Customer Reviews

Don Juans Reckless Daughter

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I have loved this 1977 album ever since I first heard it, which was about 4 years ago. It has a very different feeling than the 1976 album "Hejira" or the 1979 "Mingus" album. Jaco Pastorius' bass lines and fills (often brief overdubs of several basses filling) are dominant on most of the album. I love how the bass harmonics and high-pitched fills meet and complement Joni Mitchell's vocal effects. The overture in this sense is chilling.
Jaco uses a very rich and unusual sound on his bass here. This is an absolute MUST-LISTEN for Jaco fans.
A lot of overdubbed voicings by Mitchell sneak in here and there. This had not been typical of her earlier albums, and is one of the elements which lends to the somewhat richer atmosphere than its precursors have. Another strength is of course the musicians. Mitchell is backed up by extraordinary artists here, most of whom are best known from jazz and/or jazz-fusion bands. In addition to Jaco, Wayne Shorter (on soprano sax,) drummer John Guerin, Alex Acu?a, Don Alias, Manolo Badrena, and Airto (all on percussion) also contribute. Guitarist Larry Carlton guests on "Otis and Marlena," and Chaka Kahn sings back-up on "The Tenth World" and "Dreamland." Joni plays guitar and piano equally on this album. Something that really distinguishes this from all her other 70's albums, is the 16+ minute "Paprika Plains;" it features (in addition to Joni's voice, piano, and the band) an orchestra conducted by Michael Gibbs. The mood of the whole recording is really special. I believe the cover art suits the feeling very well. There's an interesting combination of freedom and what's obviously arranged, as well as an interesting balance between gravity and humor. The performance is freer here than on "Hejira," but still strongly recommended to fans of that album and to people interested in enchanting musical performances and sounds.

It's not "Blue," or "The Hissing of Summer Lawns," it's better. But if you adore the cute folky love torn Joni of those days give this journey a chance. And if you've never heard anything by Joni buy this album. The musical compositions are beautiful, incorporating jazz and world beat sounds from some of the travels about which she sings. The lyrics are tight and equally poignant now as they were then ('77,) if not more. Joni has always been a writer who was not afraid to say what's on her mind. She explores love, racism, friendship, politics, and so much more, all from her very own and interesting perspective as a woman, a musician, an artist. Any American Woman who calls herself a lover of music must have this album in her collection. Jazz fans please don't let her ego-centric and pretentious comments of the day (about "progressive musicians not being progressive enough") detract from your appreciation of this work. Are we not allowed to make mistakes once in awhile? Was she really that far off base? The fact is this album is STILL progressive today and will be always while there are Britneys and Christinas running around getting all the magazine covers. You wanna hear a real woman sing and play? Someone reckless and polished at the same time? I dare you. And don't miss the wonderful singing of a young Chaka Khan. The perfect accompaniment of Wayne Shorter on sax. And the fabulous bass of Jaco Pastorius.

There is a lot to this album. First the cover: Joni in black male pimp drag. It's a character she played in a movie "Love" that was never released. (Her "Love" on Wild Things Run Fast was suggested by other contributors to the movie)

The whole format is done in a concerto style. Originally this was a 4 sided album. Side 1 held the main theme. Side 2 was the adagio, Paprika Plains. Side 3 was a theme-varie. Side 4 was a return to the main theme. Now on cd the whole musical landscape is uninterrupted. It should be remastered to bring out the full sound.

The title track is a continuation of Hejira with it's travel theme and just as she did on Hejira, she hid the melodies. It takes a few listenings to HEAR the music. There is a melody here and a message that culminates what she was saying on Hejira.
Paprika Plains is a full sonic adventure. It's never been appreciated, I think, because it's too far above most peoples' understanding. This is Joni the painter painting with music. Her improvised style piano on this piece is also what brought Charles Mingus to contact her and form their collaboration--He heard the painting!

And yes, she played around with "world" music and it became vogue with other artists--just like she was decried when she went full into jazz with the Mingus album and then a few years later when Sting did jazz, it was now cool.

Joni is that eagle that soars and sees all from above; and the snake that experiences the earth up close, first hand.

If you follow the old party line that punk moved in because rock's old guard lost its edge, try this one on for size. The spastic guitar, freefalling bass and beatnik poetry of DJRD totally trumps PiL's weirdly similar Metal Box. Attitude-wise, Mitchell picks up from "Raised On Robbery" and takes the enlightened broad muse from the Empire Hotel into outer space. Supposedly this was JM's 'coke album,' and it certainly has a giddy intrepidity - tempered by the expected Mitchell perfectionism. The surreal narrative of "Otis and Marlena," the vocal intensity on "Off Night Backstreet" and the bittersweet riffing coda of "Paprika Plains" rate with JM's finest moments. Not your average pop commodity, DJRD is living tissue - uncontrite, contradictory, offhand and supremely beautiful.

While in college I fell under the spell of Joni's Court and Spark, as did almost every college student in 1974. And yet this CD remains one of my favorite. I love its ambition and range and lack of safety. I judge artists by their willingness to take risks and grow, not stay safe with a proven commercial formula.

In "Jericho" the melody drifts, somewhat off-key and melancholy, with lyrics that lament the lack of intense love affairs as we grow older, the need to be more protective of less passion, and thus the lyrics :
Just like Jericho,
Let these walls come tubling down now,
Let them fall right to the ground.
Let all these dogs go running free,
The wild and the gentle dogs,
Kennelled in me.

