Fred wrote: > It's a really interesting question. I've put a lot of thought into it, and > while I don't have it all figured out, I do think I have a few plausible > answers. I'm not sure about the idea that she has become more interested in > exploring sonorities, because she has always been quite involved in that, and > has always excelled at it. Maybe you're right that she is now interested in > that to the detriment of melody and harmony.
I've really enjoyed reading your thoughts on this, Fred, and have gained much understanding. My reaction to early Joni vs. later Joni has always been much the same. The sea change for me started around HOSL, although I was always to find many individual gems in subsequent albums and what didn't grab me I sought to understand. In the case of DJRD, after 20 years I ultimately thought it was absolute genius. Some things have happened the last few years that has given me some serious reconsideration of her later work. One is hearing Marian Russell's renditions of it. Somehow Marian is able to find and amplify their gorgeous melodic essence. She truly can transform some of Joni's later music into something quite amazing with just her voice and guitar. Maybe some alchemy happens because she interprets the songs acoustically and she can sing them with a high, clear voice similar to the early Joni. Some Joni songs I thought were ho-hum that became stunning through Marian's interpretation are Moon at the Window, Wolf that Lives in Linsday and, believe it or not, Ray's Dad's Cadillac! The other thing that made me think again was hearing the HOSL demos with only Joni and her piano. If she'd gone that way for the final product she would have had the bookend to FTR. Laying the jazz on was innovative but it obscured a lot of the original essence. All this makes me think that the well has not run dry so much as she has chosen somewhat arguably eccentric methods of rendering the original melodies. This could tie in to her intuitive side bumping up against her desire to be creative in a medium in which, as you say, she is "half-educated." You or David Lahm or other accomplished jazz musicians can take her melodies and do them right but maybe it gets a little messy or something is lost to some ears when she tries to jazz them herself. Regardless of any of this, I still appreciate everything she does, whether it works for me, or I love it or not. I always hold out the possibility that she might just be way ahead of her time in some ways. That doesn't make her perfect as some of the "flaws" on TTT attest. No matter how you cut it Man From Mars would have been perfect had she stayed with the piano and without the "big boohoo," and Taming the Tiger could have been more profound lyrically without the "nice kitty kitty." Have you every thought about how you might consider some of her later songs if she kept it simpler - on acoustic guitar or piano - and was able to sing them her original voice? Kakki
