Customer Reviews

Folk Is the New Black

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
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I'm very excited to introduce Janis Ian's brand new CD, "Folk is the New Black", released February 21, 2006. It's absolutely wonderful, a perfect blend of sounds, folk, of course, but it also has some jazz, blues, and controversy, which Janis does best. There are also three very funny songs, my favorite being "My Autobiography". The most beautiful and memorable songs on the CD are: "All those Promises", "Home is the Heart" and "Joy", with "The Last Train" coming in at a close fourth. But, that's just my opinion. Add this breathtaking CD to your Janis Ian collection and decide for yourself. An added plus: if you enjoyed the tunes from the "Unreleased" series, two of the song selections will ring very familiar! I wouldn't be at all surprised if this well crafted album ends up a grammy contender for 2006! I think it should win!

I have been listening to Janis Ian since the late 60's and have just about everything she has done. Janis's new cd "Folk is the new Black" is her finest work yet. Janis has proven time and time again that she is truly a great American singer/songwriter legend. The cd has a wonderful blend of folk ballads, and upbeat songs. A few of my favorites are "The Great Divide" (reminiscent of Woody Guthrie), "Standing in the Shadows of Love" (Funky Guitar work),"Life is never wrong" (Very catchey Phrasing),"All those Promises",and "Home is the Heart" (Two wonderful ballads). Every song on Janis's cd is beyond my expectations,wonderfully thought-out phrasing,writing,singing and guitar work. This cd is a must have for all collectors! Janis Ian is truly an inspirational artist and troubadour who continues to write vital music for our times!

The latest offering from this songwriting legend includes a fabulous mix of styles with something for just about everyone. Keep the tissues handy for 'All Those Promises' and be ready to laugh out loud for 'My Autobiography'. 'Standing in the Shadow of Love' should be played on every radio station. The sentiment is lovely and true and the tune is catchy as well. Old fans will not be disappointed and those new to Janis will be wondering how they missed her all this time.

Folk is The New Black.......There is no "new" news that Janis Ian has been around the music industry forever.I can attest to that, being a fan for over 30 years."Folk is The New Black" is her latest cd, released February 21,2006.Slip this cd into your player and let Janis take you ona wonderful journey of 15 songs.Songs like"The Great Divide" dealing with the have's and have nots. "Jackie Skates" gives you the feel of the freeway, much like "Jolene" on God and The FBI gives you the feel and flavor of the streets.Your heart can break with "All Those Promises", a song about lies and deception. Yet, before that happens she'll have you chuckling at "Crockodile Song." "Home is The Heart" will definitely reach out to yours and "Joy" is exactly what it is titled. Her tongue in cheek song is "My Autobiography", clearly exemplifying the humor in Ian's writing sometimes overlooked. This cd is bursting with diversity - it tugs at your heartstrings - it tickles your funnybone. Buy this cd for yourself, your friends and pass it on for the generations to come. Janis Ian has once again honed her craft and this listener is thankful for that.

As I listened (and listened and re-listened) to FINB I am totally awestruck by the lyrics, the tones, the music, the deliverance of the thoughts and poetry. I feel that Janis has finally come home (Not to discount or minimize any of Janis's previous works). I once again had that feeling as I had back in my teens. The feeling that Janis is singing to me not at me; she knows my heart and is telling what it is saying; she is listening to me without me speaking yet she can tell me what I need to hear. She tells me that even though the government is corrupt and that life can suck, there is still beauty, love, laughter and compassion. Janis's music pulled me through and out of some pretty horrible situations while growing up, (she will never truly know) because the feelings are not in words but in feelings. She has saved my sanity and my life too many times to count or dare to remember. It was with her thoughts that I went in Social Work. I could not be musical (lord knows I tried) but I could spread the message in a different way.

"Aftertones" and "Between the Lines" were my constant companions. When everyone and all else failed me she was there to get me through it. I do not remember how many needles I had to replace and how worn those albums must have become. Now To hear FINB I am so pleased to hear her from my heart once again. The voice and music has gotten even better (how is this possible?). But no matter what, she touches a part in all of us that no other singer can, and makes us grateful that we live in the same time as she and can actually see in person and have that heart to heart conversation she has with each and every one of us as we sit in awe!
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I could hardly wait for Janis Ian's 'Folk is the New Black'. I have loved her music since I was a teen. Her new album is simply amazing. She has outdone herself again. Her voice and her songs are as fresh and clear and beautiful as ever. Janis's songs make you think and feel. She is truly a classic. I am awestruck.

"Folk is the New Black" is a CD that is long overdue but finally arrived... Janis Ian, a true singer songwriter of the folk music venue put it all into this album and like all great albums every song will direct your emotions through the telling of stories... When listening to this CD you will laugh, you will cry but for sure it will tap into your emotions. In a time when so much of the music is mindless banter "Folk is the New Black" reaches forward with messages for the listener... Messages of the times and messages to bring about social awareness... I cannot say it's her very best album... but then it's close to that!!!

