I’ve usually missed out on any Joni news in recent years. For example, when they did the boxed set of her first 10 or so albums… I missed it! But then I have all those albums on vinyl already, and on CD, as well.
Still, hearing that Seagull was significantly improved, and all four had been remastered, I thought, yep, let’s get this set. In some ways I love it. I’m such a Joni junkie that if money were not an object I’d simply buy pretty much everything. But funds are, alas, an issue.
Compared with the threadbare Tom Waits remastered re-isssues, which i thus far haven’t even bothered with, these are at least nicely packaged, with the gatefold card covers, lyrics, and even separate inner-sleeves, like ye olde vinyl. But sound wise I haven’t as yet noticed any great improvement. I’ll have to do some proper A/B comparisons.
Joni has said she thought Seagull sounded awful, as if it had been recorded under a jello-bowl, or something like that. Produced by her one time lover, David Crosby, it certainly sounded different from all the later recordings, but not awful. Not to my ears, at any rate. Indeed, it’s differences even give it some charm. And, regarding the ‘improved’ new version, I’ve read some reviewers saying they actually think the new mix is worse, over-compressed and muddy, etc!
All things considered, I do feel that as great as all this Joni stuff is, that’s going on right now – and far and away the best stuff is the previously unreleased material that’s gradually coming out – it could have been even better. Brandi Carlisle’s little written homage is ok-ish. But many fans, like myself, would’ve loved proper essays on each album, as you sometimes get with the rare jazz, funk and souls reissues.
It’s a bit like those Steely Dan remasters that came out some time ago now, whilst Becker was still with us, and that had those rather silly notes, written by Becker and Fagen, as added ‘bonus’ material. Ok, that was at least something new. But hardly something of any great value. Indeed, in some ways it served to tarnish their legacy, seeming a bit sophomoric in tone. It seems odd and rather sad to me that some of the stars of contemporary(-ish) popular music appear to hold such a sway over their legacy that they actually inhibit it’s appreciation.
Anyway, it kind of goes without saying – around here at any rate – that the content of these four discs is some of the twentieth century’s greatest singer songwriter artistry ever committed to wax. I love all four of these albums, and some of those that came soon after this, just about equally. I’m not one of those that holds Blue to be her Holy Grail. Indeed, Blue is the one album of the four presented here that I sometimes can’t listen to all the way though. It’s just sooo intense!
Song to A Seagull has a very special place in my own life, for reasons I dursn’t enter into online, to be honest. Just as Kris Kristofferson said ‘Christ, Joni, keep some for yourself!’ I shall do likewise in this instance. Suffice to say that I went through a very intense time with this album as my chief accompaniment. It is true that this is her most naïve and dated sounding album, in some respects. But that suited the naïve young me to a tee! And to counter-balance that, there is poetry in the lyrics and magic in the music that I believe is the equal of anything in her long and prolific career. My pick for this disc, Sisotowbell Lane. Sublime!
Clouds is another solid gold slice of musical brilliance, with no bad songs at all. Just like Seagull, in that respect. The production aesthetic is more natural and ‘transparent’, and consequently a tad less dated than her debut. But her music and delivery are very similar. Whereas there are no famous hits on her first record, here we have Chelsea Morning and Both Sides Now. But for me the standout track is the hauntingly deep Songs To Ageing Children. Rather like Tom Waits, Joni had a kind of old head on young shoulders.
Ladies of The Canyon also has a few ‘name’ tracks, from the jaunty Big Yellow Taxi – the Chelsea morning of this record – to Woodstock, the ode to the festival she spurned and yet kind of wanted to both be at, and not be at. But once again the real gem is The Circle Game, which, like Songs To Ageing Children cuts much deeper. Again, all killer, no filler. And on this disc Joni starts adding some more diverse sounds. A sign of things to come.
And then, of course, there’s Blue. Inescapable in her canon, and undoubtedly a rare instance of a lionised record that really does live up to (and, in all honesty, transcend/surpass) all the hype. Ironically there’s only the slightly more jovial – tho’ still melancholy – Carey, to follow numbers like Chelsea morning and Big Yellow Taxi. Everything else, like the album’s name and hue, is deeply, darkly blue. And as a result this is the easiest Joni album for me to O.D. on. Standout tracks? Well, it’s hard, they’re all so good. But if pressed I might say Little Green and This Flight Tonight. In the parlance of yore, man, this is one heavy trip!
So, all the music contained herein is top-drawer 24-carat undiluted brilliance, of a rare and unique kind.
But… the thing is, does this latest release really add anything? And, as much as I love having it, and rate it highly for the sublimity of what it contains, the basic answer is… no, not really. The biggest potential benefit is the ‘fixing’ of the mix/production on Seagull. And although I can hear an audible difference in the music, it’s not so big as to be remarkable, either in a good or a bad way. At least not so far. I have only had this a few days, and listened through it all just the once so far.
Some folk would dock something for the fact that this doesn’t really add to or augment the Joni legacy, as such. I can’t do that. The musical genius that is contained herein is off the scale. To knock stars off they’d have to have sabotaged it all in some way. And they haven’t. It may not add anything. But nor does it take away. What you get is four utterly wonderful albums, presented in a rather lovely manner. So, it’s the full five stars.