Dog Eat Dog [Import]

Joni Mitchell | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 19, 1996)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Universal I.S.
• ASIN: B000000OXY
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #70,590 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Good Friends

2. Fiction

3. The Three Great Stimulants

4. Tax Free

5. Smokin (Empty, Try Another)

6. Dog Eat Dog

7. Shiny Toys

8. Ethiopia

9. Impossible Dreamer

10. Lucky Girl

Editorial Reviews

1985's Dog Eat Dog is a powerful record consisting of mainly all protest songs with the exception of it's riff driven opener 'Good Friends' & it's wonderfully jazz tinged closer 'Lucky Girl'. Spectrum. 2006.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 31 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Dog Eat Dog August 11, 2005

By B

Format:Audio CD

(4.5 Stars)

Instead of continuing to review her albums in order, I'm arbitrarily jumping 23 years to "Dog Eat Dog", typically her most hated (least loved?) album.

This was recorded smack dab in the middle of the 80's, and production wise, you can tell. Thomas Dolby (along with Joni's then husband, Larry Klein) were responsible for much of the sound; lots of synthesizers, those tinny sounding 80's drums, etc. Frankly, it sounds awfully dated..especially at first, if you're used to Joni's delicate, stark works like "Blue".

As for the lyrics, this is Joni's angriest album for sure. She's pissed off about a lot of things here - corruption, lies, greed, materialism, etc. Nope, Joni was not a big fan of the Reagan era. Thus, although the musical portion sounds dated, the lyrical sentiments are still very relevant today.

Although she's angry at society, the music isn't harsh or anything. The tunes are pretty accessible, actually. "Good Friends" (in which Michael McDonald lends his soulful voice at times), for example, is a highly catchy slice of pop music.

"Fiction" also works the 80's pop/rock formula well. Driving beat, lots of keyboards, powerful hook. "Tax Free" is a brutal attack on televangelists (specifically, Jimmy Swaggart seems to be the target). The melody (tense, creeping verses lead into a powerful chorus) is compelling, the message is spot on; one of her best songs for me.

Although not much of a song, "Smokin' (Empty, Try Another)" is probably the only song to feature a cigarette machine at the main instrument. If nothing else, it's a haunting little piece....

Songs like "The Three Great Stimulants" and the title track set their politically charged lyrics (about corruption and greed, namely) to a more subdued soundtrack. They're a bit more organic sounding, but still have that 80's keyboard/synth based sound (which describes much of the material on her next album, "Chalk Mark in a Rain Storm"..but that's another review for another day).

The anti-materialism rant "Shiny Toys" has lots of gimmicky sound effects; though it's upbeat and insanely catchy to me. So I can forgive the somewhat grating production. Not so upbeat sounding is "Ethiopia" (Joni's answer to all those "Save the Children" campaigns which effectively gave money to a corrupt government), backed by a haunting piano arrangement from Joni. This actually would have been more effective with *just* the piano (think of how well it worked for songs like "The Arrangement" and "River"). But they don't go too overboard here with additional production, so it's still very good.

Joni seemingly dedicates "Impossible Dreamer" to one John Lennon (although it works for Martin Luther King and some others as well). It's a beautiful sentiment, and a lush, beautiful song.

The closing song "Lucky Girl" is a buoyant pop tune, and easily the most upbeat lyrical statement on here (a celebration of her relationship with Klein). It almost feels out of place in that regard!

So, is this a "misunderstood masterpiece"? Are people idiots for not liking it? No to both, actually. There's not much to misunderstand about this. I can see how people might think the lyrics are too preachy. Not everyone likes real political lyrics. Also, the sound. Compared to any of her 60's and 70's stuff, this is a harsh change (her voice is also getting lower, much in part from her smoking habit probably). These are all valid reasons for disliking this album.

Personally though, I really got into these songs after a few listens. Her political statements, although obvious at times, are spot on in my book. The melodies are really strong too. Considering its usual status as "worst Joni album", it's an easy winner for "most underrated" in my book.

