Travelogue thoughts

[Scott Fifield]

Hello everyone - I've been lurking for about a week or two. I've enjoyed reading all the enthusiastic posts about Joni. I've been checking out the reviews on Travelogue and am baffled. I guess my tastes are well off the beaten path because I'm not hearing the same music these reviewers are hearing.

I thought it was interesting that someone brought up Billie Holiday. Her "Lady In Satin" (her penultimate release - and one that found her more ravaged sounding that her final album) is a masterpiece and yes, it's not easy listening - she sounds like a woman who lived a rough life...who was just barely able to eke out a vocal on the tracks. That is NOT the voice I hear on Travelogue. I am completely won over by this release. I think it's great that Joni took the time to revisit some favorites from her catalogue and show them off in a new setting. I think she succeeds remarkably well.

Most of my music collection is jazz vocals, so perhaps I'm more accustomed to the seasoned singer (read: aging) and I find that there's a certain "lived through it" quality that isn't capable of being achieved by a young voice. The believability factor is so much higher. This is more apparent in songs such as Both Sides Now, Love, and The Last Time I Saw Richard - and less apparent in something like Otis & Marlena or Sex Kills. I think the orchestral background really fits well - I especially like the grandiloquence in Sex Kills, Ludwig's Tune, Trouble Child, and Amelia.

Her delivery is always interesting and to compare the slight lyric changes, the different way she stresses certain words - these things are a joy for this fan. When I read these (and they're mostly wickedly negative) reviews, I can't help but wonder if they've given it the attention it might require to grow on them. With every Joni release, it's always taken me a few listens before I can appreciate it - and almost always I get there...(although it's hard with Dog Eat Dog)...I wonder if these reviewers played it through once and said, "she's lost her voice" and because she's made some angry remarks to the media about the state of the music business, they decide it's her swan song and so they write a terse review in which they point out that she's not a young woman anymore (she hasn't sounded like that folksy songbird in over a quarter of a century!) and how it's overproduced, and they give it a couple stars out of five. And for the review, she's probably spent the better part of a year or more putting together a very satisfying project for many of her fans.

Again - I've enjoyed the posts. Particulary the ones that don't have NJC in the subject heading.

Here are my 20 favorite Joni performances (what else does one do on a Tuesday morning at 2 a.m., but compile one's 20 favorite Joni performances???)


Moon At The Window(1982)
Song For Sharon (1976)
Rainy Night House (Live, 1974)
Be Cool (1982)
You Dream Flat Tires (2002)
A Case Of You (2000)
Come In From The Cold (1991)
The Last Time I Saw Richard (Live, 1974)
Peoples Parties (1974)
Refuge Of The Roads (1976)
All I Want (1971)
Man To Man (1982)
River (1971)
Trouble Child (1974)
Harrys House/Centerpiece (1975)
Cherokee Louise (1991)
Two Grey Rooms (1991)
Face Lift (1998)
The Tea Leaf Prophecy (1988)
Conversation (1970)