From: les@jmdl.com (JMDL Digest)
To: joni-digest@smoe.org
Subject: JMDL Digest V4 #79
Reply-To: joni@smoe.org
Sender: les@jmdl.com
Errors-To: les@jmdl.com
Precedence: bulk
JMDL Digest Tuesday, February 16 1999 Volume 04 : Number 079
The Song and Album Voting Booths are open again! Cast your votes
by clicking the links at http://www.jmdl.com/gallery
username: jimdle password: siquomb
-------
The Official Joni Mitchell Homepage is maintained by Wally Breese at
http://www.jonimitchell.com and contains the latest news, a detailed bio,
original interviews and essays, lyrics, and much more.
-------
The JMDL website can be found at and contains
interviews, articles, the member gallery, archives, and much more.
==========
TOPICS and authors in this Digest:
--------
Re: HoSL - Feminist theme [MGVal@aol.com]
Re[2]: HoSL [Bob.Muller@fluordaniel.com]
Re: Audio philes NJC [Jerry Notaro ]
Re: Audiophiles corner - audio quality of TTT, Jungle line etc [Howard Wr]
Re: Audiophiles corner - audio quality of TTT, Jungle line etc [DKasc1329]
mp3 [Jerry Notaro ]
Re[2]: Audiophiles corner - audio quality of TTT, Jungle lin [Bob.Muller@]
Re: Re[2]: HoSL [MDESTE1@aol.com]
Re: thanks simon [Debra Kaufman ]
Re[4]: HoSL [Bob.Muller@fluordaniel.com]
Re: HoSL - Feminist theme [MHart16164@aol.com]
Re[4]: HoSL (Now NJC) [Mark Domyancich ]
Re: HoSL - Feminist theme ["Winfried Hühn" ]
Re: HoSL [catman ]
NJC-Lucinda Williams [Randy Remote ]
NJC - New E-Mail Address [Bounced Message ]
Re: HoSL - Feminist theme [Ginamu@aol.com]
Suzanne Vega - NJC ["bern.gallagher" ]
Re: HoSL- (AKOJC) [all kinds of joni content] [MDESTE1@aol.com]
The Complete Poems and Lyrics [Brian Gross ]
S & L Video re-release? [Phyliss Ward ]
HOSL's Theme [Scott Price ]
Joni's video [Wally Breese ]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 15 Feb 1999 07:50:56 EST
From: MGVal@aol.com
Subject: Re: HoSL - Feminist theme
In a message dated 99-02-14 17:42:22 EST, paul@tyrer23.freeserve.co.uk writes:
>>What on earth are you trying to say. HOSL isnt about anything close to what
>>you seem to have responded to at least in a theme sense.
Whereas the theme sense was of the feminist variety....
Paul's first post and reply to this one summed things up rather nicely. I
enjoyed readinug them. But pehaps the description of a feminist theme appears
too narrowing. With today's backlash and all, use the word "feminism" and
people can see more of a radical left point of view.
An alternative take might be that HOSL is a commentary on suburbia and its
status quo. (I seem to recall an interview w/ JM in which she said that the
"Hissing" title came from the hiss and spit of suburban lawn sprinklers.) How
isolating and constricting it is to conform, "still she stays with a love of
some sorts..."
And to be fair, IMHO, I see a bit of a sympathetic and balanced view for the
male bindings of suburban status quo in "Harry's House." As he "drifts off
into the memory..." my feeling is that the man in the song senses that
something has gone wrong but is clueless about where - especially since he has
followed all the rules that guarantee success.
HOSL remains one of my favorites. It came out in my last years of high school
and its theme of isolation and chafing against status quo coincided quite
nicely with my personal discontent. It did not necessarily provide me with any
answers, but it sure gave me some solidarity.
MG
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 15 Feb 1999 08:40:57 -0500
From: Bob.Muller@fluordaniel.com
Subject: Re[2]: HoSL
Mark in Seattle writes:
<>
And I would add that the sequencing on this record as is close to
perfect as sequencing can get...as the "follow-up" C&S record, she draws
you in right off the bat with "In France"..., ends on that glorious
rising ro-o-o-oling!...then the sinister seeething of "Jungle Line" and
you know you're not in Kansas anymore, Toto...
<< Now 24 years after its release, I still find new things in it. And
to me that's clear evidence of it's greatness. >>
Then MG adds:
<>
And it's one of the few records by anyone that I want to hear again
right after I hear it - sometimes I'll go outside and putter around in
the yard with a jambox and HOSL and listen to it for hours...something
ironic about yanking weeds and cleaning gutters while listening to
Joni sing about my suburban trappings...
