Joni Mitchell - Shine

Hmmm, I'll definitely approach this carefully.

I'm oddly excited, as long as I only skim-read all the press... which makes it sound potentially iffy, but probably would do even if it's fantastic.

Seems nobody cares about this... I'd be much more excited to see those long-promised remasters...

that cover blows.

I care, but a rerecorded version of "Big Yellow Taxi" is exactly what I don't want from Joni right now.

That cover looks like the last scene from The 40-Year-Old Virgin.

anybody hear this yet?

yeah.

not so good I'm thinking so far, the drum'n'bass track threw me a bit!

Is this out???

the first instrumental track sounds like it has been taken from the don juan's reckless daughter] sessions. but after that it is the same joni which has bored me to death for the last twenty years. joni the preacher. as if she had taken big yellow taxi (a song i was never very fond of though she was breaking new ground theme wise and the lyrics were excellent) and based a new career - which didn't work really - on it. of course there is a cover of it on the new album. and of course she has changed the lyrics for the worse. instead of charging a dollar and a half for seeing the trees in the tree museum now they charge an arm and a leg. pathetic.

"Big Yellow Taxi (2007)" makes Baby Jesus cry :-(

Title track is pretty nice.

The only tracks I like are the instrumental opener and If I Had a Heart. The opener is very much in the vein of The Hissing of Summer lawns and Don Juan's Reckless Daughter jazzy and horn-laden (it's all synthie/computer I read, Hancock said it). And I love it when she plays piano, I have to admit. If I Had a Heart, the third song on the album has something about it. It doesn't start well with flutes and strings and her uttering a big word like genocide but then the sour wine turns sweet. Her voice is destroyed by smoke etc. but her singing is as expressive as ever. It's the piano again which finally wins me over on this one. This perfect meld of tune, harmony and rhythm that I can't describe (open chords?). The rest can be flushed down the toilet if you ask me with the new version of You Turn me On, I'm a Radio as royal flush.

Sorry, I meant Big Yellow Taxi in the end, my memory is fading away.

Some more undigested thoughts: Night of the Iguana is quite all right, a bouncy song but. And this is a great but. On this song it really becomes apparent that she is using a laptop or some other technical device to make the music. The banjo (i am not even sure if it is a banjo, it's some guitar-like string instrument you pluck) doesn't sound like it should. She has packed too many instruments into this. It all sounds so prog. So false. So overcharged. Or is it just my crappy pc speakers?