Favorites: Impossible Dreamer, Tax Free, Fiction, Shiny Toys. Read more ›

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Re-discovery... February 19, 2003

By Craig Marsden

Format:Audio CD

Bought this on vinyl the year that it came out and hated it. Made the big mistake other Joni fans of yesteryear had so sorrily made of holding this offering up in juxtaposition to her earlier albums of the late 60's/early 70's.
Then whilst cleaning out the storage shed the other day, I came upon a box full of old records I had forgotten about. Interestingly, DOG EAT DOG was on top, so I proceeded to brush it off, bring it in the house, and jack up the ol' grammaphone. I can only say that from that point on, I became transfixed and transported. Had I really changed so much in these last 18 years, or was Joni just that much more ahead of her time...or both? The answer to that is academic and unimportant when held up against this important and vital music. Colors, textures, layer upon layer of synthy/guitar impressions---AND THOSE LYRICS!! And then there is all that space and silence in-between; the kind that only Thomas Dolby could have unimagined.
The only thing left now is to get this on CD and then hold on to the record for not only posterity's sake, but for a time when perhaps we live in a world that can hear and feel and touch and love and envision on a level somewhere close to the genius of this woman.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Techo-funky-jazzy Joni ! October 21, 1999

By A Customer

Format:Audio CD

OK, some people just can't dig Joni in this mode. When this album was released it was panned, probably because it was so...different. But different is what makes Joni tick, musically, and is why this fan digs her so much. I dig the techno-funk social criticism of Fiction and the edgy, middle-of-night rock of The Three Great Stimulants. Best of all, there's the disarming, dreamy Impossible Dreamer, one of her best tunes. Dog deserves a higher place in the annals of pop criticism. If it had been released with a newer artist's name and face on the cover, it would have been hailed as innovative, literate, meticulously produced mid-80's pop. That's how I still hear it, even if the artist who created it wasn't "supposed" to do techno-funky-jazzy. Right on, Joni.

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Joni makes the jump to Techno-Rock with style April 5, 2002

By Mad Ludwig III

Format:Audio CD

Dog Eat Dog is a spectacular sonic production unlike any of Joni Mitchel's other Albums. The sound is clean, bright, and multi-layered. Over a decade later, it still SOUNDS good. Although lovers of Joni's earlier folk-based songs complained about it, Joni's legion of fans did music a great diservice by staying away in droves from this very accomplished album. Joni's political and social commentary has always been one of the key reasons her fans love her, and those elements were in the fore here. It's shameful that the SOUND she and producer Thomas Dolby crafted wasn't embraced by Joni's fans. Maybe Joni, Dolby and a host of top talents doing cameos were having TOO MUCH fun for these "fans." To make matters worse, Radio had created many casual Joni-fans with "Big Yellow Taxi," and then failed to capitalize on that programming success with any of four tracks on Dog Eat Dog that have the same endearing feel of "Big Yellow Taxi," but with the added edge only a more mature Joni Mitchel could contribute. No other Joni Mitchel album has as much sonic scope as Dog Eat Dog, from Actor Rod Steiger's faux-christian exortations to Joni accompanying herself with an empty cigarette machine. Maybe fans found Dog Eat Dog too "theatrical." But that "theatricallity" allowed Joni to deliver a full helping of some of her best social and personal observations, bouyed-up with some of the most tuneful and catchy melodies of her career. Dog Eat Dog opened the door to a Pop-Rock landscape that hardcore fans should have supported, so that Joni would have an ongoing "commercial" outlet for her deservedly loved talents. True fans admire her Jazz-influenced later work, and hold her early "folk" work in a very special place in their hearts.... To not have a follow-up to Dog Eat Dog is a great -- and ongoing -- loss. Dog Eat Dog was a very viable "commercial" sound that could have kept Joni on the radio. It's commercial "failure" was the fault of the fans and Radio Station Program Directors -- not Joni's. There is a reason that a woman, and a "non-rocker," is one of the most important inductions in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Do yourself a favor. Buy this Album. You'll find that you put it on a lot more that some of her other (exquisite) Albums. Cruising with the top down and Joni Mitchel cranked up? Believe it. Read more ›