Bob wrote: Both are classics and brilliant of course...I've always thought Blue was more disjointed in terms of theme. I mean, you have some optimistic songs (All I Want, My Old Man, Carey), some songs of lost love (A Case of You, River, Blue), and some songs about travel (California, This Flight Tonight), and then she also throws in Little Green & The Last Time I Saw Richard which are very confessional/personal pieces. I don't think the record is overly depressing as do some, nor would I say that it's a happy record. I don't see an interconnecting theme as much as I do with HOSL, Hejira, C&S.
I would think that the variety of themes and moods on Blue makes it a stronger overall package. Sometimes I feel that Hejira is a little too steady in comparison (although it certainly sounds like no other album). I'm curious about this issue of album coherence. The first album to stake a claim at it, "it" being the attempt to create a unified artistic whole rather than a handful of separate songs, was Sgt. Pepper's in '67 - and both stylistically and thematically that was all over the map. What it is it about HOSL, and C&S that makes them unified packages? Don't get me wrong - I agree that both are. C&S is my personal favorite, and I'd be curious to hear what people feel holds it together. What makes it (and any of the others) an album as opposed to a bunch of songs? dan s.