Bob
NP: Joan Armatrading, "All The Way From America"
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 15 Feb 1999 08:51:35 -0400
From: Jerry Notaro
Subject: Re: Audio philes NJC
IVPAUL42@aol.com wrote:
>
> Well, if you're going to split hairs, fine.
My, my. Well if that isn't the pot....
Never mind.
Jerry
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 15 Feb 1999 14:33:52 +0000 (GMT)
From: Howard Wright
Subject: Re: Audiophiles corner - audio quality of TTT, Jungle line etc
In a message dated 2/12/99 7:20:19 PM Central Standard Time, jlamadoo@one.net
writes:
<< I just wish she had recorded it better so we
wouldn't have to listen through the sludge. The new album is so harsh
that even a cassette copy of the album [:D] sounds glassy. It's not the
tape, it's the recording. So please Joni, hire an engineer next time!
And a fussy one! >>
Bob wrote:
> Jungle Line is very muddy, and an "outsider" would help to very the
> 'sameness' that plagues TTT's sound.
A few people have commented on the muddy/distorted sound of Jungle Line. I
agree with those that said it helps to create just the right "heavy"
atmosphere the song requires. Anyway, the drum sound was taken from a
field recording - presumable the original was somewhat distorted, so there
wasn't much that could be done to fix this. The drum sound is just so
powerful that I love it, despite the rough edges. I think it fits.
As for TTT - there are perhaps a few flaws in the sound, but nothing that
major. The opening guitar riff of Harlen in Havana was mentioned, but I
don't think it sounds rough because it was "badly recorded". It was
chosen to have a strange, rough sound. It's just the VG8 setting.
Compared to some of her earlier albums (Blue, Clouds) I think her recent
material has been very well recorded. TI has a beautiful sound.
There is a balance to be struck between getting the "perfect sound" and
getting an expressive take. Joni has often showed that she is prepared to
overlook flaws in the sound in order to keep a vocal or instrumental take
that she felt was so strong, she would never better it. There are several
parts in Blue (I forget which songs exactly ...) where the vocals are
quite distorted. No doubt she chose to keep the takes because the emotion
was so strong, it would be crazy to try and redo it with a better sound.
You can win both ways. I love Steely Dan, who are infamous for pushing
musicians to extremes in their search for the "perfect sound". When I
listen to albums like Aja, I think it was worth all the money and studio
hours.
But I also love Neil Young's "Tonight's the Night". This album could win
prizes for it's sloppy musicianship and rough recording - but the music
just shines through because the performances and the feelings are so
intense.
In Joni's case, there are no excuses for putting up with rough sounds if
they can be easily fixed, but in many cases I think she is making a strong
decision: "Yes, it sounds a bit crappy, but it's a damn good take isn't
it?!? Let's go with it!"
Howard
*******************************************************
Howard.Wright@ed.ac.uk
The way I perceived the dissonance was :
These chords are really mean
I like these chords !
Frank Zappa
********************************************************
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 15 Feb 1999 09:42:40 EST
From: DKasc13293@aol.com
Subject: Re: Audiophiles corner - audio quality of TTT, Jungle line etc
In a message dated 2/15/99 9:38:51 AM Eastern Standard Time, haw@ph.ed.ac.uk
writes:
<<
There is a balance to be struck between getting the "perfect sound" and
getting an expressive take. Joni has often showed that she is prepared to
overlook flaws in the sound in order to keep a vocal or instrumental take
that she felt was so strong, she would never better it. >>
During times like these, the wise are influential. They can bear the
imperfection. They can keep the harmony.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 15 Feb 1999 09:52:32 -0400
From: Jerry Notaro
Subject: mp3
Lycos has a new mp3 search engine on their site. I searched for joni and
came up with quite an assortment.
Jerry
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 15 Feb 1999 09:57:18 -0500
From: Bob.Muller@fluordaniel.com
Subject: Re[2]: Audiophiles corner - audio quality of TTT, Jungle lin
Howard determines:
<>
And also with "Ragged Glory", which sort of says in its title that's that
what it is. What joy to be able to see the silver lining in both of these
records...
<>
And just to clarify my point, I love TTT & "Jungle Line" & think it all
works quite well - but I was spinning FTR quite a bit this weekend and
loved the "varied" sounds in it; the guitars in "You turn me on & "Cold
Blue Steel", the piano in "Let The Wind Carry Me", and the orchestration of
"Judgement of the Moon & Stars", especially the flutes and woodwinds. For
me anyway, the synthesized sounds of TTT pale in comparison, even though I
do love the record.
