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Post by jcas on May 5, 2022 5:30:32 GMT -5
It's been confirmed now by Jackie herself that her new album is titled, Carousel of Time. That's a line from Joni Mitchell's song, Circle Game. Great choice. According to Jackie she was "inspired" to do it by her ...... "stepping into the world of Joni Mitchell". There are many bios of and examinations of Joni Mitchell's life and career on YouTube. I've looked and listened to about all of them including the many interviews she's given over many years. This bio I found the most comprehensive, watchable, and best of them all. As Jackie puts it, she stepped into Mitchell's world and found ways to make Mitchell's music her own. As both a Jackie and Mitchell fan, I also found it interesting to briefly step "into Mitchell's world" to find out what made this prolific songwriter tick and better understand Jackie's interest in her enough to make an album interpreting her songs.
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Post by jcas on May 8, 2022 5:39:08 GMT -5
Here's Joni Mitchell's original rendition of her Both Sides Now. A song reflecting poetically on what growing out of childhood is like for most everyone. It's been recorded more than 1500 times since, including by male songsters Harry Belafonte, Seal, Josh Grobin among many. Very recently the actress, Emilia Jones, was complimented on Twitter by Joni Mitchell herself for Jone's performance of it in the movie, CODA. I wonder what Mitchell's impression of Jackie's is .... if she's heard it. Unfortunately, for this long time Jackie fan (me), it was disappointment at its blandness. I thought it would have connected and spoken to her more deeply than it did about where she is in life and career. If so, it was wasn't apparent to me from her interpretation of it. I hope for her upcoming concerts, she realizes it, adjusts and improves it with a more careful reading of it and better instrumental back track which sounds uncharacteristically synthetic and canned for a Jackie recording.
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Post by lawrence on Jun 7, 2022 15:16:58 GMT -5
This is the chorus in Joni's song, "Circle Game", the apparent inspiration for Jackie's album title, "Carousel of Time". The song is included in the album. "In this poetic song, Joni Mitchell tells the story of a child's journey to adulthood. She uses a carousel as a metaphor for the years that go by, pointing out how we can look back, but we can't return to our past."
And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captive on the carousel of time
We can't return we can only look
Behind from where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game
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Post by jcas on Jun 22, 2022 7:03:41 GMT -5
There's an interesting, and at times heated discussion on another thread here about whether or not Jackie can still hit the high notes she used to, or whether she's a soprano or a mezzo at this stage or her career etc. etc. etc.. I for one did not become a Jackie fan because of those factors or any related to them. It's what she did with the voice she's gifted with that connected with me and thousands of others who heard something in it they'd never heard with any other singer. To my ears and beyond, hers was neither the singing voice of a child or an adult nor of someone in between. It was uniquely, exquisitely pure and evocative. Some describe it as angelic. Others as, "bel canto"; simple Italian for "beautiful singing". Indeed it is. But that also alludes to an "operatic style" in flower between the 16th and 19th centuries; examples of which no one alive today has ever heard when it was popular. Jackie's voice neither is nor ever was "operatic", i.e. trained, in any sense or case. Come to think of it, nobody I know or of has heard the singing voice of an angel or lived to tell about it either. My ears and heart are finding that hard-to-put-your-finger-on-something in Jackie's interpretation of nearly every song she's ever sung ..... is missing from her rendition of the iconic pop song, Both Sides Now. Whatever the reason(s), I'm hoping it may simply be a case of you can't win them all. But here are six examples of what Jackie has done, and I hope can continue to do iconically with "pop" songs again in the future. That hard to describe element that distinguishes great singers from the rest of the choir is present is in each of these interpretations. At least to me, who heard it in them; was moved by it and missed it with disappointment in her Both Sides Now; a song that could have been written just for her. Whether you agree with me or not, I hope you enjoy going down memory lane here with these songs, each quite different in style and substance, and each covered sublimely by Jackie. I picked 6. But there are many more, as you, her fan, knows.
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Post by lawrence on Jun 22, 2022 19:53:06 GMT -5
I hope you enjoy going down memory lane here with these songs, each quite different in style and substance, and each covered sublimely by Jackie. Here's one of my favorites of a "different style and substance" she released a few months before her performances on The Masked Singer.....her bluesy take on a rap song:
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Post by jcas on Jul 5, 2022 7:55:45 GMT -5
Here are just 2 of the 1500 covers of Joni Mitchell's Both Sides Now, done as passionately, thoughtfully and evocatively as they should be. Both are thought provoking renditions because they emphasize its narrative, as Mitchell meant it, intended when she composed it. Jackie's, I'm sad to say, does not come close to these or many others. Notice the importance of the instrumental backing in both these versions, especially that of Keiko's. Jackie's sounds as though it was made for Karaoke. Tinny. What's done is done. To me, it's sad that an opportunity has been lost to her. But it's what it is and maybe reflective of where she is as a singer today. Just hope others have the guts to pan it. Praising her banality in this case, as unfortunately many have, is deceptively destructive.
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Post by jcas on Jul 7, 2022 10:30:40 GMT -5
Much better.
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Post by yellowstone2014 on Jul 7, 2022 13:16:33 GMT -5
For my taste, the music is to loud.
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Post by jcas on Jul 26, 2022 8:41:16 GMT -5
Holy s--t. This just happened.
