Listened to Joni Mitchell's 'Hissing of Summer Lawns' a couple of times today. To think I first owned these songs on 8-track and am now hearing them on my iPod. That's just nuts.
There's a reason why this album is just not as good as 'Blue' and 'Court and Spark'. She has equally good musicians, but it becoming a bit self-indulgent, I believe. Some of the lyrics are still excellent: 'Jonah and the ticking whale', as well as ' A helicopter lands on the Pan Am roof like a dragonfly on a tomb'. Excellent imagery, but somehow less compelling than the efforts on her earlier work.
There is much more sophistication of music an lyrics, but it is just less fun. Every musician can learn and listen from Joni, and this is no exception. It's just not her best work. I remember reading in 1975 in Creem magazine or something that the Zeppelin boys had Joni Mitchell's 'Court and Spark' tape in the machine a lot when they were on tour. Seems like an odd juxtaposition, but they had good taste anyway. I wonder if they would have had 'Hissing ...' in as well after it came out.
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