What's new
Welcome to South Africa's Audio Visual community!

Welcome to the home for South African audio and visual equipment owners and enthusiasts. Whether you are an audiophile or a hobbyist, feel welcome to join us in the exciting discussions about amplifiers, turntables, receivers, speakers, projectors, screens, restoration and new projects, product reviews, accessories, classifieds, and so much more!

  • The image upload funtion has been upgraded! Enjoy!

Trying to get my head around this

Agaton Sax

Agaton Sax

Active member
Joined
Jul 10, 2023
Messages
205
Location
South Africa
52 years ago in a smallish building on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, these 3 records were recorded at the same time. There were only 3 studios in the building.



It is known that Carole King and her arranger preferred the piano in the smallest studio. The studio was booked by Joni Mitchell so some of the greatest songs of all time were recorded early in the morning when Mitchell's group was not there. And Karen Carpenter? Possessor of maybe the greatest voice of all time? Was she so shy, did she have such an inferiority complex that she was never seen and perceived by the others as snotty? Carole King did not have a great voice. She was one of the greatest songwriters ever but it was exactly because her voice was so like your sister's, or the girl next door, that Tapestry became one of the best-selling albums of all time. And Mitchell? One of the greatest talents of all time. Did she have a chatter round the coffee table with Richard Carpenter, one of the best arrangers ever?

Or did they just not notice each other? Not even seeing each other? Each too important, or maybe feeling too inferior to talk to each other?
 
Cowboy said:
Carpenters and Mitchell can go in the bin. Tapestry is a classic. :p
Click to expand...
You are of course free to think what you will. However, before binning the Carpenters, seek out the most stuck-up, precise vocal coach you can find. Hopefully, they have never heard of the Carpenters. Play them "Superstar" and listen to what they say. The word "impossible" may be heard several times.

As for the judgement on Mitchell, I'm afraid it says more about those passing judgment than the artist.

Everyone is of course free to like and dislike. Some even hate Neil Young but their impact on the music world is unmistakable.
 
The Carpenters are great, feel free to bin it my way! Karen has one of the most beautiful voices ever, what a pity she passed so soon. Apparently a rather tragic personal life may have had something to do with this.

I need to listen to both Carole King & Joni Mitchell again, it's been many years since I heard their music but pretty sure they rate high up with me as well.

-F_D
 
Earworms that take several days to go away are made by practitioners of the dark arts. Carpenters are the chiefs there! Joni Mitchell I really don't like at all.
 
Family_Dog said:
Nope, the Earworm song of note is "99 red Balloons" by Nena... I positively hate that song!

Apologies for derailing your thread, Mr. Sax.

-F_D
Click to expand...

I think I had Big Yellow Taxi on repeat in my head for 3.25 weeks straight once upon a time. Now if I hear that song, or anything from The Carpenters I immediately turn it off or if I can't turn it off I will yodel loudly until the song is done. Sometimes I get strange looks in the supermarket.
 
Cowboy said:
I think I had Big Yellow Taxi on repeat in my head for 3.25 weeks straight once upon a time. Now if I hear that song, or anything from The Carpenters I immediately turn it off or if I can't turn it off I will yodel loudly until the song is done. Sometimes I get strange looks in the supermarket.
Click to expand...
And I bet it's right there with you again right now...
 
If you had to paint the sounds of suburbia in a few strokes, How would you do it? How about "The hissing of the summer lawns?"

Blue songs are like tattoos
You know I've been to sea before

All romantics meet the same fate some day. ...
Cynical and drunk and boring someone in some dark cafe

It's coming on Christmas
They're cutting down trees
They're putting up reindeer
And singing songs of joy and peace…

There are songs and there are pictures and pictures paint a thousand words. Mitchell paints those word pictures in a few notes.
 
Agaton Sax said:
If you had to paint the sounds of suburbia in a few strokes, How would you do it?
Click to expand...
Probably my favourite Pet Shop Boys song...

Lost in the high street, where the dogs run
Roaming suburban boys
Mother's got her hairdo to be done
She says they're too old for toys
Stood by the bus stop with a felt pen
In this suburban hell
And in the distance a police car
To break the suburban spell

But I guess Anton Goosen did it best ;)
 
Well, I like all three (not so keen on some of Joni's stuff, but a few stunning albums). Would have been nice if either Carole King or Joni could have talked Karen out of her (alleged) obsession which led to her anorexia. It generally gets whitewashed in documentaries but was very obvious and much hinted to at the time. Either way, 'Superstar', 'Calling Occupants', 'Close to You' and many others of theirs are stonecold classics (and best of all, greatest hits 1 and 2 are always in the charity shops in mint condition for less than a can of fizzy pop)
 
If you had to paint the sounds of suburbia in a few strokes, How would you do it?

Pleasant Valley Sunday by the Monkees, quickly followed by Alternate Title by the Monkees (I'm assuming the censors got to it here as well? Otherwise it's called Lazy Scouse Git)
 
  • Like
Reactions: HB.
i can understand people not getting joni's particular style of music.
i only really got it once i heard shadows & light. the back catalogue made sense after that.

as far as lyrics go - she is in a league of her own. i listen to a lot of songwriters. when i come back to joni it's like coming back home.

wanted to quote some examples. kind of difficult though, with so much to choose from.

i suspect that she will be one of the voices of our time, who is still around in a couple of hundred years (assuming that mankind is around of course...)

painting with words & music - hell yes..
 
