Disco talk
Janis lan — Stars — Interfusion L 35149.
Carole King — Wrap Around Joy — A. and M. L 35279,
Rock, it seems, is essentially a masculine province, and we have relatively few ladies who can give us a woman’s-eye view of love and life in general. So both of these albums are interesting from this point of view alone. Both are by artists of established talent, and both show weaknesses. of different types. So although I don’t intend to compare “stars” and "Wrap Around Joy” any further, I feel that it’s relevant to review them together.
It’s a curious fact that, depite the putative rewards of being in Show Biz, — fame, glory and especially money — there are always songs being written about the bad side, such as loneliness, disappointment, being ripped off by agents, managers and so on. Now of course Janis lan must know all there is to know about this. Launched in a burst of fame some years ago as almost a child prodigy, and vanishing completely after a couple of widely acclaimed records, she then reappeared in this new incarnation.
But somehow the trials and tribulations of stars, especially when mixed with not a little self-pity, don’t really make a mix-
ture one wants to spend too much time with.
Luckily Janis spares us too much of this. The title track, and the last track, “applause” (which is decidedly bitter), however, soon get to be too much, which rather spoils the rest of the album. The rest consists mainly of love songs, the whole effect being very autobiographical.
We have songs of tenderness, like “The Man You Are In Me” (on the radio last year), songs of open sensuality, like “Sweet Sympathy”, and songs of lost love and loneliness ("Without You”, “Jesse”). “Dance With Me” is a rather macabre anti-war song, rather unfashionable in 1975.
In fact the whole album has a dated feel about it, and I’m not really sure that it’s very successful. The arrangements are mostly quiet and acoustic, again tending to be dated and lacking in any kind of innovation. But it’s very nicely sung, and she’s quite a sexy lady, so I hope we’ll hear some more from Janis lan.
Carole King must be easily the most successful female singer-songwriter we have in rock, but I’m afraid “Wrap Around Joy” works of genius, but reputation. Yes, it’s very good. No, it’s not as good as previous work, espe-
cially the marvellous “Tapestry”. I think the main problem is the definite sameness about all these songs. Similar chord sequences, similar keys, similar arrangements and tempos, add up to an album where subtlety comes dangerously close to monotony. As in Janis lan’s album, these are mostly love songs, some sad, some glad, with a few other themes appearing here and there. Top 40 listeners will recognise "Jazzman” and “Nightingale”, although why the latter was chosen as a single I can’t imagine, as there are plenty of better songs on this record. I like the bubbling happiness of “You’re Something New” and the title song, and there’s a really striking piano chord sequence in "A Night This Side of Dying”, but the sentiments expressed in “We are All In This Together" were much better expressed by Melanie in 1970 or thereabouts. The rest of the songs are all very pleasant, but... Even from someone of Carole King’s tremendous talents, perhaps we shouldn’t expect constant doesn’t do justice to her “Wrap Around Joy” is perhaps just a little too short of new ideas. But let’s face it, Carole is still streets ahead of most of her competition. — Brian Timms
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Bibliographic details
Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33779, 27 February 1975, Page 4
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602Disco talk Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33779, 27 February 1975, Page 4
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