I have been following this thread with much interest. All in all, I feel that there is less disagreement over the content of what is being said than over the terms being used to say it.
First of all, there is the definition of "early Joni". One could measure this in years - or, as I would prefer - in units of work product released. I tend to think of her work in groups of 3. On that basis, I consider Joni's first 3 albums to be "early early" Joni, and her next 3 (Blue, FTR and C&S) to be "late early" Joni ( clearly there is a considerable difference between these two triads). Still, this "early" work was marked by extraordinary, accessible (albeit haunting, and non-trivial) melodies. If you do not think so, just sing them out loud, without help. I bet you can. The chord structures were quite classical - Joni relied primarily on extra tones (2nds, 4ths, 6ths, 7ths, 9ths and non-tonic base notes) to add color and provide richness. The rhythms were relatively simple and straigtforward. If you do not think so, try playing them on the guitar or the piano. I bet you can (even I can, and I assure Fred that I am strictly an amateur where music is concerned). The accompaniment was tasteful and not saccharine, but not inaccessibly complex to the ear, either. So, those who say that this period was melodic are right, and those who say it was less complex are also right, IMO. I for one was in love with this work when it came out. Early middle Joni would be the next three albums. HOSL, Hejira and DJRD were on a totally different plateau from the prior 3 albums (not to mention the first 3). The melodies were, on balance, less accessible - if you do not think so, try to sing them without accompaniment. Take Coyote, for instance. Both the notes and the rhythms of the melody are more complex. Is this song melodic ? Certainly ! But it is clearly more complex in its structure than her earliest work. Rhythm is critical to music - it cannot be disregarded in the analysis. And the notes of the melody do not soar over and around the chords, they move semi-anchored inside a relatively narrow range of tones (this does not make them easier to sing), allowing the chords and accompaniment to move around them and add balance to the overall composition. Cotton Avenue, DJRD, Silky Veils. That said, she lost me, temporarily - and I was a big fan. I knew in my head that she was going someplace higher, but I could not feel it, and I left for a long time. It is clear that the top (real) musicians and critics did not feel this way, but the lesser ones certainly did not receive and review these records as well or as highly as they refer to them now. She lost some of them, too. Late middle Joni sort of never happened, IMO. Mingus interrupted it, broke its stride. (Is it possible that the late middle period was slated to be the most exquisite, and that somehow she (and we) were robbed of its fulfillment ?) And when she emerged from Mingus, perhaps a bit spent from the energy of going off in a direction that she was not necessarily prepared (or perhaps perfectly suited) for, I think she was floundering, wondering which direction to reestablish. The direction seems to have come from her new marriage and affiliation with Larry Klein and his musical group. But I would call the 80's albums "early late" Joni. I think the WTRF suffers a bit from the lack of torment that seemed to inspire so much of her earlier work. And I am sad for the synthetic quality of DED - which was also highly impersonal compared to her earlier work lyrically. I think CMIAR is underrated - she was beginning to find herself in many ways, and was coming out of her "lost seas". This brings us to the 90's, and what I would call "late late" joni. Here, there is a return to more accessible melodies. NRH is perhaps too simple in this respect, but she does so much more with the vocal accompaniments and other colorations than she did in her earliest work that NRH is, for me, a comforting return to the womb. Sing the songs a cappella - I bet you can. Turbulent Indigo is a very fine album, with much good work - some simple and accessible, some quite complex and beautiful. I find TTT to be a bit too homogeneous in texture, rhythm and tempo for my taste - both it and BSN are, in that sense, more "mood" collections. What really differentiates her early work from her later work, to me, is that her early work features an unbelievably strong connection between the music and the lyrics that is not captured with anything like that consistency in her later work. This uncanny, seamless connection so permeated her earlier work that I still nearly tear my hair out in disbelief when I hear it. It is not as prevalent any more, I am afraid. A good example of my thinking here is Sire of Sorrow - a song each of whose components I am crazy about, but whose union seems off to me. Not wildly out of place, but disappointing. The music is brilliant but lacks sufficient anguish to complement the lyrics. Magdalene Laundries is another. That does not mean that there are not songs where she still captures this - Sex Kills is one, Lakota, My Secret Place, The Tea Leaf Prophecy, Yvette in English, Face Lift. These songs are not stronger lyrically or musically than the previous two (arguably less so), but they are better connected, and the work is better art, IMO. Just not as consistent as earlier, this connection of lyric and music. " But I know my needs, my sweet tumbleweed, I need more quiet times... by a river flowing, you and me, deep kisses and the sun gooooooooooing down"..... Wow. Bob S.
