Bob wrote:
> Joni has always worked in terms of stylistic projects, not producing
albums that were collections of unrelated songs.
>
Are you saying that to produce an album of unrelated songs is a less good
thing to do ? That just because a collection of songs has some common
theme makes it a better album. ? That concept albums are somehow more
worthy than other albums. ?
>
> She even ubtitled her first record to reinforce the thematic nature of it.
Why wasn't her first record a collection of her best-known
> songs? That would have been the norm of the times, but Joni has always
been outside the norm.
>
>
Isn't CMIARS, to pick just one, a collection of various
styles including rock, synth pop, country, and traditional folk. The
themes of the songs are quite varied as well. Here's the rundown per track
1. relationship,
2 career/ business
3. native americans/ ecology
4. childhood memory/ anti war
5. rock n' roll dancing
6 .ecology
7. anti war
8. relationship
9. big deal american dream
10. love lost
Not many dots to join up there but to my mind it's one of her finest
records.
>
> Clouds and LOTC were more "song collections" than album projects, but I
would say that from Blue forward, she worked in terms of "projects" and not
singles. Of course, the record company released singles, because they wanted
to catch every market they could, but to hear Joni tell it she was never
about 'technical and financial' considerations, she was just corralled into
those restraints by the business of the times.
>
You're misquoting me there. I didn't say that Joni's motivation was
"technical and financial". I said that the 40 minute album was adopted as
a standard by the record industry for those reasons.
> I would also submit that Joni is not concerned with song length. If she
can tell her tale in 3 to 5 minutes, fine, but if she requires a larger
canvas, she doesn't hesitate to use it.
>
I agree completely with that.
Philip