Since it's very difficult to imagine these songs in different settings,
it's equally difficult to pass judgement on them I think. Plus when you
really enjoy something, you don't think of how it can be made even better.
Bob
NP: B-52's "Love Shack"
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 15 Feb 1999 10:36:22 EST
From: MDESTE1@aol.com
Subject: Re: Re[2]: HoSL
I dont know how many people on this list realize it but I hired a person who
used to run a "lawn care" business in canada and I was informed that lawns are
a big deal to Canadians, a huge deal. I always wondered if that wasnt a
reverence with which canadians held lawns.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 15 Feb 1999 11:46:10 -0500
From: Debra Kaufman
Subject: Re: thanks simon
Thanks, Simon, for your thoughtful posting of both the Magdalene laundry
video transcript--fascinating and horrible--and the interview with Herbie
Hancock and review of "Gershwin's World." I sang its praises briefly
several posts back. I am digging it. Steve Wonder really smokes--on
harmonica and vocally. "From Here to There" by Kyle Eastwood, recommended
by Bob M., is good too, with Joni singing "Trouble Man" by our man marvin
(gaye)--such a good song! And there's a good rendition of Tom Waits' "I Beg
Your Pardon" (sans Joni).
Good to see this stuff!
Debra K
******************************************************************
"It's not what you say, but mostly how you feel it."
Tim Buckley
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 15 Feb 1999 11:04:50 -0500
From: Bob.Muller@fluordaniel.com
Subject: Re[4]: HoSL
Author: MDESTE1@aol.com wrote:
<>
Here in the states too, especially in certain sections of the country, there's
a lot of competition between neighbors concerning lawns. In Cary, NC, near
where I lived at one time, if your lawn doesn't pass community standards,
they'll send a crew out to treat it and stick you with the bill!!
Myself, I do a minimum of yard care; in my opinion yards are for kids to play
in, period!
"There's gotta be more to livin' than a mortgage & a lawn to mow"...JM
NP: Joni talking about DED from TT#6
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 15 Feb 1999 11:19:02 EST
From: MHart16164@aol.com
Subject: Re: HoSL - Feminist theme
Some of the consensus re: HOSL
<< Whereas the theme sense was of the feminist variety....
Paul's first post and reply to this one summed things up rather nicely. I
enjoyed readinug them. But pehaps the description of a feminist theme appears
too narrowing. With today's backlash and all, use the word "feminism" and
people can see more of a radical left point of view. >>
I disagree with the "feminism" interpretation of this album. If anything the
females on this album are all pretty much "kept women." Edith and the
Kingpin--she's a shadow to him. Harry's House--he's a business men and she's
at home, lured him in with her shining skin to secure herself a pool and a
barbeque, Chippendale, and a house on the hill. Don't Interrupt the
Sorrow--maybe some feminine rebellion, but I'm not sure it's in the true
spirit of feminism. It takes a heart like Mary these days when you're man
gets weak? That doesn't sound like equal rights to me.
Anyway, I probably could go on about this. But I probably said enough already.
Michele
In New Orleans killing some brain cells till Tuesday passes.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 15 Feb 1999 10:34:18 -0600
From: Mark Domyancich
Subject: Re[4]: HoSL (Now NJC)
This is no joke! We once had an elderly gent who claimed that his 4
foot tall grass was actually a garden. The city decided to mow his
lawn and made him foot the bill.
Mark
At 11:04 AM -0500 2/15/99, Bob.Muller@fluordaniel.com wrote:
> Here in the states too, especially in certain sections of the
> country, there's
> a lot of competition between neighbors concerning lawns. In Cary, NC, near
> where I lived at one time, if your lawn doesn't pass community standards,
___________________________________
| Mark Domyancich |
| Harpua@revealed.net |
| http://home.revealed.net/Harpua |
| http://www.jmdl.com/guitar/mark |
|_________________________________|
"Evil communications corrupt good manners."
- I Corinthians 15:33
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 15 Feb 1999 17:58:52 +0100
From: "Winfried Hühn"
Subject: Re: HoSL - Feminist theme
MHart16164@aol.com wrote:
> I disagree with the "feminism" interpretation of this album. If anything the
> females on this album are all pretty much "kept women." Edith and the
> Kingpin--she's a shadow to him. Harry's House--he's a business men and she's
> at home, lured him in with her shining skin to secure herself a pool and a
> barbeque, Chippendale, and a house on the hill.
