andrew wrote >>>There are not that many office furniture critics, although they probably do exist<<<
lol, andrew...that would be my husband, who as a designer, has strong feelings about such things! but really what i wanted to say is i really enjoy your thoughtful posts...how old are you? much wisdom for someone who i think said they were quite young... re: that amazon review....no doubt joni's voice has been affected by smoking (if my lungs could take it i might think of taking up smoking as i love that smoky voice...just kidding) what few seem to be talking about or taking into consideration is the natural ageing of a voice, especially a woman's, that happens anyway...& it really bugs me when people talk about her voice in comparison to when she was younger...i hear many of the same qualities in her voice now that was there when she was younger...but it is a voice that has aged... this is the work & the voice of an almost 60 year old woman...& i applaud her for her vitality at this stage of her life- to take on such a monumental project, not too just rest on her laurels...but to still be taking the risk, because it is quite a risk she took, redoing her songs in a new format & singing them again ... just look at all the criticism she is getting, most of which is in some way, comparing her songs & voice to the her original versions...honestly, i love both of her voices...the voice when she was young & the voice she has now...they are not exclusive of each other... this is not meant as a criticim of those who do not like the record for whatever reasons...there are plenty of things i just don't like & no argument from anyone can change my mind... however, there is a nagging thought that keeps coming up for me...& i may take some flack for this from those who will insist this is not why they do not like her voice...but i bring it up as a question to see if it is worth considering... if it is possible to put the smoking issue aside for one moment....is there some insidious youth culture in all of us (i include myself) that is afraid of ageing which makes it hard for us to accept the natural ageing process- especially that of a woman....it is so common to admire someone for their youthfulness rather than admire them for their age...& do we have difficulty seeing the beauty of age because we are so conditioned to only seeing the beauty of youth? why can't we see that both are beautiful in their own way? ******************************************** Kate Bennett: www.katebennett.com Sponsored by Polysonics/Atlantis Sound Labs Over the Moon- "bringing the melancholy world of twilight to life almost like magic" All Music Guide ********************************************
