GodSistah
04-26-2006, 08:03 PM
Folk is the New Black
By Tom Ryan
April 25, 2006
Janis Ian's 24th album is full of songs demanding that you pay attention.
Janis Ian has always worn her heart on her sleeve and bless her for that. She first gained notice with the melodramatic Society's Child, recorded when she was 15. Then there was At Seventeen.
Now she's 54, her 1993 coming-out recording Breaking Silence well behind her, and she still comes out swinging. Her 24th album is full of songs demanding that you pay attention to the lyrics.
Their sometimes dark, sometimes whimsical moods sweep you from telling ruminations about America ( Danger, Danger) to playful reflections about love ( The Crocodile Song) . The arrangements are deceptively simple, an evocative mix of folk and blues (there are even traces of Joni Mitchell in the phrasings on Jackie Skates).
Key Track: Joy, an emotionally potent love song that finds a parent bidding farewell to a fledgling who's venturing into an unknown future.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/cd-reviews/folk-is-the-new-black/2006/04/25/1145861332201.html
:) I thought this was a pretty cool little article. I had never thought of Joni while listening to "Jackie Skates", but now that he mentions it, I do indeed hear a little Joni-like phrasing.
~Andrea~
By Tom Ryan
April 25, 2006
Janis Ian's 24th album is full of songs demanding that you pay attention.
Janis Ian has always worn her heart on her sleeve and bless her for that. She first gained notice with the melodramatic Society's Child, recorded when she was 15. Then there was At Seventeen.
Now she's 54, her 1993 coming-out recording Breaking Silence well behind her, and she still comes out swinging. Her 24th album is full of songs demanding that you pay attention to the lyrics.
Their sometimes dark, sometimes whimsical moods sweep you from telling ruminations about America ( Danger, Danger) to playful reflections about love ( The Crocodile Song) . The arrangements are deceptively simple, an evocative mix of folk and blues (there are even traces of Joni Mitchell in the phrasings on Jackie Skates).
Key Track: Joy, an emotionally potent love song that finds a parent bidding farewell to a fledgling who's venturing into an unknown future.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/cd-reviews/folk-is-the-new-black/2006/04/25/1145861332201.html
:) I thought this was a pretty cool little article. I had never thought of Joni while listening to "Jackie Skates", but now that he mentions it, I do indeed hear a little Joni-like phrasing.
~Andrea~