I met a man in Montreal once in the "M" section of a record store who was looking through the Joni CDs. I told him I was a fan too and we looked through some of them together. He said he only liked her music up until Wild Things Run Fast because after that, he said, "Her voice got yucky."
I actually prefer the husky alto to her peaks-n'-valleys soprano of days gone by. I think her voice reached its ideal pitch in the mid to late 70s when it could glide seamlessly over many octaves and multi-syllabic phrases with ease. But I agree that the critics will generally not be kind to Joni's singing capabilities this time around. I noticed the deterioration of her voice even since Both Sides Now but tend to like it's rusty effect, over all. I liked the comparison someone made of Joni's voice to a horn. It is very brassy these days, sort of trumpet-like and squeaky on the trills. However, I think it will only serve to marginalize her even further. If fans of her work are finding it distracting, imagine what the mainstream public will think. They won't really know what to make of it. I imagine touring this album may prove to be difficult for Joni if her voice is in rough shape. -Andrew Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now
