There was a point in time, somewhere in the late 70s, when I thought of Joni, James Taylor, Jackson Browne, Joan Armatrading, Rickie Lee Jones, Gordon Lightfoot, and Bob Dylan as all inhabiting more or less the same space in my own personal singer/songwriter hierarchy. Dylan and Joni have always been a step above everybody else for me, but they were at least all in the same ballpark during the late 70s. For example, look at the albums that each of these artists put out in that time period. These are, in my opinion, some of the best albums of their careers.
1976 - Hejira (JM) 1975 - Gorilla (Taylor) 1974 - Late for the Sky (Browne) 1976 - Joan Armatrading (3rd album) 1979 - Rickie Lee Jones (Debut album) 1976 - Summertime Dream (Lightfoot) 1975 - Blood on the Tracks (Dylan) I have followed all of their careers for the last 25 years and have most of their CDs. The difference between Joni and the rest of these musicians, for me, however, is that Joni's work continues to change and grow and much of her new work, not all of it, is as good and as intense, as the old work. I recently bought Jackson Browne's new CD, Naked Ride Home. I think it was the title that hooked me as much as anything. I guess I was looking for some kind of connection to Night Ride Home. I was afraid I'd end up buying it, listening to it a couple of times, and then filing it away. I was right. It's not terrible. It just sounds like what he did 25 years ago and so far there hasn't been a single song that I really wanted to hear again. It doesn't even approach the intensity of his early work. I have the same reaction to all the artists listed above. I didn't even buy James Taylor's last CD. I'm sure it's very nice, professionally done, and I've heard a few tracks and saw a video of one song, and it all sounds like everything else he's done for the last 10 or 15 years. Joni, on the other hand, continues to do different things, go down different paths. Her music on Taming the Tiger sounds different from everything else she's ever done. Both Sides Now sounds different from everything else. I love the new versions of her songs on Both Sides Now. I do wish she had not done the covers. I guess there must be something very compelling about doing an album of covers/standards. Everybody has done it from Carly Simon to Willie Nelson to Dylan.. I understand her love for the songs and I understand that the songs were meant to show the arc of a love affair. We all have songs we grew up listening to that were important to us. I just don't understand why she chose to record the covers and release them on album. One of the things that has always drawn me to Joni is her solitary approach to music. From her very first album she wrote the songs, sang the songs, played the instruments, did the album cover art, and produced it all. I guess that's why when I read about somebody like Norah Jones and listen to her CD my response is, "Very nice. But she's no Joni Mitchell." But that's okay. The covers on Both Sides Now were still interesting. It was new and different, and there were still moments of intensity that equaled her best work. A friend of mine who got off the Joni Mitchell bandwagon years ago asked me after Both Sides Now was released, "Why should I listen to Joni Mitchell try to sing At Last when I can listen to Etta James really sing it?" She has a certain point and I guess this is where you separate someone who just likes Joni from someone like me who would buy a CD of Joni singing the phone book. Her voice, even after all these years, and all those cigarettes, still intrigues and mesmerizes me. The first time I heard Joni sing Both Sides Now was Atlanta in 1998. It was a moment I will never forget. Was it just her performance, or was it the experience of having the past 30 years turned inside out right before my eyes? Can you separate the two? I don't think so. It was the closest thing to time travel I will proably ever experience. I felt the last 30 years collapse and turn inside out and then I was back in 1998. Infinity. A little yin/yang for ya folks. She was the driver and it was a magical ride she was taking us on, a travelogue. That is why I'm looking forward to Travelogue so much. I'm hoping for more moments like that and more moments that I haven't even thought of. I'm looking for memories about songs and places and times that I have forgotten that I think these new versions of old songs will reveal. So maybe in a way Both Sides Now, the CD, was a way for Joni to say, "See, these were my songs. These were the songs that were important to me as a child, and these are the songs that take me back in time." Maybe Travelogue is her way or providing that same experience for those of us who grew up with Joni's songs as our important songs. I hope Travelogue will not be her last album. I hope she will live a long time and keep sending out these gifts. I think she is capable of that. She has done it far longer than most of her peers. And I think she still has plenty to say. One thing she has now that she didn't have 30 years ago is a sense of history and hindsight. That could make for some powerful writing. But, if she doesn't make any new music, the music she has made in the last 30 years will get me through the next 30. Frank
