In a message dated 12/13/01 8:19:30 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
<< NRH is pretty much (dare I say this) a middle aged album - she sounds half
asleep on most of it, the rhythms are plodding, melodies unadventurous and
the chord sequences
cliched. >>
When did it become a crime to be middle aged?
What makes plodding rhythms, unadventurous melodies and cliched chord
sequences symptomatic of a middle aged artist? (Funny, I hear it more often
in younger performers who haven't yet hit their stride or found their voice.)
Why were the recording artists of my parents' generation given carte blanche
to live and even thrive after the age of 40? Who gave Satchmo or Sinatra or
Ella or Judy Garland or Nat King Cole or any of the legends of that era the
right to be great and to express themselves after the first gray hairs
started sprouting?
Next time you wonder why Joni is reluctant to write or record new music,
think about this comment -- and about what our youth-obsessed culture and the
music business are doing to so many people who are not at all ready to be put
out to pasture.
I'm sure beach tar hasn't touched her blessed feet in decades. Why should she
be writing or singing about feelings or experiences that have nothing to do
with her current situation which is, um, middle age?
--Bob
