From: owner-joni-digest@smoe.org (JMDL Digest) To: joni-digest@smoe.org Subject: JMDL Digest V2011 #512 Reply-To: joni@smoe.org Sender: owner-joni-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-joni-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk Unsubscribe: mailto:joni-digest-request@smoe.org?body=unsubscribe Website: http://jmdl.com JMDL Digest Wednesday, November 16 2011 Volume 2011 : Number 512 ========== TOPICS and authors in this Digest: -------- Re: Kate's Snow, etc. NJC [Catherine McKay ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 16 Nov 2011 10:04:46 -0800 (PST) From: Catherine McKay Subject: Re: Kate's Snow, etc. NJC Yeah, I get what you're saying. Joni talks about things we can relate to but elevates them to another plane. Kate tells weird little stories and sometimes her voice (the high one) annoys the crap out of me. Nonetheless, I still enjoy a lot of her stuff. Tori Amos knows how to massacre a vowel unlike anyone else I know of, (she can draw a one-syllable, one-vowel word into a multisyllabic word with every vowel in the English language and a few from some other language I'm not familar with), and you can rarely understand what she's saying. It might as well be a completely different language. I love some of her stuff, hate some of it and some of it just bores me. I like a lot of early Bjork, but have difficulty getting into her more recent stuff. She also does a lot of weird things with her voice. Sometimes it works (for me, that is - - others may differ) and sometimes it doesn't. At least she has the excuse of English not being her mother tongue. I miss albums too. I miss the size of LPs as well (I know you can buy them again now, at least for some artists, but it's not the same - it's something that hipsters seem to be into, but I got rid of my LPs and turntable ages ago and don't plan to go back there, because money is short, and so is space and so, for that matter, is life). I miss the larger artwork (and being able to read the lyrics!) And I miss the concept and one song flowing into another and how some artists really excelled at that, and you could spend an entire afternoon listening to an album over and over. I know I can listen to CDs that way, or whole albums on my Ipod, but somehow it just isn't the same. I read recently how the whole idea of albums may be becoming a thing of the past and that singles are the thing. that makes me a little bit sad - even though, hypocrite that I am, I usually have my Ipod on shuffle anyway (because sometimes I just want the next song to be a surprise.) As far as my crappy memory can recall, I'm sure I loved every new Joni album as it came out, at least up until DED or thereabouts. After that, it's just a big blur and the rest of life kind of took over and the magic went away! >________________________________ >From: Betsy Blue >To: gerard mclaughlin ; Catherine McKay >Cc: "joni@smoe.org" >Sent: Wednesday, November 16, 2011 11:00:58 AM >Subject: Kate's Snow, etc. NJC > >Maybe I'm not "not British enough" for Kate...maybe I'm just not getting it. Kate seems to be in a different world. I. get the same feeling from Tori and Bjork at times. Part of it is their vocalization and part of it is the actual lyrics. I still don't understand most Tori-isms, even though she's from the US. > >Joni's observations are of this world and human beings, although her perspective is sort of otherworldly. Hearing her music is a little like stepping away from an impressionist painting. She also has great diction and didn't cover with too much production until the late 80s. (Yes, CMIARS, I'm talking about you.) Everything makes some sense on first listen, and you pick up more as time goes on. > >It's hard for me to think of Hejira as "new" or "difficult" because it has always been there for me. Ever since my little fetal ears developed, anyway. To me, it's as perfect as an album with no piano could be. > >On a tangent, I miss albums! Like Lesson in Survival's seamless transition into Let the Wind Carry Me. What is Underneath the Streetlight but sounding brass and tinkling cymbals without Love? It seems like there are fewer and fewer albums worth listening to or buying in whole. And the packaging, which was such a joy to behold back in the day, hardly matters now. I remember studying the Sgt Pepper LP for ages as a kid. > >End of Rant. > >Betsy ------------------------------ End of JMDL Digest V2011 #512 ***************************** ------- To post messages to the list, send to joni@smoe.org. Unsubscribe by clicking here: mailto:joni-digest-request@smoe.org?body=unsubscribe -------