Nice post, Bruce. > In recalling the sequence of her recordings, I often have to stop and > force myself to remember that Blue is before FTR. Because in the > evolution of Joni's work, it seems Blue should come after FTR. I > don't know why I think this.
I do the same thing. It DOES seems that Blue should have come after FTR. Perhaps it's because, to me, the vocal and musical style of FTR seems to fit nicely between LOTC and Blue. In some ways, Blue seems to be more "mature" than FTR. However, it's useful to remember that Joni was writing a LOT during the early days -- well, really all the time -- and some songs seem to have been recorded onto an album when the time or "theme" was right. According to the program footage from WOHAM (god I love these acronyms), Joni performed many songs several years before they appeared on vinyl. Even later, when you consider (for instance) Hejira and DJRD, there's a lot of material that has the feeling of a "bridge" between the two works. And you know there may be more ... in fact, I'm sure of it. Lori
