs like Ladies Of The Canyon and "Willy" and she can go into the alto range and lower, like on "The Priest." Mitchell's excellence of vocal range even appears within songs. In "Big Yellow Taxi," near the very end, she plummets from notes in the soprano range down into tenor range and she does it with an effortless quality that is impressive.

In an academic sense, Mitchell's voice and vocal range is truly impressive. The problem with the album is that all the leaps and range changes sound identical to the others. On "Blue Boy," Mitchell starts high as a soprano and as the song becomes more of a musical story, she lowers her range in exactly the same way she presents "Willy" and "The Arrangement." Come to think of it, her formula on the album Ladies Of The Canyon seems to be just that; she starts high (if she's presenting high range vocals) and then as the song becomes more of a story in the lyrics, she slips to a more "conversational" vocal range where the lines may be heard clearer and at a slightly faster tempo than the more showy pitches she begins the tracks at.

The effect is, it almost sounds like Mitchell becomes tired singing high and just devolves in a bored fashion to the more safe vocal ranges. This is, of course, not likely what is actually happening, but the sound of the album with track after track presented in the same vocal formula, makes one think that it could be what is going on.

The exception is the oft-covered "Big Yellow Taxi," which starts Mitchell out in the lower vocal ranges right in the middle of a musical story and it works. What doesn't work are some of the higher range notes in "Woodstock." "Woodstock," I actually recognized when I heard it from an episode of Six Feet Under called "Back In The Garden" from the second season (reviewed here!), and near the end of the song, Mitchell returns to the higher ranges for lyricless vocalizations that unfortunately become atonal and her voice breaks a couple of times. It is the only example of truly poor vocal choices on the album, but the sound of the compelling song becomes unpleasant.

Ultimately, what drags the album Ladies Of The Canyon up into the "average" territory and earns it one of the weakest "recommends" I have given out lately, are the lyrics. Joni Mitchell is an able musical storyteller and she sings some wonderful songs on this album. "Big Yellow Taxi," the classic that reminds us "Don't it always seems to go / That you don't know what you've got / Till it's gone / They paved paradise / And put up a parking lot" is often covered because it is a wonderful song! Moreover, it has a timeless message that is resonating even today (and will likely continue to resonate for decades yet).

But songs like "The Circle Game" where Mitchell tells a complete musical story - in this case the aging of a child into an adult - illustrate an amazing ability in Joni Mitchell's songwriting talents. She has a wonderful sense of poetics and storytelling and opening a song with wonderful picturesque descriptions like, "Yesterday a child came out to wonder / Caught a dragonfly inside a jar / Fearful when the sky was full of thunder / And tearful at the falling of a star" ("The Circle Game"). Indeed, despite some of the predictable rhymes in the song, it is an amazing track based on the imagery, poetics and story.

Mitchell presents a number of songs about not quite fitting or the melancholy of life on Ladies Of The Canyon, so it's not much of an upper album, but it is consistent. And lyrically, it is impressive that such a young artist could create so many musical stories; one wishes there were more, even if they had continued to sound as much like the others as the tracks on the album already did.

Those who like very classic folk rock or - seriously - need pleasant-sounding music to put themselves or children to sleep with - will want to pick up Ladies Of The Canyon. I suspect, for the rest of us, that the best tracks appear on some of her compilations alongside more musically diverse songs.

The best track is "The Circle Game" (though admittedly, that has a very personal connection for me as it was played at a loved-one's funeral, so I'm not exactly unbiased on this one) and the weak point is "The Arrangement," which leaves even less impression than most of the rest of the album.

For other, former, Artist Of The Month reviews, please check out:
“Jackie’s Strength” (single) – Tori Amos
Any Day Now - Joan Baez
MTV Unplugged - 10,000 Maniacs

5/10

For other music reviews, please visit my Music Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2014, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Song To A Seagull; Joni Mitchell's Sublime Early Work Leaves Little Impression Now (My New Artist Of The Month!)

The Good: Excellent lyrics, Nice voice
The Bad: Musically dull, Short!
The Basics: Joni Mitchell's fabulous storytelling lyrics are undermined by mindnumbingly similar vocals and dull instrumentals on Song To A Seagull.


After a few weeks of listening to the music of Madonna, I am certainly ready for something new (to me, anyway!). Considering great musical artists that I have little or no experience with, I decided it was time to give the works of Joni Mitchell a fair spin. So, I now have a pile of six of her works I'm listening to in high rotation to learn about her sound and vibe and albums. I'm starting with the earliest one I picked up, Song To A Seagull. This album is one I came to with a very pure listen; I did not know a single song off the album and now after listening to it nine times, I am finally ready to write about it.

Joni Mitchell presents a homogenous album of light folk-rock with Song To A Seagull, a concept album unified by themes of moving out of the city, back to nature as an allegory for moving on in relationships and discovering different ways to live and love. Lyrically and vocally, the album is far stronger than musically, which is surprisingly bland and unimpressive in every way imaginable.

Clocking in at 38:05, Song To A Seagull represents a fairly pure work by singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell. She wrote all of the songs and plays the guitar and bass on the ten tracks. As well, she provided the cover art for the album and worked with another on the banshee. While it is produced by David Crosby, one suspects that Mitchell did not simply turn over all creative direction to him. In other words, this is largely the musical vision of Mitchell and therefore much of the credit and critique falls to her alone.

