<< With all due respect to Don/Larry's role I think her 80's trilogy (Wild
Things/Dog/Chalkmark) sounds exactly the way she wanted it to sound. >>
She's been quoted as saying that she feels the DED was not HER project. Klein
collaborated with her on some of the songs, which was pretty unprecedented,
and he & Dolby introduced lots of synthsized effects that she would not have
chosen on her own.
That being said, I've ALWAYS liked WTRF...Mingus was too "out there" when it
was released (although I can appreciate it now), and I thought she
re-grounded herself with WTRF. Certainly not without its flaws, but a solid
effort nonetheless.
DED is also a nice time-piece, and is sonically solid, even if some of the
songs aren't up to Joni's usual standard, some are, they were just produced
badly.
ChalkMark is definitely the Weakest link as far as I'm concerned, with Joni
stylistically all over the place, and releasing some songs that never should
have seen the light of day.
Although it's funny...had she decided NOT to release the dreadful "Dancing
Clown", and the JMDL had the recording on a tree somewhere, it would be a
revered rarity! ;~)
The only redeeming feature of Dancin Clown is watching her video of
it...seeing her dancing with her apathetic cat is guaranteed to induce an
ear-to-ear grin!
Bob
NP: Shawn, "Pack Up Your Sorrows"