Suburban paintings?

My heart's in the ice house, come hill or come valley
Like a long ago Sunday when I walked through the alley
On a cold winter's morning to a church house
Just to shovel some snow
I heard sirens on the train tracks, howl naked, gettin' nuder
"An altar boy's been hit by a local commuter"
Just from walking with his back turned
To the train that was coming so slow

We used to drive
Through Lafayette and Baton Rouge
In a yellow Camino
Listening to Howling Wolf
He liked to stop in Lake Charles
'Cause that's the place that he loved

Ingvar
 
Not that suburban, more outback country but a good painting, and she compares favourably with the three first girls.

Me and my best friend Lillian
And her blue tick hound dog Gideon
Sittin' on the front porch coolin' in the shade
Singin' every song the radio played
Waitin' for the Alabama sun to go down
Two red dirt girls in a red dirt town
Me and Lillian
Just across the line
And a little southeast of Meridian
She loved her brother I remember back when
He was fixin' up a '49 Indian
He told her, ? Little sister, gonna ride the wind
Up around the moon and back again"
He never got farther than Vietnam
I was standin' there with her
When the telegram come for Lillian
Now he's lyin' somewhere
About a million miles from Meridian
She said, ? There's not much hope for a red dirt girl
Somewhere out there is a great big world
That's where I'm bound"
"And the stars might fall on Alabama
But one of these days I'm gonna swing
My hammer down"
Away from this red dirt town
I'm gonna make a joyful sound
She grew up tall and she grew up thin
Buried that old dog Gideon
By a crepe myrtle bush in the back of the yard
Her daddy turned mean and her mama leaned hard
Got in trouble with a boy from town
Figured that she might as well settle down
So she dug right in
Across a red dirt line
Just a little south east of Meridian
Yes, she tried hard to love him
But it never did take
Just another way for the heart to break
So she learned to bend
One thing they don't tell you about the blues
When you got 'em
You keep on fallin' 'cause there ain't no bottom
There ain't no end at least not for Lillian
Nobody knows when she started her skid
She was only 27 and she had five kids
Could-a been the whiskey, could-a been the pills
Could-a been the dream she was tryin' to kill
But there won't be a mention in the News of the World
About the life and the death of a red dirt girl
Named Lillian
Who never got any farther
Across the line than Meridian
Now the stars still fall on Alabama
Tonight she finally laid
That hammer down without a sound
In the red dirt ground

Ingvar
 
Gotta love Emmy Lou Harris. How about a bit of Mark Eitzel:

I sat up all morning and I waited for you
With my blue and grey shirt on
Yeah, I thought that's my lucky one

And I'll sit and face the road now
I don't have a heavy load now
I got nothing to keep my hanging around here
From now on, from now on

Where's the compassion to make your tired heart sing?
'Cause I'm tired of being a spokesman for every tired thing
There's nothing in the world outside
Just some things that I can see from the side
I'm just a shy boy sitting in a house when everyone is gone
From now on, from now on.

I sat up all morning and I waited for you
With my blue and grey shirt on
Yeah, that's my favorite one

I sat up all morning, so why didn't you come?
Because now I just sing my songs for people that are gone.
 
Then sometimes that road can be interesting if you're truckin'

Truckin', got my chips cashed in
Keep truckin', like the do-dah man
Together, more or less in line
Just keep truckin' on
Arrows of neon and flashing marquees out on Main Street
Chicago, New York, Detroit and it's all on the same street
Your typical city involved in a typical daydream
Hang it up and see what tomorrow brings
Dallas, got a soft machine
Houston, too close to New Orleans
New York got the ways and means
But just won't let you be
Most of the cats that you meet on the street speak of true love
Most of the time, they're sittin' and cryin' at home
One of these days they know they better be goin'
Out of the door and down to the street all alone
Truckin', like the do-dah man
Once told me, "You've got to play your hand"
Sometimes the cards ain't worth a dime
If you don't lay 'em down
Sometimes the light's all shinin' on me
Other times, I can barely see
Lately, it occurs to me
What a long, strange trip it's been
What in the world ever became of sweet Jane?
She lost her sparkle, you know she isn't the same
Livin' on reds, vitamin C, and cocaine
All a friend can say is, "Ain't it a shame?"
Truckin', up to Buffalo
Been thinkin', you got to mellow slow
It takes time, you pick a place to go
And just keep truckin' on
Sittin' and starin' out of the hotel window
Got a tip they're gonna kick the door in again
I'd like to get some sleep before I travel
But if you got a warrant, I guess you're gonna come in
Busted, down on Bourbon Street
Set up, like a bowlin' pin
Knocked down, it gets to wearin' thin
They just won't let you be
You're sick of hangin' around and you'd like to travel
Get tired of travelin', you want to settle down
I guess they can't revoke your soul for tryin'
Get out of the door and light out and look all around
Sometimes the light's all shinin' on me
Other times, I can barely see
Lately, it occurs to me
What a long, strange trip it's been
Truckin', I'm a goin' home
Whoa, whoa, baby, back where I belong
Back home, sit down and patch my bones
And get back truckin' on
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top