i doubt that steely dan influenced joni in taking the jazz avenue. i don't hear so much jazz in their music, maybe a little fusion here and there but over-all steely dan will always stay a pop band with some funky elements.
I think Joni's influence is more cosmic bop -- Monk and obv. Mingus -- but Dan is pretty plainly influenced by big band and bop, the 33.3 about them breaks down a lot of their chord stuff - there aren't a lot of pop songs doing stuff like the title track from Aja or the breakdown in "I Got the News," or any of their tremendous horn arrangments
― Now I Am Become Dracula (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Saturday, 31 May 2014 23:32 (ten years ago) link
whereas Joni doesn't show a whole lotta interest in horns - they're there sometimes, but they're just supporting the song, as in a normal pop arrangement. whereas the "I Got the News" horns - they're so key to the whole recording that they're as important as the lyric
― Now I Am Become Dracula (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Saturday, 31 May 2014 23:33 (ten years ago) link
Went for 'Shades' eventually...truth be told it was never gonna be anything else...can't think of a song that aches so much...absolutely devastating
― X-Prince Protégé (sonnyboy), Sunday, 1 June 2014 00:36 (ten years ago) link
This is eye-opening. I had assumed that "The Jungle Line" would be by far the consensus favorite here. I don't talk to other Joni fans enough.
― Josefa, Sunday, 1 June 2014 00:54 (ten years ago) link
― Now I Am Become Dracula (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Saturday, May 31, 2014 7:32 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Totally, or the chord progression at the beginning of "Deacon Blues" -- it could be the intro to a hard bop tune. Not to mention that the verses sit on 13th chords, or that the chorus sounds like a bossa nova jazz progression. I mean how often do they play a chord that doesn't at least have a 7th in it, let alone a 9th, 11th, 13th, etc.
― Doritos Loco Parentis (Hurting 2), Sunday, 1 June 2014 01:11 (ten years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― System, Monday, 2 June 2014 00:01 (ten years ago) link
I mean how often do they play a chord that doesn't at least have a 7th in it, let alone a 9th, 11th, 13th, etc.
my dad plays jazz piano and has straight up told me "always play the 7 or the maj7." straight chords just do not exist for him
― Now I Am Become Dracula (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Monday, 2 June 2014 00:41 (ten years ago) link
Some old jazzers call straight maj/min chords "cowboy chords."
― ₴HABΔZZ ¶IZZΔ (Hurting 2), Monday, 2 June 2014 01:49 (ten years ago) link
Title track, for so perfectly a lazy, faintly sinister summer's day in 70s LA, but The Jungle Line is obviously incredible too.
― What is wrong with songs? Absolutely nothing. Songs are great. (DL), Monday, 2 June 2014 12:15 (ten years ago) link
And I fell in love with Shades of Scarlet after the ILX Joni poll. The lyrics!
― What is wrong with songs? Absolutely nothing. Songs are great. (DL), Monday, 2 June 2014 12:17 (ten years ago) link
not a fan of this artist, but played this yeasterday and wd have to go w/ The Boho Dance.
― images of war violence and historical smoking (Dr Morbius), Monday, 2 June 2014 13:54 (ten years ago) link
Heatwaves on the runwayAs the wheels set downHe takes his baggage off the carouselHe takes a taxi into townYellow schools of taxi fishesJonah in a ticking whaleCaught up at the light in the fishnet windows Of Bloomingdale'sWatching those high fashion girlsSkinny black models with raven curlsBeauty parlor blondes with credit card eyesLooking for the chic and the fancy to buy
He opens up his suitcaseIn the continental suiteAnd people thirty stories downColored currents in the streetA helicopter lands on the Pan Am roofLike a dragonfly on a tombAnd business men in button downsPress into conference roomsBattalions of paper-minded malesTalking commodities and salesWhile at home their paper wives and paper kidsPaper the walls to keep their gut reactions hid
― Roberto Spiralli, Monday, 2 June 2014 16:28 (ten years ago) link
i could've easily voted for any of the first six songs, they're all of them As. probably then i would've voted for sorrow. but i voted for harry. such captivating imagery. amazing.
