Bob,
Startling that such a music slut as yourself could find any Joni tune
not to your liking. Personally, the Joni song that most grates with me
is Ethiopia. Gee, if you think the background nothingness of "Study war
no more." over and over is tiring, you should hear my groans with every
"Ethiooooopiahhhhh." I do like Dancing Clown tho. I only 'cringe' when I
play it around others, since I know just what reaction to expect. Joni
is no good at throw away light pop. Her tries are enevitably failures.
But since I'm as clueless as she is, I feel like a left footed
bretherin. Dancing Clown was made for anyone and everyone who can't
dance. A very corn ball song, but Joni is deserving of having a light
moment.
The Tea Leaf Prophecy carries more weight with me, as I love the
narrative of the story. It's the music that falls short for me. I think
she was trying for a very moody, oriental sound. She came close, but no
go. To hear the sound she was after done well, I recommend the title
track from the movie, "The Year of Living Dangerously." Can't recall who
did the music, but that opening tune is exactly the haunting oriental
quality Tea Leaf was after. (with a more up-tempo beat of course...)
Most of my other Joni cringes are cringes no more. Which bodes well for
Ethiopia...maybe. In a next life.
I had a howl of a good laugh reading the follow reply in an artist forum
regarding self expression. I included it here as it seemed apropos. I
changed the heading to make it fit the present topic: Joni's music....
"Music is not made by getting all moist and dreamy and just letting your
emotions hang out. No one gives a damn about your emotions. They care
about their emotions and what they want you to do is titllate them, to
excite them, to arouse them. To be able to make other people feel an
emotion on cue takes brains, not some gushing, sobbing pot of emotion."
Guess Joni sat a little to far on the side of "her" emotions on these
ditties.
--Not signing my name... just in case 'you know who' is really on the
list, lurking. "HI JONI!!!!"