In "Paprika Plains" we hear one of Joni's most beautiful dreamlike songs. It certainly lacks the commercial focus of a Top 40 3 minute wonder as it expands into narrative after interwoven narrative, subtle and floating into dreams. A rain storm drives a dance party indoors, and as Joni and the other women shake off in the women's room, she reflects on her childhood and hometown, where rain is a major issue for farmers. Images are evoked with her lyrics full of smells and colors. The repetitive percussions and piano echoing a child's war paint and home-made drum. The orchestration sneaks up on you, with a balance between the flowing violins and the Sati-like jazz piano and the beat of the Native American drums building tension, waiting for resolution, which Joni gives us as the melody evokes expansive sunrise and the awakening from a dream. As she emerges from the women's room, she emerges from a dream, and from the smoke of the dance floor, and toward her lover, the glorious present.

Otis and Marlena contains social commentary in an updated scene sounding much like Tennessee Williams on South Beach which then effortlessly moves into a percussion drum-fest.

Dreamland, with wonderful back-up vocals by Chaka Khan, further evokes the images of the cultural blends of European explorers and settlers and native peoples and Africans all in a parade of images that evokes carnival and archtypes with the wonderful line : "All saints, all sinnners shining, Heed those trumpets all night long."

Don Juan's Reckless Daughter returns us to accompanment of Joni's guitar and wonderful lyrics about the forces within us, as exemplified by the national images of Mexico - the Eagle and the Serpent. As Joni plays through image after image of ambivalence and conflict, changing street lights, she clarifies for us that the Serpent within her fights for blind desire while the Eagle battles for clarity. No sooner said that the eagle becomes a jet and the snake becomes a train. And in the final lyrics of this song she demonstrates her amazing gifts for complexity of concept and beauty of delivery.

Joni is fully of irony and dark humor as heard in "Off Night Backstreet" with lines like: "I feel your fingers feeling my face, there are some lines you put there and some you erased." She ends this piece with "You give me such pleasure, you bring me such pain, who left her long black hair in our bathtub drain?"

Ending this CD is the wonderful "Silky Veils of Ardor", where the lyrics are as rich sour cream with such lines as:

Come all you fair and tender school girls,
Be careful now - when you court young men.
They are like the stars on a summer morning.
They sparke up the night,
Then they're gone again.
Daybreak - gone again.

If I'd only seen
Through the sliky veils of ardor
What a killing crime
This love can be
I would have locked up my heart
In a golden sheath of armor
and kept its crazy beating
under strickest secrecy
High security.

She was the Mozart of the 1970's.

with the recent release of "travelogue," i have gone back through the entire treasure chest of joni mitchell's music....from "song to a seagull" all the way through "travelogue." no one, in my mind, has made such a vital contribution to modern music. joni mitchell IS art itself. of all of her gems, this one shines most brightly. from the chilling harmonies of "overture," through the amazing acoustic guitar of "talk to me," onto the dreaminess of "paprika plains," and into the stark lives of "otis and marlena," joni continued to define our musical passage through the decades of the second half of the century. this is an amazing piece of work from a truly amazing artist.

This recording is a tremendous achievement, both in terms of its musical range and emotional depth. Strange to say, I don't think I liked it much the first time I heard it. But some time later I found myself trying to place certain themes I seemed to recall having heard somewhere, and traced them back to this recording. And after that I was completely drawn in, and came to realize how the complexity of this album, while making it somewhat inaccessible to the casual listener, really WORKED once you sat down and followed the recording all the way through. Besides the excellent crafting of the songs, Jaco Pastorius' work on the bass is brilliant as usual, and perhaps even has an extra creative edge here. Suffice it to say that this recording repays attentive listening to an extent that very few others (leaving aside jazz and classical recordings) do.

when i first bought this album i hated it. it wasn't at all like the pop joni i was used to. it sat gathering dust for years. one rainy day i listened to it again while deciding which albums i didn't like would be in my garage sale. i couldn't belive my ears. how could i have overlooked this work of art? had i finally matured enough to appreciate the indictment of concieted western society in "paprika plains"? or the warning to fair and tender school girls in "silky veils of ardor"? or the revelations of the difficulties of male/female communication in "talk to me"? this album is not for those averse to introspection, or who wear rose tinted glasses. this work is now one of my fav's and oft played joni mitchell albums. an intellectual and even sometimes light and fun collection of songs. thanks again joni for opening my eyes and my mind.

`Don Juan's Reckless Daughter' marks the end of Joni's second phase which began with `Court and Spark' and then carried her thru the towering magnificence of `Hissing of Summer Lawns' and `Hejira', to this. It's has mixed reviews down the years, but it's my favourite Joni album, which altho' inconsistent features three all-time career highs. Off Night Backstreet returns to a familiar Joni theme: she's some bum's temporary interest, and she knows it; but she's in love. This track has sheer harmonies like stretched silk that wrap around a delicious melody, while Jaco Pastorius sets off false harmonics that softly detonate with ballwarming impact in the ultimate fretless-bass representation of physical desire. Jericho performs similar musical tricks with the bass work even more gorgeous; but here Joni is more ambivalent about whether she wants to be taken by storm. The Silky Veils of Ardour is more sad, more moving than anything, even, on `Blue': the low, lonely end of love. Elsewhere, there are some longeurs, but this is Joni's `White Album'. She's established, she's rich and she's brilliant; she knows all this and she stretches out and experiments, always with a magisterial feminine authority.

This album had me hooked from the first bass guitar riff reaching down deep into the soul. Who would've guessed Joni Mitchell's uniquely inspired folk talent would be ideally suited to arrangements with a touch of jazz fusion? Yet Jaco Pastorius seems an inspired choice for some powerful work done in the bass register on this album. This was on my turntable in the 70's along with Weather Report, Return to Forever, Pet Sounds and Herbie Hancock, which may tell you something. But I loved this album then and find its power undiminished today. A unique classic with production that is a pleasure to the ears.