― Roberto Spiralli, Monday, 2 June 2014 16:29 (ten years ago) link
took me foreverrr to get into this record, in comparison both court and spark and hejira seem open and intelligible, less clustered and walled away. but now i love it, its vibe is so specific, all these deep, ever-shifting character studies, the song structured as dimensionally as the lyrics. this was between "scarlett" and "boho," and i went with "boho" almost arbitrarily
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Monday, 2 June 2014 17:24 (ten years ago) link
like a priest with a pornographic watchlooking and longing on the sly
― ₴HABΔZZ ¶IZZΔ (Hurting 2), Monday, 2 June 2014 17:26 (ten years ago) link
it always annoyed me that Bjork covered that song because she seems like pretty much the opposite of its narrator
― ₴HABΔZZ ¶IZZΔ (Hurting 2), Monday, 2 June 2014 17:28 (ten years ago) link
There can hardly be a better lyric than:
His eyes hold Edith'sHis left hand holds his rightWhat does that hand desireThat he grips it so tight?
― Tim F, Monday, 2 June 2014 17:50 (ten years ago) link
A: a wank
― ₴HABΔZZ ¶IZZΔ (Hurting 2), Monday, 2 June 2014 17:53 (ten years ago) link
synth tone on "shadows and light" so evil
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Monday, 2 June 2014 18:38 (ten years ago) link
the band sounds like typewriters....disco, maybe?
― Iago Galdston, Monday, 2 June 2014 18:40 (ten years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Tuesday, 3 June 2014 00:01 (ten years ago) link
That's interesting...
― X-Prince Protégé (sonnyboy), Tuesday, 3 June 2014 00:09 (ten years ago) link
the big poll arrives
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 3 June 2014 00:10 (ten years ago) link
From what I've heard, in France they...
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c8/Charles_Marville%2C_Urinoir_en_fonte_%C3%A0_2_stalles_avec_%C3%A9cran%2C_Chauss%C3%A9e_de_la_Muette%2C_ca._1865.jpg/352px-Charles_Marville%2C_Urinoir_en_fonte_%C3%A0_2_stalles_avec_%C3%A9cran%2C_Chauss%C3%A9e_de_la_Muette%2C_ca._1865.jpg
― Hideous Lump, Tuesday, 3 June 2014 04:23 (ten years ago) link
urine real trouble for that one.
― Iago Galdston, Tuesday, 3 June 2014 05:34 (ten years ago) link
god this album is such a masterpiece
― marcos, Friday, 27 February 2015 16:23 (nine years ago) link
i have been like living and breathing these songs day and night for months
i love everything here very much but especially that run from "edith" through "boho dance", it is just astonishing
― marcos, Friday, 27 February 2015 16:24 (nine years ago) link
Jungle Line is incredible. Totally out there. What I especially like about Joni is she manages to be 'jazz' without shoving in a load of skronking brass or even that much traditional jazz instrumentation, but it's still jazz in spirit.
― Unheimlich Manouevre (dog latin), Friday, 27 February 2015 16:25 (nine years ago) link
kind of been wanting to do a thread of Jungle Line vs Bowie's African Night Flight but not really sure how it would work, or even if there are other songs that could be wedged into a similar category.
― Unheimlich Manouevre (dog latin), Friday, 27 February 2015 16:32 (nine years ago) link
well joni's "dreamland" would fit!
― marcos, Friday, 27 February 2015 16:36 (nine years ago) link
but yea jungle line, even if i prefer other tunes on the album, is so out there, such a forward-thinking piece of music, always felt like bjork really took that tune to heart and internalized it
― marcos, Friday, 27 February 2015 16:37 (nine years ago) link
oh i didn't know she'd done a version. yeah it's one of those tracks from the past that you could define a whole career by in that respect. we've got a thread for that somewhere, haven't we?
