Customer Reviews

Travelogue

5 star:		(53)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

Joni Mitchell's TRAVELOGUE is a stunning, superlative work.

Capitalizing on the success of her last album, BOTH SIDES NOW, Joni has had 22 of her own pieces arranged for full orchestra by Vince Mendoza. Joni admirers probably need no further urging, so I encourage people who may not be familiar with Ms. Mitchell but love both traditional orchestral / jazz arranging and/or poetry to pick this up.

If you *are* familiar with the original versions of these songs, it may be a little jarring to hear them arranged in such a manner at first. Once getting past that, there is no question this is an album of startling reinterpretation. Never before has the poetic nature of Joni Mitchell's lyrics been so powerful or crystalline clear. There is never a musical arrangement that overwhelms her crucial words. It all mixes together flawlessly.

Every track from start to finish is a winner. However, my personal favorites are "Hejira" (with a gorgeous string arrangement taking the place of Jaco Pastorius' brilliant bass work on the 1976 original), "Amelia," with dreamy, soaring strings and horn in place of Joni's guitar, the haunting "Love" and the perfect jazz of "You Dream Flat Tires" and "Be Cool."

The packaging for the album is quite elegant & beautiful. We're treated to a full color booklet featuring various paintings of Joni's accompanied by lyrical quotes from appropriate songs. The 'Enhanced CD" portion accessible in a CD-ROM (via Disc One only), contains even more. Joni's latest paintings are featured in a "gallery" to browse through.

Also on the CD-ROM, you can read the lyrics to each song (from either disc) on it's own page and hear that song concurrently. You can't listen to all 22 songs in continuity using this feature (you have to keep clicking back or ahead), but it is amazing that so much material is housed on one CD. There is also a separate black and white booklet for the lyrics alone.

As someone else stated, this is music that demands attention. Be in a quiet spot when you first listen; I guarantee you will be moved. Treat yourself to this incredible journey through Joni Mitchell's life and world....and if you haven't already, pick up BOTH SIDES NOW as well!

Someone once said that art that offends no-one isn't really art. This recording proves that. It is pleasing and disturbing at the same time.

I have all of Joni Mitchells's recordings. Since I prefer the Miles Davis-inspired albums, this one works for me, musically and artistically. What is unsettling is the over-the-top full orchestra arrangements and Joni's now-limited voice range. For reasons that elude me, as they age, many singers seem to want full orchestra back-up. I'm thinking of the late recordings of Billie Holliday, recent Shirley Horn recordings and Sinatra recordings where the orchestra overpowered his failing voice.

The unexpected sound of this recording makes it challenging and artistic. In that way she joins an elite group of interesting woman singers like Marianne Faithful and Pattie Smith, although Mitchell is far more the poet and musician. She is a real artist who challenges herself not to repeat herself. She isn't satisfied in making things pleasing. I am not sure,however, that the post-modern spin on her earlier songs does them or her justice. I get the feeling that the music arranger and coproducer controlled the sessions, which I am sure was not the case.

I miss the lonely guitar work and the voice that had maturity yet didn't seem to be straining. If you are wanting the Joni Mitchell sound of the past, you'll find this recording foreign.

This is an epic and astonishing work. This is not merely a rehash of old material, but a song cycle made up of startling and revelatory interpretations of familiar and less-familiar songs in Mitchell's songwriting canon. It's an overwhelming experience, that demands your attention. This is not casual listening. The album takes the naked emotionalism established with her recent interpretations of "Both Sides Now" and "A Case of You" on the last collection, to new heights. Special note should be given to Vince Mendoza's expressive and cinematic orchestral arrangements. It has been said this is the last recording for Joni Mitchell -- whether that is true or not -- it has the feeling of a summation, yet despite its inherent nostalgia, points towards the future and hope of great and lasting music. A landmark album for Joni Mitchell, and one to measure all others for the ages.

This collection of orchestral arrangements of some of Joni's classics demonstrates the scope of her talent. By giving these compositions new, lush, orchestral arrangements, she has given these songs new meaning, new life and a majestical feeling and sound. Kudos and congratulations to one of music's premiere songwriters for bravely reinventing herself upon each musical outing.

Let me start out by saying that I am a guy in his twenties who regularly attends concerts put on by local hardcore metal bands. I love hardcore. But I love everything else as well. I'll be the guy at the Killswitch Engage concert wearing a Joni Mitchell t-shirt.