The superlative aspect of Song To A Seagull is the lyrics. Joni Mitchell is an astonishingly good musical storyteller. Her lyrics read like little stories complete with characters, themes and plots. She sings about Michael, Marcie, Nathan and even creates a dialogue between Penance Crane and the Dancer on "The Pirate Of Penance." The character songs are often strongly thematic, like "Marcie," who Mitchell uses as a vehicle of abject loneliness with lines like, "Marcie's faucet needs a plumber / Marcie's sorrow needs a man / Red is autumn green is summer / Greens are turning and the sand / All along the ocean beaches / Stares up empty at the sky / Marcie buys a bag of peaches / Stops a postman passing by . . ." The lines where Marcie tries to relate to anyone proximate are heartbreaking and convey a desperation few know and few musical artists articulate in song.

And the songs that are not direct stories are still packed with wonderful lines that tell clear tales. Mitchell writes strongly poetic refrains, like, "I can't go back there anymore / You know my keys won't fit the door / You know my thoughts don't fit the man / They never can they never can" ("I Had A King"). The second half of the album, which more directly involves going down to the sea and is music of the journey are laced with images, mostly of sea birds. Poetically, Mitchell is well above the average singer songwriter and it is easy to see why her style fits the narrative form commonly associated with the poetics of folk-rock.

Moreover, Mitchell does not use the most bland poetics. She has a wonderful sense of diction and she's perfectly able to open a song in a way that is intriguing and intelligent. On "Cactus Tree," for example, she opens with "There's a man who's been out sailing / In a decade full of dreams / And he takes her to a schooner / And he treats her like a queen" which is a compelling opening to a good song. Listening to her sing "Cactus Tree," I hear the roots from which Dar Williams sprung "The Ocean" on Mortal City (reviewed here!).

Vocally, Joni Mitchell is initially impressive, though the sound of the vocals holds up poorly over repeated listens. Academically, Mitchell is a fantastic singer. She sings slow and sad, easily traversing the alto and soprano ranges. She has a flawless vocal presentation on the songs on Song To A Seagull.

The problem is the tracks sound alike vocally. Every track it's Mitchell quietly singing right in front of the guitar or piano which is produced to almost the same volume as her. She has a voice that is both quiet and strong. In other words her voice has substance, she is clearly singing from a place of inner power. However, she's not singing all that loudly. The result is a weird dichotomy that makes her sound somewhat diminished. To the listener, the sound becomes tired far too quickly.

The notable exception to this is on "Night In The City." Perhaps the most produced track on the album, "Night In The City" features Mitchell doing a cannon to herself, singing back and forth, repeating lines in a way that makes it sound like she is her own chorus. It's an intriguing sound and it is well mixed for the effect of making her sound bigger and bolder than she is.

Her strength overcomes the music as well on "The Pirate Of Penance" when she reaches a crescendo as her protagonist defends herself from the antagonist's allegations. But the two exceptions are just that; the remainder of the tracks are largely high pitched and quiet. The vocals are completely overrun by the guitars on "Song To A Seagull" (the track).

And herein lays the final difficulty with the album Song To A Seagull: the music. I understand Mitchell created this album when she was quite young. That said, it is one of the most musically boring albums I have ever heard. The guitar work is the most generic interpretation of folk I have yet heard. Seriously, if one were to make a generic folk sound, the tentative strumming that accompanies most every song on this album would be the perfect ideal of that. There is no percussion and as the primary instruments are Mitchell on guitar or piano accompanied only by bass, the album needs to mix up the music to make it compelling to the ear.

Mitchell does not do that on Song To A Seagull. Instead, the music is homogeneously bland with the same basic sound coming track after track. The exception here is for the chorus parts of "Night In The City." But even the tempo and volume change of the instrumentals in that track is hardly compelling.

As well, Mitchell's limitations crop up on the very first track in a disturbing way. Recall that I came to this album blind; all I actually knew was that Mitchell sang "Both Sides Now," thanks to the commentary track on Love Actually (reviewed here!). When the song "I Had A King" began I thought it was "Both Sides Now." Yes, she uses the same tune, at least to begin the song!

Ultimately, this is an average album and I finally opted not to recommend it for this reason: the length. I respect an artist and I am a huge fan of the idea of an album as a work of artistic expression. With such a short duration, Mitchell could have easily put two of her albums on a single disc when they were being brought over to c.d. I may be left ultimately feeling ambivalent about the album, but no matter what I wanted more to it.

Anyone who likes folk rock will appreciate the lyrics on Song To A Seagull, but the veterans of the genre will likely be as bored by the rather typical instrumentals and vocals as I was. There is hope with this album, but Mitchell does not land it, at least not for the medium.

The best track is the song of consequences that closes the album, "Cactus Tree" and I'll go with "The Dawntreader" as the weak link for this reason: I've listened to the album almost ten times now and I swear I cannot recall the song. It's that indistinct.

For other, former, female Artist Of The Month works, please visit my reviews of:
Remember - Janis Ian
American Life - Madonna
@#%&*! Smilers - Aimee Mann

5.5/10

For other music reviews, please visit my Music Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2014, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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