― Unheimlich Manouevre (dog latin), Friday, 27 February 2015 16:44 (nine years ago) link
oh sorry i didn't mean she did a version! just that as soon as i heard it for the first time i thought "bjork must have listened to this a thousand times"
― marcos, Friday, 27 February 2015 16:50 (nine years ago) link
and she mentioned it in an interview recently
Pitchfork: Hejira is one the most feminist albums ever.B: Right? The lyrics! And The Hissing of Summer Lawns as well. I love “The Jungle Line”, it sounds like something somebody would make now, it’s crazy. Maybe it’s because it’s not my generation, but when I hear the folk stuff that she did before that, I hear it as a lot of people and not just her. It’s a zeitgeist.
B: Right? The lyrics! And The Hissing of Summer Lawns as well. I love “The Jungle Line”, it sounds like something somebody would make now, it’s crazy. Maybe it’s because it’s not my generation, but when I hear the folk stuff that she did before that, I hear it as a lot of people and not just her. It’s a zeitgeist.
― marcos, Friday, 27 February 2015 16:51 (nine years ago) link
xp yeah it's that slippy vocal style that only just syncopates over the beat, which btw is totally irregular. can't work out what time signature it's in
― Unheimlich Manouevre (dog latin), Friday, 27 February 2015 16:52 (nine years ago) link
bjork did sing "the boho dance" on the herbie hancock joni tribute several years ago
― brimstead, Friday, 27 February 2015 20:49 (nine years ago) link
oh wait it was a different tribute album, not the herbie one
the one with Prince doing "A Case of You."
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 27 February 2015 20:53 (nine years ago) link
jungle line is in 4/4
― walid foster dulles (man alive), Friday, 27 February 2015 20:55 (nine years ago) link
What sort of doll's house would have a replica of HOSL in it?
Oddly fitting, in a way.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MINIATURE-ALBUM-VINYL-LP-1-12-Dolls-House-JONI-MITCHELL-Hissing-of-Summer-/301592222223?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item46384c1a0f
― MaresNest, Sunday, 12 April 2015 19:31 (nine years ago) link
i think this is actually my favorite joni record
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Saturday, 31 March 2018 13:54 (six years ago) link
she covers her eyes in the x-rated scenes
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Saturday, 31 March 2018 13:56 (six years ago) link
every song is so perfectly constructed. like the last minute or so of "shades of scarlett conquering" my god
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Saturday, 31 March 2018 13:58 (six years ago) link
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Saturday, March 31, 2018 9
you're darn right!
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 31 March 2018 14:07 (six years ago) link
I'm pretty sure Hejira is ur fav Joni record...
Edith is correct as poll-winner, surprised to see seven votes for The Jungle Line, removing that song would make the album better in my challenging opinion
― niels, Saturday, 31 March 2018 15:18 (six years ago) link
this or court and spark is my favorite Joni record
― marcos, Saturday, 31 March 2018 15:21 (six years ago) link
I love how playful that Moog line is, though.
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 31 March 2018 15:29 (six years ago) link
niels, i agree with you, i can't listen to the jungle line, but the rest of the album is totally classic. i would've voted for "in france," just for the joyousness of the "do you wanna dance" refrain
― stormzy daniels (voodoo chili), Saturday, 31 March 2018 20:20 (six years ago) link
Reading back over the earlier parts of the thread and it's interesting to see the speculation that Steely Dan inspired Joni to turn to jazz.
I feel like Hissing is the culmination of the approach she started cultivating with For The Roses (and the two records feel very related to me) - if anything a lot of the vocal cadences and song structures of For The Roses feel even more jazz-laced to me, but she doesn't yet have the band to support her direction so it's mostly just built around these ruminative piano pieces or complex guitar phrases. Incidentally FTR was released the same month as Can't Buy A Thrill.
Whereas on Hissing that same approach really flowers with these arrangements that are drenched in ambiguity and wondering. Edith, Shades, the title track and Harry's House in particular are such remarkably beautiful and passionate tracks given they're ultimately third person character sketches in which judgment is either suspended or heavily convoluted.
― Tim F, Saturday, 31 March 2018 21:48 (six years ago) link