Customer Reviews

Between the Lines

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This has been one of my favorites since its original release. I've purchased it on vinyl, cassette and CD. Ms. Ian's lyrics are timeless and introspective, sometimes painfully so. It doesn't matter whether you were a "rich relationed hometown queen" or one of "those whose name was never called when choosing sides for basketball", the words to "Seventeen" will mean something to you. Many of the songs have the poignancy of someone who has too often experienced the underside of human relationships. Her lyrics could stand alone as poetry, but since the music is enjoyable and takes some unexpected turns, this is the complete package.

This is much more than her signature song At Seventeen. This CD is full of beautiful sad songs, deeply touching. Janis has this uniquely melancholic, yet seemingly insouciant, tender voice. I played them over and over again, and never got tired of it. Highly recommended.

I guess as many of you, I heard Janis Ian's "between The Lines" LP many many times during my teenage years. It was a joy being able to listen to it again, this time on a CD format. Good music, good lyrics. Overall, a very good collection of songs coming from the soul.

I bought this record when it was released and played it to pieces. I heard '17' on an oldies station and had to get the CD. I'm not sure if you can play a CD to pieces but I'm giving it a try. I love her music. Cherie S. Cook

As far as I'm concern, this is one of the greatest albums ever recorded. I've been a huge fan since Society;s child and I must say that Janis's voice is as clear and wonderful as it was back then. She never got the recognition she truly deserves.

Everyone should own this album. I was first familiar with Janis because I bought "Stars". I saw her on the "Mike Douglas Show". I remembered "Society's Child", but didn't know who did it, and I did not buy this album because of "At Seventeen". I bought it because I loved "Jesse" and it came out right after her "Stars" album was finally released in the U.S. The best songs are "Bright Lights & Promises", "Tea & Sympathy" (gorgeous string arrangement) and "In the Winter", which was the best Live performance I've ever seen. You'd do well to also check out "Live in Japan & Austraila to see that. Although this isn't even my favorite of her albums, (I have a huge collection of everything she's ever done), I still say it's her masterpiece and she deserved all the awards it ran off with!

Water Colors reveals the complexity and emotions between men and women as only Janis Ian is able to expose it. Janis helps us put thoughts to what we feel.

I was first exposed to Janis Ian as a college student in the mid-70s and have followed her up-and-down career ever since. While I think she still puts out quality music even today, her early work was as good as anyone's before or since. This particular album was probably my favorite and not just because of her all-time hit "At Seventeen". Several songs still touch a nerve with the beautiful tune and exceptional lyrics. "Bright lights and promises" is an exceptional song and "Lover's Lullaby" is one for the ages as well. I heartily recommend this CD to anyone who likes pensive, well crafted songs that will stick in your head for days afterward.

I recently purchased the original SNL years and Janis Ian performed her signature song, "Seventeen". I remembered that I had, for many years, owned the album and had listened to it endlessly, not just for that song, but for all of them. It is deeply moving, now, as it was when I was much younger. It has a timeless quality that I look for in music I collect.

I never - EVER - was a "folk music" fan. Too whiny, too wimpy...and then, 1975, I finally had a Lady Friend, my own age, instead of the "one-step-past-jailbait" girlfriends I'd so lovingly...well, "loved " in the past. "Between The Lines" was released in, I think, March that year, and, naturally, when I heard its "hit single," "At Seventeen," it almost literally curdled the skin on the back of my arm. "Between The Lines, NAH," I told my Lady Friend, "'scuse me, I believe I'll jus' hurry on back to 'Between The Buttons' by the Stones." "You just dislike love songs," Dearest told me, and I replied, "Well, YEAH, but 'Buttons' has "Let's Spend the Night Together.' Ain't THAT 'love'?" To make a long story short(er), Dearest had me..."get right," sit down, and listen to "Between The Lines" with her. It STILL made me shake with a rock and roller's apathy - ah, but that beautiful, that SUBLIME inital track, "When The Party's Over" - WOW. A simple, sincere "love song," infintely preferable to, say, "Mandy," "Sister Golden Hair," "Love Will Keep Us Together," or any of the rest of the tripe that passed for "music" that year (believe me, the stage was WELL SET set for the advent of the dreaded "disco" and its "naughty cousin," "punk.") It's now some thirty-six years later, and "folk" still makes me want to heave - but forget that. Back to "reality," after consuming some "brownies" and then driving to NYC, the Beacon Theater, to see Ms. Ian on the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving that year - and then seeing/hearing her open her set with "Party" - the brownies kicked in - OK, fellow Rock and Rollers, this is sacrelige, sure: but "When The Party's Over" now rests in that special place in my heart along with "Gimme Shelter," "A Whiter Shade Of Pale," "Sittin' On The Dock Of The Bay," "In My Life," and (yup) "Once Bitten Twice Shy." Oh yeah, ALSO "Party" has been sung at (memory fails me here) at least two of my "weddings..."