Travelogue is progressive on at least two levels. First of all, an album in this format has never been recorded before: an artist who takes songs she has written over a four decade period, pooling them together on one recording and refurbishing them with a complete symphony orchestra. There have been retrospectives, but none like this, and few by the artist herself. Second of all, it's progressive in the sense that Joni herself has never done this before. So, in the larger spectrum of album releases, it's new in terms of its format and presentation, and on the level of the individual artist (Joni) it's new for the same reasons.
Simply because she hears 40s and 50s music in her head and admires that era more than what is being produced today does not make what she's doing retrograde. She's taking modern songs with modern sentiments, sentiments that are in fact timeless, and situating them in a grand context that is reminiscent of a time gone by. Would be more modern if she used Bjork-esque instrumentation and had an image of her on the cover with five rings in her nose and a buzz cut? Dare I say that what Joni has done with Travelogue it's post modern expressionism? A fusion of past with present. It's quite progressive, I think. Also, to address Victor's laments, I think there are many Joni fans who never fully got over the 70s. I don't know if there are any on this list, but they do exist. Some have abandoned Joni long ago. Not that it makes them less of a fan - they may still love to play Ladies of the Canyon on repeat every day - but they are ignoring the evolution of the artist, which I suppose is their right. I don't think John was saying that if you don't like Travelogue you must hate her newer work, but I've seen several comments on the list that indicate her voice just doesn't come up to the way it once was for people and that the musical direction she's taking now pales in comparison to the innovation she demonstrated when she was younger. John didn't just pull that out of his hat - it exists and I've heard it many times before. "Joni's not as good now as she used to be. Joni's voice isn't as nice as it once was. Travelogue isn't as good as, whatever..." There are people who wish it had nev! er been made. People will love Travelogue and people will hate it. People will see merit in it and people will think it's rehash. All I know is that it's still very new and we're obviously still grappling with what it means in the bigger picture of Joni's career and in the bigger specturm of music. Time will tell how it will be remembered and how Joni herself will be remembered. -Andrew Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now
