? ? ? I still can't imagine what you were/are hearing Bob, but I appreciate
your effort. Specifically, do you think LOTC & Blue sound like they were from
the same sessions? Or Blue & FTR, or FTR & C&S, or C&S & THOSL, or THOSL &
Hejira?
These all sound completely different to me...
Nyro's NYT sounds more like "Angel In The Dark" than CATBOS.
Roy Halee's dark, spare, intense production soundscape on NYT is nothing like
Arif Mardin's lavishly tempered approach on CATBOS.
As different as daylight and dark to my ears.
Her profound yet economic lyrical style on NYT is also completely reversed on
Xmas in a much more laid-back, wordy, less original way---and, as much as I
adore CATBOS, it's hardly recognizable as the work of the same author. I'll
try to explain...
For example (you asked for examples), she often 'invented' words, names and
phrases on Eli & NYT (unlike anyone else in popular music--Joni included),
but on CATBOS she retreats into much more conventional, sometimes almost
ordinary lyrical territory.
Comparing her classic trilogy, CATBOS reveals some of her weakest
compositions over-all ("Blackpatch," "Brown Earth," and "When I Was A
Freeport And You Were The Main Drag" come to mind, as much as I love even
those weaker moments).
Anyhoo, I'm still glad you took a second listen.
I think with Laura Nyro you either totally grasp the incomparable brilliance
of it all, or else you're simply, merely impressed.
Cheers,
Billy
NP--"Patty Waters Sings" by Patty Waters, 1965 ESP Disk-Calibre