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Post by lawrence on Jul 26, 2022 9:57:03 GMT -5
Holy s--t. This just happened. Excerpt from Rolling Stone: Legendary Surprises, Rising Stars, and Powerful Voices: The Best Things We Saw at Newport Folk Festival 2022 "But now it’s not just another show. Brandi Carlile could hardly contain herself when she announced the final surprise of this year’s Newport: 53 years after her last appearance at the festival, and 20-plus years since she had performed a full set of live music, Joni Mitchell would be returning. In a stage set meant to re-create the famous “Joni Jams” at her L.A. home in recent years, Mitchell sat in a throne surrounded by candles, flowers, wine, and couches full of musicians (Carlile, Marcus Mumford, Blake Mills, Lucius, Wynonna, Taylor Goldsmith, to name a few). Mitchell began the set tentatively, sprinkling in vocals in songs like “Carey,” “Help Me,” and “Come in From the Cold” sung by the younger generation of Mitchell disciples. But she relaxed as the set progressed, telling old stories about friends like Tim Hardin, standing up to play guitar, singing old Fifties favorites, and eventually singing lead on “Summertime,” “Both Sides Now,” and “Circle Game.” It was a tear-jerking and unexpected return for a singer many had assumed would never sing in public, at least not like that, ever again."
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Post by Willyiam on Jul 26, 2022 10:09:30 GMT -5
Holy s--t. This just happened. Excerpt from Rolling Stone: Legendary Surprises, Rising Stars, and Powerful Voices: The Best Things We Saw at Newport Folk Festival 2022 "But now it’s not just another show. Brandi Carlile could hardly contain herself when she announced the final surprise of this year’s Newport: 53 years after her last appearance at the festival, and 20-plus years since she had performed a full set of live music, Joni Mitchell would be returning. In a stage set meant to re-create the famous “Joni Jams” at her L.A. home in recent years, Mitchell sat in a throne surrounded by candles, flowers, wine, and couches full of musicians (Carlile, Marcus Mumford, Blake Mills, Lucius, Wynonna, Taylor Goldsmith, to name a few). Mitchell began the set tentatively, sprinkling in vocals in songs like “Carey,” “Help Me,” and “Come in From the Cold” sung by the younger generation of Mitchell disciples. But she relaxed as the set progressed, telling old stories about friends like Tim Hardin, standing up to play guitar, singing old Fifties favorites, and eventually singing lead on “Summertime,” “Both Sides Now,” and “Circle Game.” It was a tear-jerking and unexpected return for a singer many had assumed would never sing in public, at least not like that, ever again." "Joni Mitchell sings, steals show with surprise Newport Folk Festival concert"
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Post by jcas on Jul 26, 2022 10:57:50 GMT -5
Judy Collins introduced the neophyte and virtually unknown singer/songwriter Joni Mitchell to Collin's audience at this same Newport Folk Festival in 1966. Collins would be the first to cover and record Mitchell's iconic Both Sides Now in 1967 and Mitchell herself in 1969 with her album, Clouds. It was a big hit for Collins in 1968. Mitchell wrote the song when she was just a year older than Jackie is now. I first heard and was inspired by it when I was 26 in 1969. I was awestruck by the insights it contained then and still as I anticipate turning 79 in a few weeks. I'm still not sure that "I really know life, at all", as I find the older I get, the less I understand and the more I discover there is to wonder and be in awe of about it. I wonder if Mitchell finds it, having made and survived the journey, that way as well.
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Post by lawrence on Jul 26, 2022 14:24:08 GMT -5
From this vocal coach's comments, some might better appreciate Joni's artistry demonstrated in her more intimate later version of "Both Sides Now" recorded live in concert. I don't know if Jackie listened to this version, but I'm certain that her research into Joni's music lead her to discover something profoundly meaningful to her in the songs she chose for the album. I don't think it was simply a matter of Fred's suggestion that Mitchell's music would be great for her voice. Jackie has been on a path to finding music that is particularly meaningful to her, not just songs that suit her voice, or that translate to album sales necessarily, but rather songs that touch her in a personal way. Joni Mitchell's music seems to have provided a continual source of inspiration for Jackie that she could not adequately express with just a few songs, thus resulting in a complete album, Carousel of Time. She seems to feel a kind of kinship with Joni, and wanted to relate that through her own respectful interpretations. Just my opinion.
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Post by jcas on Jul 26, 2022 14:47:43 GMT -5
79 years old and she's still got. This is a good rendition of this classic for any singer of any age. Totally awesome. One of the best I ever heard of it was on a very sultry, inner city Baltimore summer evening near sundown for and during a college graduation ceremony. It was sung by one of the graduates. Soul tingling rendition in an unforgettable setting custom made for that very song. It's one I'd love to hear Jackie croon one day.
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Post by lawrence on Aug 18, 2022 1:06:04 GMT -5
In my estimation, these are perfect examples of why Fred Mollin suggested that Joni's music is well suited to Jackie's voice. The range, the texture, and the nuances of her delivery all combine to showcase the story-telling character of Joni's classics, while making each song distinctly her own. Whether it's the haunting melancholy of "Blue" or her playful soaring in the high register of the country sounding "A Case of You", both wonderfully enhanced by the instrumentation, she seems very comfortable singing Mitchell's songs, more so than anything she's done previously, in my opinion. It seems to be her sense of connection with Joni's music that manifests in her delivery with such sensitivity to the lyrics. Jackie is telling HER story in whatever secretive way that she identifies with Joni's experience, so it seems anyway. That's the key to making her renditions believably authentic....as though she had written the songs herself. I venture to guess that Joni's multi-dimensional and conflicted writings about "romance, womanhood, disillusionment and joy" may have had an encouraging influence upon Jackie's recent songwriting sessions in Nashville.
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