Michele,
the things you correctly point out might, in fact, be exactly the things which
have led other listers to intepret HoSL in this "feminist" way! There doesn't
necessarily have to be a contradiction. Joni is of course describing what is
going in in Suburbia, but even the most objective description involves a judgment:
the judgment that these things are peculiar enough to relate them to other people
so they can think about them and make their own judgments.
The question therefore is *why* does she almost exclusively portray "kept women"?
And if you look at "Harry's House" and the rather sad course the life of "her" has
taken, I think it's not entirely off-base to conclude she's criticizing -- here
and throughout the entire album. It may be subtle, but that's the way poetry
works.
Winfried
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 15 Feb 1999 09:00:31 -0800 (PST)
From: Brian Gross
Subject: Re: 60 Minutes - Magdalene Laundries story
Last Call
I still have the show on tape (6 hr mode)
For those interested in a copy, please email me privately THIS WEEK
to arrange for your copy.
briangross@rocketmail.com
Brian
===
"No paper thin walls
No folks above
No one else can hear the crazy cries of love"
yeah, right
_________________________________________________________
DO YOU YAHOO!?
Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 15 Feb 1999 10:22:07 -0700
From: Steve Dulson
Subject: Day with Shana (NJC)
It was indeed a fine day.
Kakki wrote:,
>(Mr. Dulson was one of the music trivia contest
>winners and won a very nice Bailey's driving cap ;-)
When they announced a music trivia contest, Kakki and I just
looked at each other, both thinking "Oh, please! Just give us
our prizes now, OK?" The only reason Kakki didn't score, too,
was the way they selected people to answer the questions.
##############################################################
Steve Dulson Costa Mesa CA steve@psitech.com
"The Tinker's Own"
http://members.aol.com/tinkersown/home.html
"Southern California Dulcimer Heritage"
http://members.aol.com/scdulcimer/
"The Living Tradition Concert Series"
(Website soon!)
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 15 Feb 1999 18:58:42 +0000
From: catman
Subject: Re: HoSL
I fully intend to concrete over our yard when we move!
Bob.Muller@fluordaniel.com wrote:
>
>
> Author: MDESTE1@aol.com wrote:
>
> < used to run a "lawn care" business in canada and I was informed that lawns are
> a big deal to Canadians, a huge deal. I always wondered if that wasnt a
> reverence with which canadians held lawns.>>
>
> Here in the states too, especially in certain sections of the country, there's
> a lot of competition between neighbors concerning lawns. In Cary, NC, near
> where I lived at one time, if your lawn doesn't pass community standards,
> they'll send a crew out to treat it and stick you with the bill!!
>
> Myself, I do a minimum of yard care; in my opinion yards are for kids to play
> in, period!
>
> "There's gotta be more to livin' than a mortgage & a lawn to mow"...JM
>
> NP: Joni talking about DED from TT#6
- --
CARLY SIMON DISCUSSION LIST
http://www.ethericcats.demon.co.uk/ethericcats/index.html
TANTRA’S/ETHERIC PERSIANS AND HIMALAYANS
http://www.ethericcats.demon.co.uk
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 15 Feb 1999 11:33:38 -0800
From: Randy Remote
Subject: NJC-Lucinda Williams
Lucinda Williams fans will want to know that besides being this weeks
musical guest on 'Saturday Night Live' (host Bill Murray), she will
appear on VH1's Hard Rock Live (also Natalie Merchant) Saturday at 2AM
EST.
Also, look for Stevie Wonder on CBS This Morning Friday.
And Tori Amos will be doing her turn on VH1's Storytellers series Sunday
at 10 PM and 1 AM EST.
Note that VH1 sometimes shuffles their airtimes around.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 15 Feb 1999 12:42:56 -0700
From: Bounced Message
Subject: NJC - New E-Mail Address
Date: Sun, 14 Feb 1999 21:07:02 -0800
From: Lindsay Moon
Hello all. (You knew I couldn't bear to be away, didn't you?) Well I'm
only back for a moment to say I have a new e-mail address:
moonlj@san.rr.com
Just in case Joni is out and about in San Diego I would want you guys to
be able to contact me so I could be her personal tour guide. (yeah,
right)
On another note, we just returned from Santa Fe, NM. A highlight was a
visit to the Georgia O'Keefe Museum. My 4-year-old was whining
endlessly so I couldn't really enjoy it, but it was still breathtaking.
