hi folks,
stephen in vancouver wrote:
>I have often wondered why these were released- was it a JM decision, or the
>record company's? It never really has made sense to me.
i'll take a stab. i'm going write about this from memory, but it should be
fairly accurate. this might give some context for willy, as well. btw, i
really like 'misses', though i never ever listen to hits. i bought them
both cheap through bmg, my cd club.
here goes. joni had been pressured by her label(s) from at least the late
'80s to do a greatest hits/and or a boxed set. reasons she resisted, that
i've read in interviews, (paraphrased) include:
- 'well, i really haven't had many hits' (which is true; i think only help
me went #1 in her recording, if that)
- 'the songs are important parts of the albums they're on; they're meant to
be heard in context'
- 'a boxed set would kill my back catalog's sales'
so there was some artistic and some financial thinking on her part. she's
not stupid, our joni. she held out on the boxed set but finally reprise
wouldn't take no on the greatest hits. so she negotiated what i think is a
brilliant compromise. 'fine, we can release a greatest hits, but you are
going to pay for me to put out a companion album, of my favorite unloved
children. no hits at all, we'll even call it misses.'
but this is the best part. joni chose every track on each album, and
sequenced them both. went back and listened to all of the albums (which she
doesn't do much) i'm sure she had lots of suggestions and pressure from
outside, but the final results were hers. and i think they work very well
on 'misses'. i just love that 'passion play' and 'nothing can be done' lead
off the album, and i think the final five songs:
the reoccurring dream
harry's house/centerpiece
the arrangement
for the roses
hejira
make an amazing suite. i don't love every song or choice on misses, and it
might have been very different if she'd done it five years earlier or later.
but i love the album, and i think of it as joni's product, and i judge it on
the same standards as any other of her projects. and she must have been so
happy to put 'wolf that lives in lindsey' out there again. what an amazing
soundscape...
so there's my 2 cents on that. as i said, i listen to misses, not hits, but
she pulled some great fast ones for hits, too. she got chinese cafi on it.
how cool is that?
there's a long interview with joni, somewhere on jmdl. or jm.com, where she
talks about a possible boxed set. for one thing, she knows there's a lot of
interest in the mingus outtakes, and i'll bet she has the tapes.
my votes for inclusion in a REAL joni boxed set:
the mingus outtakes. of course
the hissing demos (especially 'dreamland', with kazoo)
the joni/james bbc thing. so worthy of commercial release
the alt songs from the alt blue, of course (good samaritan)
the shiny toys remix that bob found
whatever else is weird and wonderful in unreleased joniland, but nothing,
absolutely that has ever been commercially released.
and
the best of the live performances, as assembled by the jonilist. including
-three great stimulants (live on english radio with larry on piano)
-for free (directly from 'refuge of the roads', the best of the '83
versions)
-summertime - from day at the garden
and, unless she does an album, the last five songs from the bsn orchestra
tour, especially in wallingford connecticut. i will never forget the way
she sang 'glitter for them so' that night.
patrick
np - misses