There's a simple reason for that. Joni Mitchell is a consummate artist, in the truest sense of the word. She lives and breathes art, she pours her heart and soul into every thing she does, be it painting, photography, writing, composing, or those breathtakingly original guitar tunings. I myself am a guitarist who's trying to learn some of those funky tunings.

"Travelogue" is the second of Joni's albums on which she is backed by a full orchestra. There are 22 tracks, 2 discs. Each song is a re-recording of one of her old songs, with an all-new arrangement for orchestra. And I mean wow. Dude, she blows you away with this.

Some fans have complained because she can't sing soprano anymore like she could back in the '60's. I'd like to ask those folks; does your voice sound the same now as it did forty years ago? No. People age, and things change. Granted, Joni smokes. But she's also older, and I personally prefer this voice. This voice is more suited to sing certain songs, like "The Circle Game," "The Sire of Sorrow," and "Hejira." This is the voice of experience.

My only gripe? Joni doesn't play any guitar on this album, which is a shame. But it's not a detriment to the recording, just a wish. Everything about this recording is incredible, from the innovative packaging, to the new arrangements, and those brilliant paintings. I enjoy the paintings inspired by September 11, but I'm really fond of the one on the cover; a self-portrait with Joni's face half in shadow, and surrounded by a cloud of politically incorrect cigarette smoke.

Basically, buy this album. Come on. Hear a true artist at work.

Genius...absolute genius.

That is what I thought the first time I heard this album, and it is what I think as I listen to it right now. Yes, it isn't the Joni Mitchell of the glory days...it isn't that ethereal, innocent voice that sang to us of being homesick in Europe, and of the destruction of nature for the sake of progress. It is the voice of a woman who has eaten from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and has left innocence behind...and as we all get older, we do the same thing...it is called growing up.

In fairness to those who gave this album negative reviews, they did not question the brilliance of Joni Mitchell the lyricist...they have just questioned the platter the songs have been served up on...and the quality of the service...which is petty, really. Honestly, how can anyone expect a woman in her fifties who has smoked most of her life to sound the same as she did 35 years ago?

I remember hearing "Turbulent Indigo" for the first time...I too felt that I was being robbed of that distinct Joni Mitchell sound...but then I actually LISTENED to the qualities of this new voice and I was as taken with it as with the young singer on "Clouds" and "Blue."

So Joni re-worked her songs and has made them different then the originals...and why shouldn't she? Her perspective has changed with age, so she has taken the opportunity to be reflective...and who are we to question her wanting to do so? One reviewer commented that Joni's ego must have grown to the point where she thinks she can walk on water without getting her feet wet, and that this album shows how pompous she is...which causes me to ask: how pompous is the person who thinks that they are more of an authority on the creative path of Joni Mitchell, than Mitchell herself?

Yes, it is an album perfect for a rainy Sunday morning...but there is a lot to be said for a great album that brings you relaxation and contentment in a world where things move too fast most of the time.

I wish I could have given it another star...not the early one that you can wish upon, and not the Northern one that guides in the sailors.

Being Joni Mitchell couldn't be easy. When she emerged on the music scene in the late 60s, her songs of love - and love's illusions - captured a legion of fans who felt she was singing of their own hopes and disappointments. They claimed her, almost as a possession, then felt betrayed when she showed an independent spirit and began to explore new musical territory; they were among the first to scorn her work in THE HISSING OF SUMMER LAWNS, HEJIRA, and MINGUS. And although she attracted new fans during this period, many of them would later attack her work on BOTH SIDES NOW and, more recently, TRAVELOGUE - they didn't like the orchestras she utilized, or the quality of her voice, or the absence of new material (conveniently forgetting they were the same ones who dismissed the new material she wrote for TAMING THE TIGER). Clearly, the road of a musical pioneer is a bumpy one.

I've been listening to TRAVELOGUE for over three months now, and I'm mystified by the slings and arrows directed at this superb two-disc set. As for its perceived weaknesses - well, the lack of new material certainly isn't a problem; in fact, the songs on TRAVELOGUE have been reconsidered and reinvented in a way that makes each of them sound freshly minted. And those who've criticized her use of an orchestra (and made it sound as though the album's been submerged in a kind of symphonic marshmallow cream) simply haven't listened carefully to each cut. Ms. Mitchell, Larry Klein (her co-producer), and Vince Mendoza (her arranger and conductor) have too much taste and sound musical judgment to go for cheap musical tricks; the strings and wind instruments on TRAVELOGUE have been used in the same way a painter uses a brush stroke - sometimes sparingly and sometimes emphatically, adding a touch of color here, or a bit of shadow there. As for Ms. Mitchell's singing, it's true the years (and more than a few cigarettes) have left their mark, but the voice remains a warm and expressive instrument, full of texture, character, and humor.

