A lady of the canyon

Press, 9 March 1978, Page 15

A lady of the canyon

JONI MITCHELL “Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter’’ (Asylum BB 701): The New Musical Express Book of Rock, Volume 2, says that Joni Mitchell is arguably th best singersongwriter of the sev» enties. Personally, I would put her alongside her fellow Canadian, Neil Young. Mitchell has br.me steadily more inaccessible in her last two a’’ urns, “The Hissing of Summer Lawns” and "Hejira,” and this one is more so, deliving deeply into word-play, images, metaphors, and symbols enough to make T.S. Eliot or Ezra Pound blush. Even the title of the album “Don Juans’ Reckless Daughter” is a slightly ironic term, since Joni Mitchell has dithered about relationships and written about love’s

labours lost often enough. As in her previous two albums she has mow J away from a melody line into depending on lyrics at the expense of music, even though on this album she has virtually gathered the whole of Weather Report into helping her record. The music is generally sparse as on “Talk To Me,” which features Mitchell on guitar and vocals, and Jaco Pastorius on bass. The lyrics are beautifully stolen from such diverse sources as the Beatles and William (“Willie the Shake”) Shakespeare, but the song is let down because the instruments appear empty. A long-time, Joni Mitchell fan friend said that this album appeared forced, she seemed to be trying too hard.

This appears to be true. One track, “Paprika Plain,” takes up an entire side in many different musical forms, in the shape

of a poem on Mitchell’s childhood in Canada, summoning forth memories of the doomed Indians. “Paprika Plain” is more successful than the title track, however, which lacks the musical backing for mitchell at her lyrical and biting best.

“Otis and Marlena,” spending time sun-seeking in Florida while the world collapses around them, is another good song, and there is a beautiful use of Airdo’s bass drum on the instrumental “The Tenth World” and “Dreamland," While “Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter” may not be her best, Joni Mitchell is still progressing, which is a real blessing. EMMYLOU HARRIS “Quarter Moon in A Ten Cent Town” (Warner Bros. BSK 3141): You can take the girl out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the girl. Emmylou Harris was shocked in a recent “Meldoy Maker” interview that her new album “Quarter Moon” was regarded as a pop album rather than a country album. She said she had no intention of giving up country, but what she has in mind and what her husb a n d-producer, Brian Ahern, has in mind may be two different things. If the photograph on the back of the album cover and the inner sleeve have anything to do with it, someone is chasing Linda Ronstadt. The choice of songs are also quite interesting. One Dolly Parton, “To Daddy,” which is interpreted more aggressively, two Jesse Winchester numbers, “Songbird” and “Defying Gravity,” which are so-so and the best, two Rodney Crowell songs. Unfortunately for Harris, Crowell has left her Hot Band. These two songs, the rocking “I Ain’t Living Lpng Like This” and the swainp-ridden “Leaving Louisiana In Broad Daylight,” show his class as a writer. The former features Emmylou’s voice in a heavy echo which is effective. While the album is worth a lot more than a quarter, Harris has still to touch the torch of Ronstadt.

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Nevin Topp