Roberto wrote:
>Joni's famous for spending many hours on her albums
deciding on the order in which the songs are ultimately presented.
That being the case, WTRF following "Chinese Cafe" is a pretty bad joke.
It's like that scene in Monty Python and The Holy Grail where the music
starts playing while a prince fantasizes about singing. Just when he's
about to give forth, the king interrupts the swelling score, "No, no, none
of that!" With "Chinese Cafe", we're all drifting away into retro poignancy
and she body slams us Roller Derby style with a wall of drums and guitars.
"WHOA! WAKE UP, SNAP OUT OF IT!" It's an offbeat choice in this regard, to
my mind. I always tend to program track 2 off because the transition is so
jarring. In retrospect, I wonder if she did this to allow "Chinese Cafe" to
act as a prologue (see also, "Harlem In Havana").
Ordering songs is a tough job, especially if the pacing mindset still
expects to have a short break halfway through to accomodate LPs and
cassettes. In the age of CDs, MDs and auto reverse cassette players, the
theatrical/formatting conflict doesn't exist so the need for an end of ActI
show stopper and an entr'acte for Side 2 is unnecessary. The better CD
releases of Joni's early works maintain and even add an acceptable pause
between the two "sides." Although WTRF was the first Joni recording to be
released after the advent of CDs, I still think it was ordered with LPs and
cassettes in mind, since they were still the most popular formats through
the end of the 80s. I'm not really sure if any Joni CD is completely free
from a two/four side pacing format by her own design with the possible
exception of TTT, and although Mingus' configuration makes for a very
smoothly flowing CD, the biggest improvement going to the "new" format was
seen by DJRD. (Aside here: for a real treat, program "Paprika Plains" to
"Moon At The Window" sometime.)
"Dog Eat Dog" feels like it starts the second "side" of its album, as do
"Cool Water","Come In From The Cold", "Magdalene Laundries" and "Don't Go To
Strangers" for CMIARS, NRH, TI and BSN respectively. I think the theatrical
pace is particularly well used on BSN, as the success of the "song cycle
tracing the relationship arc" concept relies on the sense of a narrational
change in tactics following the introspective "A Case Of You." It's effect
is like shaking off a hangover.
Please don't misunderstand me, I truly love ALL these records and the
placement of WTRF notwithstanding, I couldn't imagine them done any
differently.
.
CC
"The silence is so full of sounds. You're in them all." -- JM
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