Legacy
Songs
Fags
Men...

fags...you mean how she smoked way too many of them? I did appreciate the change her voice went through between 1972 & 1974, but now she sounds like Lauren Bacall

I only own one album: Blue. Adore it immensely. Bought something current (the indigo album) wasn't into it. Should probably stick to her early stuff only?

Only have Dreamland here... and loving it will check out others when I can

Matronik said:

Of course her legacy is amazing, as are her songs. Fags? As for men, she was a bit of a slapper, wasn't she?

James Taylor, Jackson Browne, David Crosby, Graham Nash. Did she knock off Stephen Stills and make it a trifecta?

mynameisnotsusan said:

Wouldn't that be smoking two fags too many to make it a trifecta?

...


My favorite Joni stuff is the period from the mid to late seventies, when she really started to stretch the boundaries of her songwriting to include Jazz and more experimental forms, from Hissing of the Summer Lawns , Heijira and Mingus to her second live album, "Shadows and Light", although Chalkmark In A Rainstorm(1988) is also one of my favorites...





...

Her latest album SHINE is definately worth a listen. I love it.

mynameisnotsusan said:

oh wow... so that would explain this

She's my all time favorite artist. Listen to hear 24/7. Lyrically, she's the best poet out there...IMO...

All time favorite songs:

Down to You
Don't Interrupt the Sorrow
Hejira
Coyote
California


Albums
Hejira
Blue
Hissing of Summer Lawns
Court & Spark.

Love, love, love Joni.

No one's really fuckin' with her lyrically.

I like her mid to late 70s style the most - I feel like that one is most her own.

I've only got two albums of hers (Blue, and Court & Spark) and a smattering of mp3's. But if all I had in my music colection was just that, I'd still be happy. It's that good.

Hissing of Summer Lawns is simply gorgeous.

Talk To Me, from Don Juan has one of my favorite Joni lyrics...

"There was a moon and a street lamp
I didnt know I drank such a lot
till I pissed a tequila-anaconda
The full length of the parking lot!
Oh, I talk too loose
Again I talk too open and free
I pay a high price for my open talking
Like you do for your silent mystery"

Hilarious!

You really have to listen through each album with the lyrics to full appreciate her lyrical artistry and humor!

One of my very favourite artists. I dig every album from Blue through to Don Juan's Reckless Daughter.
There's some cool stuff either side of that period as well.
She qualifies as genius for me.

Wowugotit said:

Certainly healthier than Taming The Tiger.

mynameisnotsusan said:

Please. She was in her mid twenties and doing far less than the men were doing. Do you call them slappers too?

midnightmover said:

I would.

And don't worry. I don't think Joni would deny her bawdy younger days. She sort of hints at it a few times, like in some of the lines of "Refuge of the Road."
[Edited 8/20/08 8:36am]

Lammastide said:

No one's denying she had a few men, but why call her a slapper? She wasn't sleeping with groupies like James Taylor was, yet when was the last time you heard him called a slapper? Two words. D-O-U-B-L-E..... S-T-A-N-D-A-R-D!

It's funny, I worked in a record store between my senior year of high school and my senior year in undergrad. I'd never heard anything from Joni (or at least I didn't know if I had) and I busted open a copy of Songs to a Seagull strictly on album cover appeal. I'd seen that cover hundreds of times, but on that day it just sort of called to me. It sounded exactly as I'd imagined -- and she was immediately, permanently a new favorite.

In those early 1990s, I'm convinced I needed the clean, crisp and organic approach to music that characterized Joni in '68. And though she explored the technologies and studio trickery of the years to come, only for a brief time in the early to mid-'80s did her sound become gimmicky. Wisely, she moved on.

And she's been no less than a lyrical magician through her entire career. I once compared her lyrics to those of other musicians and quality aside, the sheer volume of words on one of her albums is amazing! Compared to Joni's narrative adventures, lyrics come off as sparse afterthoughts for other artists. She may as well be writing prose!

She's a legend in my book.

midnightmover said:

Yeah, the double standard for female artists is undeniable. But all the playing around going on in those days is pretty well known. And James Taylor actually catches a LOT of heat for being not only a pretty-boy whore, but a damned arrogant s.o.b. I agree those CSNY boys come off as little angels, though -- and they were sowing their seeds of love as much as anyone, I'm sure.

No love for The madgalene laundries?

Matronik said:

Heartbreaking. But my favorite from Turbulent Indigo is "Yvette in English."

Lammastide said:

I have so much to explore in the joni world. But know I am on a david bowie kick

Matronik said:

well maybe we can trade favorites
I've been wanting to get into Bowie
but I don't know where to start

DirtyChris said:

I think the best way to start with Bowie is with the Hunky Dory album (the space oddity album is a bit sparse for my taste and the early 60's stuff is very...humm...avarege imo) and go in a chronological way until Let's Dance. Believe me. In 10/15 years, Bowie was covered alot of musical spaces.

Since you are from a soul background, maybe you should check the Young Americans album first . Luther Vandross and John Lennon are in it.

Try to download a song called "Fascination" from that album. You won't regret!

As a bonus...try to get Bowie's cover of Knock on Wood...pure live orgasm imo.

Oh and 1984 from Diamond Dogs is very Disco...but in a Bowie twisted way. Apokaliptic disco!

A great guide to the Bowie realm is Anxiety. He's like a guru in Bowie studies He even likes Never let me down...)
[Edited 8/20/08 15:33pm]