On her 2000 tour, Joni Mitchell proved that her famously wind-swept melodies and
torrential images could survive in an orchestral setting, with portentous oboes and
strings swirling around her voice like gnats, and lines that had once been improvised
incorporated into the score.
The odd two-disc retrospective Travelogue, which includes a booklet with reproductions
of Mitchell's striking paintings, is the studio version. It surrounds Mitchell with
top-shelf talent - arranger Vince Mendoza, pianist Herbie Hancock, drummer Brian
Blade, soprano saxophonist Wayne Shorter - and its art-house arrangements aim to
expand the scope of such songs as "Trouble Child" and "Amelia". Doesn't happen though:
It's the sense of immediacy, of a story unfolding before our eyes, that always made
Mitchell such a riveting composer, and the minute she has to play chanteuse, she's
just reading the lines.
Still, there are glimmers of brilliance - the shuffling "You Dream Flat Tires" and the
gorgeous landscape "Hejira".
-Tom Moon
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****please note, the above "opinions" are not mine!****makes me wonder if he even
listened to the whole thing.
You open my heart, you do.
Yes you do.
- JM
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