Music Arcades: Joni Mitchell: The Hissing of Summer Lawns

Music Arcades' random sequencing of my collection has given me precious little in the way of opportunities to develop a theme or a substantive argument. But here at last, two Joni Mitchell albums, four years apart, on consecutive days… Needless to say, insight and inspiration have deserted me.

I think I bought this around the same time as Mingus, and informed by the same career overview that I mentioned yesterday (I wish I could remember where it was published). Hissing was the album singled out as Joni's most mature and sophisticated songwriting, so think of this as spread-betting: buying one album that the overview recommended and one that it didn't.

If you've been following any of the story up to now, you'll have guessed that I prefer the latter. It's another one of those Prefab Sprout instances: admire the finely crafted stuff, while enjoying the more flawed and eccentric stuff.

I don't know; I'm not one of those hardliners who says a piece of music should always stand on its own without the support of a critical commentary or York Notes. If it helps you enjoy the music, use it. (This could apply with drugs, as with commentary, but for the caveat that dull drugs make dull music enjoyable.) This album has me reaching for the reference works. Wikipedia isn't much help, though. It tells me one fact I should have worked out for myself: that the Rousseau in The Jungle Line is Henri, when I'd always lazily thought of it as Jean-Jacques — and another which seems neither here nor there: that the blue house pictured on the back cover is/was Joni's own. Beyond that it's just pronouncements on what each of the songs is "about". Disapproval at the materialistic culture? Check. Artists who sell out? Check. Coming of age? Check. Imagery of modern city life? Check. I'm not much the wiser. To be fair, I think I understand our Wikipedian's intent: there's something about Joni's lyrics from this period, after she moves from confessional to more journalistic or painterly, that invites this kind of puzzle-solving.