Selecting standout cuts here is difficult, because both discs - from beginning to end - are wonderful to listen to. I could list "Amelia," "Love," "Ludwig's Tune," "The Sire Of Sorrow," "Be Cool," "Refuge Of The Roads," "Hejira," and "Cherokee Louise" as personal favorites, but I have a feeling in a week's time I'd probably single out different songs, because TRAVELOGUE reveals new riches with each listening.

On a purely selfish level I hope TRAVELOGUE isn't Joni Mitchell's last recording, because she represents one of the few oases in the wasteland of contemporary music. But ultimately she'll decide which road to follow, and this is why she's cherished by her genuine admirers - because she weighs the options, and goes her own way.

Is there a finer practitioner of the travel song than Joni Mitchell? "Hejira," "Amelia," "Just Like This Train," "You Dream Flat Tires" - they're all here. And here, in one time capsule, the ultimate boomer excursion - weary, wired, weathered and inspired light years of living beyond the pop charts.

It's a sentimental journey but, as the set list suggests, not a complacent one. Down to the wire, Mitchell confronts her audience, expecting their brains as well as their hearts. (Now that Shine has come and gone, rather rapidly, alas, it's certain Travelogue caps Mitchell's dazzling career.) Like always, she will defy all hearts on the way to expressing hers.

The choices are good: avoiding most of the high-profile hits, Mitchell radically recasts some of her 'almost-masterpieces' and finally makes their case as classics. Sure, she could have sung "River" older and wiser and got everyone crying - but better to take the low-key "Last Time I Saw Richard" and give it the horrifying maturity it originally lacked. (For example, Mitchell initially 'saw' Richard [read: Chuck Mitchell] in 1968, reporting that in 1971. Now that it's 2002 and she truly sounds aged, the drama completely unfurls.)

Mitchell once mused in an interview she prefers Billie over Ella and, here, it's obvious why: Mitchell gives the microphone everything possible. Tracks like "Trouble Child" and "Refuge of the Roads" are simultaneously desolate and triumphant. While many vocalists have caught the joys of romance and love, Mitchell joins Sinatra in confronting the terrifying depths of maturity with all its unfulfilled excesses. Travelogue will not 'remind' its listeners of a 'certain time' in their life: it's too universal - too bewilderingly visceral - to be anyone's mere 'soundtrack.'

There's sublime stuff everywhere here - and that Mitchell so effectively sings lyrics she first wrote when she was in her Twenties conclusively demonstrates how brilliant her intuitions were at the time. But now, she has the voice that sounds as rugged and sage as her tunes always did. Reports of Mitchell's 'husky' [Salon] lower-octave voice should not be construed as any diminishing of her legendary vocal abilities: the desperate performances on "Judgment of the Moon and Stars" and "Sire of Sorrow" rank among rock's most incandescent, rousing moments. These are superhuman utterances.

Not to be underestimated are Mitchell's remarkable later compositions - many of them ("Love" and "Cherokee Louise") benefiting dramatically from the grander, high-definition arrangements. Praise is definitely due to the contributions Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock, unmatched masters, whose uncanny, telepathic chops lift even slighter material (the jazzy, chatty "Be Cool") into the cosmos. Downer as most of Travelogue plays ("Sex Kills" is appropriately horrifying), it's nevertheless a narcotic flow bristling with sagacity and passion.

The 'hit singles' are the torched-up versions of "Just Like This Train" ("Sour grapes, I lost my heart," Joni scats totally outside, prompting Shorter to really go somewhere) and "You Dream Flat Tires" (Freudian martini musicmade extra jivey thanks to a corked Billy Preston Hammond B-3 workout), swing so slay fierce usurpers like Winehouse should cower in their go-go boots. Smack-out bliss, the highest wattage Mitchell performances ever, bittersweet brayings from rock & roll's sharpest, toughest, finest old broad.

