Agreed. Hejira is a good place to start. If you don't like that....Originally Posted by Zeuhlmate
Agreed. Hejira is a good place to start. If you don't like that....
Her vocal lines/melodies are groundbreaking imo in terms of both the intervals sung and the extremely complex rhythms. If you read music, try to imagine her vocal lines notated on staff paper and you'll see what I mean. On top of that, she has (had?) a beautiful timbre to her voice, and was able to conjure up some really unique and interesting chord progressions due to her alternate guitar tuning. She considers herself more of a visual artist than a musician, which is unbelievable when you think about it. She likes her smokes too! My beautiful wife's favorite song EVER by ANYBODY is "A Case of You", which is an amazing tune. I don't listen to Joni that much anymore but I still have a universe of respect for her.
EDIT: Back in 1999, Andy (Sussman), Nick (Lieto), and myself flew out to San Fran and drove north to Vancouver Island over a 26-day trip. Besides the obvious prog stuff, FZ, and classical, Joni was played heavily on that trip and was the perfect soundtrack to that amazing journey. Her music still brings me back to the west coast (which BTW, is absolutely incredible to this lifetime New Yorker).
Last edited by chalkpie; 01-09-2017 at 01:11 PM.
Just before our love got lost you said
I am as constant as a northern star and I said,
Constantly in the darkness
Where's that at?
If you want me I'll be in the bar
On the back of a cartoon coaster
In the blue TV screen light
I drew a map of Canada
Oh Canada
With your face sketched on it twice
Oh you are in my blood like holy wine
You taste so bitter
And so sweet oh
I could drink a case of you darling and I would
Still be on my feet
Oh I would still be on my feet
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 that you told me, you said
"Love is touching souls"
Surely you touched mine 'cause
Part of you pours out of me
In these lines from time to time
Oh you…
...and she played with Jaco Pastorius - another prodigy. Like-minded attract. Love Blue.
Word.
Missed that - Jaco already mentioned.
Its cool daddio. Jaco is so good, he can be mentioned three or four times
Ever think about what Jaco would be up to if he was still around? I think he would have worked with JM many more times.
Jaco was working for Phyllis Diller when Joni rescued him! At least that's her story.
What's so great about Joni Mitchell?
What isn't?
We're trying to build a monument to show that we were here
It won't be visible through the air
And there won't be any shade to cool the monument to prove that we were here. - Gene Parsons, 1973
That's odd. I was thinking more about his brilliant playing with Weather Report.
He was in the Peter Graves Orchestra at the time, and they'd back up people like Phyllis Diller and Bob Hope.
You remember them? Who can forget such classics as "Have You Ever Seen a Grown Man Naked", "Do You Like Movies About Gladiators", and the evergreen "What's Our Vector, Victor"?
Where to begin? When others were writing formulaic paeans to love, Joni was baring her soul. Read her lyrics, delve into her life, her affairs with James Taylor and Warren Beatty ("my vain darling") and then listen to the lyrics of the songs on "For the Roses," and "Court and Spark." Her hit song, "A Free Man in Paris," wasn't a fluffy uptempo song but a subtle message to then closeted David Geffen. "For Free" exposes her ambivalence with fortune and fame. Then there's the haunting melodies and that floating voice. I could go on, but the best advice is to listen for yourself and realize how personal her songs are.
It's just silly when I think about it. She is obviously a MUCH more gifted musician than painter. Gimme a break Joni!
Music, lyrics, musicianship, arrangements, innovation. And she had a lot of imitators. I'm not saying that I like everything she ever released, and the artwork on the album covers was not always great, but as far as female music artists of the last 50 years, you have to put her up there at or near the top. Even without that gender distinction, she's up there. I think a lot of music fans don't like her because she didn't ROCK. For me, that's a non-factor.
I can see it. The painting can be all her and completely uncompromised. The music can't. For the latter half of her career, she's had to work with others to get a sound as big as the one she hears in her head, and that's going to change what results: Pat and Jaco and Mike Brecker may be/have been brilliant musicians, but what comes out of them is Pat and Jaco and Mike Brecker, not Joni. And the fact she might not have known exactly what she wanted the sax, say, to play - other than that she wanted it to be there and wanted something Mike Brecker could deliver - doesn't change that.
Also, she apparently has an enormous and prickly ego and is thoroughly aware of just how great she is. So I can see her, like Dylan, dealing in myths: And what could be a more overpowering myth than that music is, to her, just her job and not her true art?
Last edited by Baribrotzer; 01-09-2017 at 08:38 PM.
I'm thinking that I really appreciate your comments John. Still rereading and trying to absorb them correctly!
Stand By
Chris Buckley
Best thing she ever did, not saying that other albums weren't great, but this one is tremendous. Court and Spark is also good. Also worth checking out is Shadow and Light for an early glimpse of Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays.
OP here -- glad to see a lot of responses.
I just started appreciating her recently, having previously (with great prejudice I admit) dismissed her as a poet-chick-with-guitar. My miss. What I like about Joni are the arrangements -- off-kilter, unexpected and yet somehow making the whole richer, much like the Parthenon catches the eye even though it is not mathematically proportionate.
I have to admit I prefer her more structured arrangements and recordings to the stuff that comes off a bit like stream-of-consciousness beat poetry. But there's so much to get from it all that I have a hard time thinking of a particular song or album that I would never want to revisit.
I'm holding out for the Wilson-mixed 5.1 super-duper walletbuster special anniversary extra adjectives edition.
Would Carole King be considered an imitator?
No, I was thinking of a compilation of late 60's Laurel Canyon-ish female singer-songwriters that REALLY sound like her. It's called Wayfaring Strangers: Ladies From The Canyon.
Last edited by soundsweird; 01-09-2017 at 10:20 PM.
^
Interesting. Thanks.
Not at all. To begin with, her career as a professional songwriter started earlier than Joni's, and her music is more pop-R&B than folk. Although Carole did jump on the singer-songwriter bandwagon - partly, I think, because she didn't have a big enough voice or persona for an R&B career.
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