I thought a lot about the visit Joni made to see her, skulking around
her house and dropping off "Hejira." An hour later at a Haagen-Dasz
(sp?) store, they played "A Case of You" for which I thanked them
profusely (our visit hadn't gone that well; believe me, it was a
God-send right then).
My best to you all.
Lindsay Moon
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 15 Feb 1999 19:30:12 EST
From: Ginamu@aol.com
Subject: Re: HoSL - Feminist theme
In a message dated 2/15/99 11:59:54 AM Eastern Standard Time, whuehn@stud.uni-
goettingen.de writes:
> taken, I think it's not entirely off-base to conclude she's criticizing --
> here
> and throughout the entire album. It may be subtle, but that's the way
poetry
> works.
>
JM is criticizing, yes, but I think she depicts both sexes as victims of a
social set up which leaves all, including the children ("get down off of
there, i said get down off of there" and "...while their paper wives and their
paper kids, paper the walls to keep their gut reactions hid") devoid of the
emotional depth and the life experiences which makes living happy and
worthwhile.
I, too, love this record. It's interesting for me to read the opinions of the
audiophiles. It never occurred to me that the "muddy" sound in Jungle Line
WAS, in fact, anything but intended for the effect it has on the FEELING of
the song. Some things are accidental, I suppose, like the orchestra that
sounds "out of tune" on Paprika Plains, but I agree with those who say that it
was probably intended, and if not, then it was left in there because it works.
We second guess the artist (which is fun) but to me Jungle Line is such a
great juxtaposition to the refined essence of the woman depicted in Shades Of
Scarlett Conquering, for instance. Maybe what the characters in HoSL really
need is the guts to get down and primitive. If I didn't know better, I'd say
there is a feminist message throughout this record, but it's not at all like
Joni to be "feminist", even when it was fashionable. Though...let's ask Betty
Freidan...is she still kicking?
Gina
NP: my daughter whistling Polly Wolly Doodle
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 15 Feb 1999 22:30:45 -0800 (PST)
From: "bern.gallagher"
Subject: Suzanne Vega - NJC
New book of songs and writings out this week.
Interview by Leonard Cohen.
Some interesting stuff.
Sorry no JC.
Peace.
B.-
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 15 Feb 1999 22:24:37 EST
From: MDESTE1@aol.com
Subject: Re: HoSL- (AKOJC) [all kinds of joni content]
I personally give Joni a major A for effort, creativity, and
raw daring. I would howeevr give her a c-cminus for the album.
Many of the deepest meanings some have come up with I
think might be stretching it a bit. Sort of like the 50 page term
papers my friends did on Tommy in their philosophy classes
in which they extrapolated everything from God and creation
to mystical connections to Armagheddon. I remember hearing
Peter T mocking the deep thinkers on stage once (of course
he could have been kidding) with respect to his work. I would
however give Joni major credit for TRYING to push her envelope
from the boring Jungle Line which goes on for about three
minutes longer than it needed to to make the point to all the
styles she attempted to do on the album. I think she was
struggleing mightily to get "out of the box" as a musician
and see where pure creativity would take her. She was tired
of where she was as an artist. Major statement on "feminism" ??
I think if she had tried to do that she would have had much
more poignant things to say. Magdelena Laundries is a far more
devastating statement for feminism than anything on HOSL IMHO.
On the other hand everyone is entitled to their opinion and the very
purpose of art methinks is to stimulate the imagination and to stir
the soul. I do beleive however that what is stirred is already there
in some form to be stimulated. Thats why I really love this list. I
would suggest one thing to those who isolate a single album and
make all kinds of deductions. Just because a song is included on
any given album doesnt mean it was written for that album or
even anywhere near the time when the record was produced.
For all anyone knows Joni wrote some song at some other time
of her life and only found it as a vehicle for something she was
into..."Id like to work with this artist and Ill bet he/she would sound
good on this song I wrote when I was 20". The most striking thing
to me about HOSL is its raw daring and the oddball session
players she had play with her. I could be wrong but this album
struck me as one in which Joni was at the nadir of her career in
terms of being absolutely immersed in the influence of others
as opposed to being her own person. She was losing/shedding
her former identity (not a totally bad thing) and it struck me that
it was other people who were "guiding" her into oblivion. Songs
are usually about a phase that an artist writer is going through.
All her other albums certainly are so if one supposes a "theme"
it makes sense that it is she she is singing about and not some
third party. IF she is communicating the concerns of a "kept
woman" that may be exactly how she saw herself and she was
longing for the warm summers in Canada when she was young
and fee as a bird and could hear the lawns hiss in her home town.
