In a message dated 13/11/2002 14:43:03 GMT Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
<< The critics should be able to be honest. (And like Blair says, you have to know the tastes of the critic to begin with.) They're not afraid to pan Dylan, or JT, or McCartney, or anyone. Joni doesn't play to them anyway...I think our reactions around dealing with bad reviews of the artists we idolize are more about *our* own egos anyway. >> Hear hear Bob! While there are always critics indulging their own egos (and they are usually readily identifiable), some of them are just saying it as they see (or hear) it, and if they don't like it, we and the artists just have to deal with it. I'm reminded of a big feature on REM in Mojo magazine when New Adventures in Hi Fi came out. The interviewer was slightly nervous of the meeting, as he had hated their last album (Monster). Mike Mills beat him to the punch however, in a way he hadn't expected: he remembered that the interviewer had also been the reviewer and said words to the effect of "I know you didn't like our last record, don't worry about it, it's cool." That's a big man! I know the feeling of outrage when a record we love is panned or damned with faint praise, but hell, I've just gotta learn to cope! As for Joni, I think a person who's sensitive enough to have written such extraordinary songs is perhaps bound to have a thinner skin than most. All the same, I sometimes wish she'd show a little more class and rise above this stuff. As regards Madonna, well, yes, I think everyone here can agree that Joni is several laps ahead of Madonna as a musician and songwriter - HOWEVER, I can't help wondering if Joni has ever actually listened to a Madonna album all the way through. She might be surprised that there are some bloody good SONGS in there. If she gave Like A Prayer a spin, apart from the classic pop singles, she'd hear songs like Oh Father and Till Death Do Us Part. Compare these songs to some of the cuts on Joni's nearest contemporaneous album, Chalk Mark In A Rain Storm, and what do you get? I know what I get: I prefer Maddy's album, I just think it's BETTER! In the great scheme of things Joni is unassailable. And it should also be taken into account that Madonna is a co-author of her songs as distinct from a songwriter, and has a lot more outside input to how the songs sound (although I have no doubt that the songs are unequivocally HERS, in that they are expressions of what's going on in her, and that she's not just sitting around waiting to add her writing credit); all told, Joni might consider being less sniffy about her. Azeem in London NP: Madredeus - O Paraiso