So far (2008), Travelogue is first amongst of the best CDs of the decade. Not for nothing did Peter Townshend call it a "quantum masterpiece." (Plus lavish packaging - color booklet full of edifying, revealing Mitchell canvases.) Perhaps it was her reunification with "Little Green" that sparked this special performance flame. Special notice goes to Shorter, Mitchell's collaborator for over a decade, who always lifts and encircles the vocal line, unpredictably, and creates melodic magic even when quelling his sax. If there's stronger pop-jazz artistry operating in the 00's, its gotta be on some planet yet undiscovered.

Shoulda been a 3 CD set ("I Had A King," "That Song About The Midway," "Down To You," "Harry's House," "Blue Motel Room," "Paprika Plains [!]," "My Secret Place," "Sunny Sunday," "Face Lift" ...).

I don't consider myself well versed in Joni Mitchell. A girl I knew in college did have copies of 'Blue' and 'For the Roses' which I heard incidentally. And I did own a vinyl of 'Court and Spark' (I'm sure THAT makes me unique...) and for some reason, 'Hejira' (I think it was one of my 12 free records when I joined the Columbia Record Club). Though I always respected her musicianship and status, along with Joan Baez and Judy Collins, as one of the few female founders of folk (The Four-F Club), I never grew a Joni jones. In fact, the copy of 'Travelogue' I am reviewing here jumped out at me from a shelf at my local library.

I suppose it is something of a "Best of..." Joni, although the songs are re-recorded to orchestral arrangements. In that sense, it is also something of a 'Let It Be -- Naked' in reverse, with Joni adding layers rather than taking them away. Some work better than others, though I'm not familiar with all the originals, but overall it is a (generally) soothing and graceful work.

It is rather striking to me that so many people here would pan this work with one or two stars. (I suppose THEY can do better?). The quality of the compositions alone warrant at least 3 stars. I'm not a freak for mass collections of strings and horns, and certainly Joni's music works better (for me, anyway) on a lone acoustic guitar or piano, but 'Travelogue' offers new perspectives on some old dialogs, which is refreshing (certainly better than a live 'rehash'). It's much like traveling to a beloved destination, but choosing a different route just for the heck of it, even if it is out of the way. You still get to where you wanted to go, but you feel you've discovered something new in the process of getting there. I suppose in the final analysis the strings and brass don't give or take away a lot from these compositions, but that is more of a credit to what they are than a criticism of whatever Joni was trying to make of them.

I do like how 'Woodstock' fared in the overhaul. Consider that this take actually brings a contemporary feel to a song dated not only by years, but also by decades of cultural change. Others, like 'Circle Game' and 'Refuge of the Roads' will forever remain treasures, no matter how Mitchell reinterprets them. I also enjoyed getting acquainted with compositions I was unfamiliar with, such as 'Sex Kills', a daunting tune.

I must confess that at times I have no idea what Mitchell is singing about, but it always seems interesting, and there are many moments when her lyrics, or 'way' of looking at or expressing something make me smile at her insight or style. Is she a musical genius? I don't know, and I don't care. This is. And this is good. I would still buy the originals over this, but this is nice, too. It's 4 stars, folks... put away your prejudices, both good and bad.

I've read with amusement all of the reviews thus far and opinions therein. The views seem to be polarized into the negative, (her voice has gone up in smoke, or she turned into Muzak, etc.)and the positive who see Travelogue as nothing short of a masterwork. I fall into the latter. Joni has shrewdly reminded this world that now worhips ten-minute talents, of the vast depth and enduring standards that her music has set for over thirty years. And she has achieved this not by repackaging her catalog into a box set, like so many others, but by breathing a new light into it. And what a light it is. A light of time and space and experience and life. The orchestration of Joni Mitchell's music allows all of this to happen and it happens beautifully. How many of her contemporaries could pull this off? I can't think of anyone. It is a unconventional approach, but anyone who has followed Joni, this is nothing new. Joni has always been unconventional (think Hissing of Summer Lawns or Hejira). Listening to Travelogue (very aptly titled), one is reminded at first of the originals, but over repeated listenings there is very little competition, as I believe both versions stand on their own which is further testament to the enduring standards that Joni Mitchell has set. Joni Mitchell has taken her music and placed it in a museum. A museum that allows us to see where we've been, how far we've come, where we are, and how the world has changed. But most importantly, we are in this museum that allows us to see and feel and realize her ART. This is nothing short of a remarkable achievement. Thank you Joni.