Joni Mitchell - Ladies of the Canyon
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Free Music Notes for Ladies of the Canyon
Free Music Review: HIghly Recommended
Hit: 5 Stars
I consider this to be Joni Michell's best work. Songs such as Willy and Blue Boy have a poignant melancholy that is unmatched. I enjoy the 'solo' work on her first three CDs the best of all her work. She is a wonderful song writer and intimate performer. And Ladies of the Canyon is my personal favorite.Free Music Review: Songs to Aging Children- The Beginning
Hit: 5 Stars
I recently viewed the American Masters documentary on Joni Mitchell during a time when I had been re-reading Norman Mailer's Marilyn- his take on the life of the legendary screen star Marilyn Monroe. And although there is no obvious connection between the lives or the talents of the two women there is a tale of two generations hidden here. Marilyn represented for my parent's generation, the generation that survived the Great Depression and fought World War II, the epitome of blond glamour, sex and talent. To my more `sedate' generation blond-haired Joni represented the introspective, searching, quiet beauty that we sought to represent our longings for understanding in a seemingly baffling world that we had not made. As this documentary and Mailer's book point out however they `represented' our fantasies they also shared a common vulnerability- attempting to be independent women in worlds dominated by men. Such is the life of the great creative talents.
Now to the work- this album of work only brings out the truth of what I tried to express above. Start with the joyful pace of the title track (and great harmonics), the wistfulness of The Circle Game, the hopefulness of Woodstock, the love/ hate of The Priest, the sadness of The Apartment the yin and yang of Willie and on and on.
In such songs Joni is charting the trials and tribulation of dealing with fame, men and the expressions of her political beliefs she sings her heart out, so, so sweetly we forget how powerful a voice she has. No barrelhouse singer here and for the material presented none is necessary. That is the true virtue of her value as a singer/songwriter. Ladies of the Canyon is at the top of the pantheon of her best music. A nice place, indeed, for us aging children to listen from. Sing on.
Free Music Review: Back to college memories with the three J's!
Hit: 5 Stars
As a college student in the late 60's I "grew up" with Joni and Judi and Joan. I don't think I would have appreciated these releases several decades ago as much as I do now! Get this, put it on your new fangled MP3 player, and let the memories flow!!! You CAN go back, well, sort of.Free Music Review: My Favorite Joni Album
Hit: 5 Stars
I love this album. Joni Mitchell was such a high-spirited sensitive optimistic gal at this point in her life. Too bad she ran into US. But she's still a great. For Free, Willy, Big Yellow Taxi & Woodstock are my favorites. This and Clouds are my favorite JM albums though I've only heard a couple others.Free Music Review: Overrated album by an overrated artist with a specious vision of '60s counterculture in Los Angeles
Hit: 2 Stars
In all fairness, I've made it a point over the years to listen to EVERY album that Joni Mitchell has released, comparing it to the work of whoever her current peers were at that time. After over 40 years, I can say in all honesty the following statements:
1. Her voice was/is AWFUL in all but the first two albums("Song To A Seagull", "Clouds")and it's gotten successively WORSE with each new release, thanks to age and misuse. Oh, and her smoking three packs of cigarettes a day didn't help either.
2. Her songs are lacking in humor, whimsy, charm and imagination by and large-starting from her third album on forward. A perfect example:have a listen to "Willy". If it DOESN'T make you gag then you'd better go straight to your doctor and have your gag reflex checked out! Poor Graham Nash! This song is SOOO BAD I can quite believe it just might have provided the impetus to END that love affair altogether!
Her songs therein are so self-indulgent, overly serious and limited in their scope of the world around us that I honestly can't imagine why ANYONE would consult Joni's musical vision in order to obtain an ACCURATE overview of a time period and the notable individuals therein.
This album in particular brings to full realization all of those artistic weak points of Joni's mentioned above. Her songs in this album are truly specious in their depictions of that highly creative and original time period of culture and music. Joni's associations with the many fascinating denizens of Topanga Canyon was severely LIMITED to
only the rich and priviledged elite, save for a walk down Venice's famed boadwalk to have a peek at it's street performers("For Free"). Her limited associations and experiences within that particular scene are all too evident in this album to anyone who truly WAS there and experienced it first-hand.
For folks who want a REAL, fully-realized vision and overview of that culture within "The Canyon" I suggest you check out the many fine albums of FRANK ZAPPA, and the excellent, highly underrated work of THE GTO's in particular. You can also get some truly inspiring and evocative
glimpses into that culture's TRUE visionaries by reading the poems of JIM MORRISON written at that time:they will truly ROCK YOUR WORLD!
To complete your experience of that time and culture, do check out
the groundbreaking work Jim was creating with THE DOORS, as well as the superlative body of work done by ARTHUR LEE & LOVE, and that of an
absolutely seminal singer/songwriter who-although lauded highly by industry insiders and virtually every notable Rock artist I have ever met-is virtually forgotten today by the general public:SEAN BONNIWELL.
As for folks who just want to put on an album of high-quality Folk and Folk-Rock music and be mesmerized by a female voice that really DOES
deliver the goods, take a tip I got from Bob Dylan:
Listen to JOAN BAEZ.
Here was a female Folk singer who actually DID reach a lofty height of technical and artistic SHEER BRILLIANCE in her performances that lesser singers like Mitchell and Collins only aimed for then and today. As the old saying goes:Accept no substitutes, demand the ORIGINAL & THE BEST!