From: owner-joni-digest@smoe.org (JMDL Digest) To: joni-digest@smoe.org Subject: JMDL Digest V2014 #692 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://jonimitchell.com JMDL Digest Sunday, May 11 2014 Volume 2014 : Number 692 ========== TOPICS and authors in this Digest: -------- Re: CMIARS/Shine ["Mark" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 11 May 2014 20:49:25 -0700 From: "Mark" Subject: Re: CMIARS/Shine I finally got caught up with all of the JMDL email today which I am delighted to see! It's so good to see old friends and new posting their thoughts here. I have missed the discussion on this listserv so much. This recent surge of activity and also the mention of Facebook not being as a good a forum as the JMDL is very heartening to me. In regard to 'Shine', I remember that it was made for the Starbucks label and I believe it was also made during a long period of severe illness for Joni. Maybe selecting and hiring musicians, going into a studio and sketching out arrangements was more than her energy level could handle at that time. She was also working on the ballet 'The Fiddle and the Drum' with the Alberta Ballet Company at about the same time. But apparently she felt she had something she wanted to say so she made the deal with Starbucks and produced 'Shine'. Maybe the way she recorded it was the best she could manage to do at the time. Plus I'm sure it was no small pleasure for her that she was the closest thing to being in complete control of what went on it as she could possibly be. I am perhaps a Joni Mitchell apologist. I personally don't think she has produced a truly bad album. There are some I like better than others. Many are old friends that I know by heart from beginning to end. I have to admit, neither 'Chalk Mark in a Rainstorm' nor 'Shine' are among those. But I will say that after listening to a couple of cuts from CMIARS recently on headphones, my ears perked up and I feel that it deserves some revisiting. I know many felt that the Geffen box set was a marketing ploy and something of a rip-off. But to my untrained ears, there seemed to be some major cleaning up of the sound, particularly on 'Dog Eat Dog' and 'CMIARS'. If you can get your hands on either one of these titles in their box set versions, I highly recommend you give them a listen. I hear things in the music on those re-releases I had never heard in the initial CD releases of these two albums. And to Lori Renee Fye I say: STIR IT UP, WOMAN! Although I see your Facebook posts and occasionally contribute a comment or two to some of the very interesting and sometimes highly entertaining discussions you generate, I have missed your input here. I am SO glad you put your question out there and welcome your distinctive voice back into the Joni Mitchell Discussion List. Mark in Seattle -----Original Message----- From: Betsy Blue Sent: Thursday, May 08, 2014 6:21 AM To: guitarzan05@gmail.com ; joni@smoe.org Subject: CMIARS/Shine Randy: "If you locked her in a garage with no producer, Shine is what she would come out with. Is it great? You tell me." I can never shake the feeling that she made Shine during a solo week in her BC place. It feels like a demo, a reaction to the previous two albums. That said, Night of the Iguana is fantastic, and I love the piano-based songs. If Joni released a whole album of just piano, I'd buy it. The title track rubs me the wrong way, but overall, this is a good album that I frequently enjoy listening to (most of). Betsy NP #selfie ------------------------------ End of JMDL Digest V2014 #692 ***************************** ------- To post messages to the list,sendtojoni@smoe.org. Unsubscribe by clicking here: mailto:joni-digest-request@smoe.org?body=unsubscribe -------