Who knows. I hope she does what John Lennon did and write a
book or allows an interview about the origin of each song as
John did in Playboy Magazine before he died. That interview was
a real keeper. It answers many questions and demystified many
deep theories about the meaning behind many Beatle songs.
regards Joni lovers, marcel.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 15 Feb 1999 20:11:40 -0800 (PST)
From: Brian Gross
Subject: The Complete Poems and Lyrics
Hi fellow Joni-addicts,
While in Barnes and Noble tonight, I spotted the softbound first edition of
the book. Being the curious jmdler that I am, I checked it out.
It includes the lyrics to TTT.
That's good.
It also includes the errors that we found in the hardbound first edition.
That's not so good.
All I had to do was turn to Urge For Going and read "Apply the fire with
kindling" and I said (sort of out loud to myself) "those assholes"
I think it was Howard in the UK that was compiling the errata, wasn't it?
Did the corrections ever get forwarded to the appropriate parties?
Oh well.
But a bargain at only $15, even with all the mistakes.
Later,
Brian
np: the sound of the dishwasher running
===
"No paper thin walls
No folks above
No one else can hear the crazy cries of love"
yeah, right
_________________________________________________________
DO YOU YAHOO!?
Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 15 Feb 1999 20:58:06 -0800
From: Phyliss Ward
Subject: S & L Video re-release?
I just saw this at CD NOW!
Joni Mitchell - Shadows & Lig
LD List $ 69.95
Add to Cart $57.99
Save to Wish List
LD Expected Release Date: March 02, 1999.
VHS List $ 69.95
Add to Cart $57.99
Save to Wish List
VHS Expected Release Date: February 23, 1999.
Laserdisc. Japanese import. 1979 concert w/ Pat Metheny, Jaco
Pastorius, Michael
Brecker, & Persuasions. 60 min.
JAPANESE IMPORTS LR-200, R-200
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 15 Feb 1999 23:22:26 -0800
From: Scott Price
Subject: HOSL's Theme
A few recent posts have explored some of Joni's concepts while recording
"Hissing of Summer Lawns." I'd like to offer the following quote from Joni
originally printed in a Rolling Stone interview from 1979....
"The Hissing of Summer Lawns is a suburban album. About the time that album
came around I thought, "I'm not going to be your sin eater any longer." So
I began to write social description as opposed to personal confession. I
met with a tremendous amount of resentment. People thought suddenly that I
was secure in my success, that I was being a snot and was attacking them.
The basic theme of the album, which everybody thought was so abstract, was
just any summer day in any neighborhood when people turn their sprinklers
on all up and down the block. It's just that hiss of suburbia."
Joni also said she wrote most of the songs while in Los Angeles. Her
surroundings have often provided seeds for much of the material contained
in the projects (albums); for example, as we know "For The Roses" was
written from her cottage in British Columbia, "Court & Spark" was a
combination of Canada and L.A., and "Hejira" was written while on the road.
These settings have provided a large portion of the overall shape and feel
of these albums. "HOSL is a suburban album," she says. I see it as an essay
about society...kissing in France, heatwaves on runways, the Brooklyn
Bridge, the Boho Zone, Chippendale furniture, the subway, and the lawn
sprinklers...images of urban and suburban. It strikes me as more
"observational" rather than her attempt to make political statements. I
think she was quite content to be living in the 'burbs but also wrote
lyrics about big city life to balance everything out. Joni further examined
duality with Scarlett, cast iron and frail; shadows and light, wrong and
right...they're all the lady's choice to illustrate this portrait of society.
Scott
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 15 Feb 99 23:53:49 -0700
From: Wally Breese
Subject: Joni's video
Hi everybody,
Joni's new live-in-performance video, Painting With Words And Music,
is now scheduled to arrive in stores on the 16th of March. The tape runs
99 minutes, and for those of you who viewed the PPV broadcast of this
show last November, this version has exactly the same setlist as that
broadcast. It'll be available in three nicely-priced formats- VHS $19.98,
DVD $24.99, and Laser Disc $29.99.
You can read all about the tape and also enter a contest to win a
copy for yourself through this link:
(http://www.jonimitchell.com/PaintingVideo399.html)
Later,
Wally Breese
The Joni Mitchell Homepage
http://www.JoniMitchell.com
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End of JMDL Digest V4 #79
*************************
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Siquomb, isn't she?