It's been 40 years since Ian first hit with "Society's Child" and I am continually amazed that after 4 decades, her voice is stronger than ever, and her songwriting continues to reach new heights. Her early Columbia releases were filled with brilliance
(Stars, Between the Lines) but the later albums often contained filler, or second rate material. I always felt this was the result of a record company that was hungry for another "At 17" and wanted her to tour 200 plus nights a year to support albums that they never really got behind, and at the same time write and record next year's release - which would start the cycle again. She left for quite a while, and came back with a series of CDs (Breaking Silence, Hunger, Revenge) which proved her songwriting abilities were as sharp as ever. With the release of "Billie's Bones" she took total responsibility for the recording, hiring of producers and musicians, and content. What emerged was her finest work since "Between the Lines." The follow up is Ian's current release "Folk is the New Black" a 15 song collection that surpases even "Bones" as a testement to the enduring talent of Janis Ian. The meat and potatoes of Ian's work has always been "serious" music (relationships, social issues, etc.) which is represented here beautifully by "The Great Divide" "All Those Promises" "The Last Train," but her humorous side is on full display here as well. ("The Crocodile Song" "Danger Danger" "My Autobiography" "Folk is the New Black") Her singing voice remains virtually untouched by age - amazing for someone who who performs as much as she does. (Listen to Joni Mitchell in comparison.) Her songwriting is as gorgeous (Joy) and thought provoking (Jackie Skates) as ever. The later appears to tell the story of a young girl, an LA drifter killed by a truck. But it doesn't tell her story. It tells the story of the boy who calls her parents, packed her stuff, and ultimately spreads her ashes on the road where she "ran right out of luck." It's a haunting tale, and it's hard to say why. The listener is, in a way, left feeling like Jackie - Frustrated. Shaken. Aside from Ian on guitar and vocals, there are only 3 other players (organist Carson Whitsett contributes to two tracks) so the arrangements are sparse, but far from empty. If you love folk music, great songwriting, Janis Ian, whatever...I can't recommend this CD enough. Passionate, mature, and beautiful.

I was at first not impressed by this record, always a good sign for me personally, I have now fallen in love with it. There is a purity to this recording that has failed to surface for me in certain previous releases. A matured purity. Once I got over the shock of hearing a record that harkens back to the very roots of American music created with a voice and a guitar, the lyrics and stories woven into this artistic quilt began to surround me, engulf me, comfort me and enlighten me. This record "travelled" me to far away places and feelings, for lack of a better term. Few, very few, artists can create this effect. Most recently for me, Mario Frangoulis is an artist who accomplished this so effortlessly. There have been others, but few and far between. At this point in my listening experience with this disc, the stand out piece for me is "The Last Train", about a woman awaiting the arrival of the last train from Vietnam. I am deeply touched by this song. Lyrics: "There's many a young boy who won't come back/Many a young girl who waits alone/Sometimes they meet on life's long track/They board that last train and go home". Good records rarely hit me between the ears on first listen, but if they linger there for awhile, then maybe I missed something and that is what draws me back and commands me to focus. That focus, in turn, opens my mind to new experiences and allows me to travel with the song. Vietnam, a place I have never been, a place and a time that many people have long forgotten, but a place and a time that still holds memories for many people. This song alone displays a dignified reverence to an era in history that shattered so many people's lives. In light of present day world events, the song achieves a level of "timeless" conscienceness. Reflecting on our country's heartbreaking past and fortelling the future for so many men and women now involved in present day conflict. There are many equally impressive compositions on this disc, all demanding to be heard and savored. This is true craftsmanship! As is often written, "this alone is worth the price of admission" and it applies wholeheartedly to "The Last Train" and Janis Ian's outstanding "Folk Is The New Black"

Janis Ian. She was a child prodigy, publishing her first folk song in 1963. I missed the controversy four years later that surrounded her first record release in 1967 - Society's Child - the (then) daring song about interracial romance, and first became aware of her in 1975 when her song At Seventeen was in heavy rotation on the radio.

"To those of us who knew the pain
of valentines that never came
and those whose names were never called
when choosing sides for basketball"

That song was so well-loved it went on to win Song of the Year, and its album Between The Lines received five Grammy nominations, a first for a female artist at the time.

Jump ahead three decades to Janis Ian's first completely original release in 25 years - Folk Is The New Black - and you will find an artist still very much up on her song writing talents.

As Greg Quill wrote in his Toronto Star review in March:

"Folk Is The New Black is a bona fide jaw-dropper, a stunning achievement that embraces the zeitgeist of the age, rocks at an assured pace, oozes with satiric wit, edgy humour and barely concealed rage, flaunts her disgust of the new republic, of human greed and cruelty with intellectual muscle and a burning imagination, and wrenches the heart."

This is one of Janis Ian's finest albums to date. Its bare bones instrumentation and the variety of its 15 songs, from moving to humourous to simply beautiful, have brought Janis Ian full circle and back to her roots in folk music.

Folk may be the newest fad, but Janis Ian is the authentic folk artist of any age.