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Blue at 50

kjb

Proof reading not always a strength
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I really like Joni Mitchell, every interview I read makes me think she's one of the most interesting people in popular music, up there with Dylan as somebody who always says things worth thinking about. But I just can't get into her music. I know this is my failing rather than hers, mind you.
 
I think Mitchell's voice got "better" as she got older. I'd take her singing and phrasing on Travelogue over, say, Ladies of the Canyon.

Mind you I think Dylan's singing got better with time - its great on the 60's and early 70's records but, for me, is maybe even better on his later records. I was listening to Rough and Rowdy Ways the other day and really struck by the way he uses his voice.

Mind you, as I move into my 60s, I keep finding ways in which older is better :D
 
Joni certainly had/has a wider range than Bob.

I found those Guardian interviews really insightful (also with the exception of Guy Garvey, who always seems far too pleased with himself), and in the case of Graham Nash rather touching.
 
I cannot stand Dylan's voice & it never ceases to amaze me that people tolerate it but, then, again I like quite a few squawkers like Tom Waits, Randy Newman & Neil Young.

I think Dylan sounds more and more like Waits as he gets older. (Have a listen to I Contain Multitudes from Rough and Rowdy Ways.)

Waits, of course, has always pretended to be old and ironically been less good at it as he’s got older.

Similarly, I'd suggest Joni Mitchell's voice got better as her songs got weaker.

All very Faustian if you ask me
 
Blue gets ever closer to being maybe my number 1 album of all time as both it and I age... and it's a relatively recent discovery for me, prob 7-8 years ago when I first heard it. NO other album by her comes anywhere near IMHO although there are several good ones.

I nearly fell of my chair in a combination of anger and apoplexy when I saw a couple of the BTL posters in the grauniad say things like her singing is awful and (much worse still!!) that it is musically bereft of complexity, originality and purpose etc!! Great as her lyrics are (if rather obtuse... I must admit I hadn't a clue what Little Green was about until yesterday!), it is her playing, whether guitar, dulcimer or piano, and the interplay with the other musicians such as James Taylor etc combined with the harmonic complexity and use of open tunings etc which really make it for me. Plus of course her soaring vocals and the ever perplexing lyrics!

eg "I could drink a case of you and still be on my feet"... is this = her love is so intense that it cannot be satiated?
Or is it = the love has now withered to the point that even a whole case would fail to intoxicate? The song seems to be about the ending of a relationship but it also dwells on just how amazing it was at the time, making precise interpretation tricky in places... which just makes it even more intriguing!:)
 
The whole run from Blue through to Mingus is pure genius as far as I’m concerned. Joni is a master storyteller and jazz-grade musician/composer. She plays alone in her own league.

PS For those wanting a maybe easier route in try starting with Court And Spark.
 
Blue is fantastic. I too love her ambiguous lyrics. I'd always taken "a case of you" as being a play on " I can never get enough " and "you're so weak and watery", with it never being clear which way it's going. I also like "songs are like tattoos, you know I've been to sea before ; crown and anchor me... with the play between tattoos of crowns and anchors, being anchored at sea, being crowned (as what?) and so on.
 
I think Dylan sounds more and more like Waits as he gets older. (Have a listen to I Contain Multitudes from Rough and Rowdy Ways.)

Waits, of course, has always pretended to be old and ironically been less good at it as he’s got older.

Similarly, I'd suggest Joni Mitchell's voice got better as her songs got weaker.

All very Faustian if you ask me
I am not a Dylan fan, at all. Sorry

I really like Court & Spark, she sings really well on that.
 
Blue gets ever closer to being maybe my number 1 album of all time as both it and I age... and it's a relatively recent discovery for me, prob 7-8 years ago when I first heard it. NO other album by her comes anywhere near IMHO although there are several good ones.

I nearly fell of my chair in a combination of anger and apoplexy when I saw a couple of the BTL posters in the grauniad say things like her singing is awful and (much worse still!!) that it is musically bereft of complexity, originality and purpose etc!! Great as her lyrics are (if rather obtuse... I must admit I hadn't a clue what Little Green was about until yesterday!), it is her playing, whether guitar, dulcimer or piano, and the interplay with the other musicians such as James Taylor etc combined with the harmonic complexity and use of open tunings etc which really make it for me. Plus of course her soaring vocals and the ever perplexing lyrics!

eg "I could drink a case of you and still be on my feet"... is this = her love is so intense that it cannot be satiated?
Or is it = the love has now withered to the point that even a whole case would fail to intoxicate? The song seems to be about the ending of a relationship but it also dwells on just how amazing it was at the time, making precise interpretation tricky in places... which just makes it even more intriguing!:)
She’s brilliant at writing about herself & observing the behaviour of others. I think she suffers from the sexist nature of the music press, women never get their due as players. She is a far more talented musician than,say, Neil Young. David Crosby put her a level above everyone,I don’t think he’s wrong.
 
The whole run from Blue through to Mingus is pure genius as far as I’m concerned. Joni is a master storyteller and jazz-grade musician/composer. She plays alone in her own league.

PS For those wanting a maybe easier route in try starting with Court And Spark.
I think Hejira is an easier way in. I don't play court and spark very much.
 


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