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Joni Mitchell

Travelogue  Hear it Now

RS: 2of 5 Stars Average User Rating: 3.5of 5 Stars

2004

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This bizarre two-disc recording finds the loftiest of singer-songwriters collaborating with a seventy-piece orchestra, revisiting her past work. The arrangements treat Mitchell's tunes as precious artifacts, making little attempt to seduce the listener; only on "The Circle Game," for example, do the strings provide the kind of romantic sonic brocades associated with great orchestral rock. Mitchell -- in strong, ultraconfident voice -- proceeds with her famous jazz inflections, delineating characters such as "Cherokee Louise," who lives under a tunnel. But, the occasional sax flourish notwithstanding, the music does not swing or get loose. Sometimes the album sounds wrongly monumental, as on "Woodstock"; other times, it misses the boat, as on "The Last Time I Saw Richard," which ignores the song's thrilling harmonics. Travelogue translates Joni Mitchell as a scrupulously constructed puzzle.

JAMES HUNTER

(Posted: Nov 5, 2002)

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Review 1 of 1

JMitchellfan writes:

5of 5 Stars


As Joni Mitchell's final recorded work, "Travelogue" is perfect. Here, she takes 22 of her own songs and performs them as cool, lounge-jazz. What's interesting to hear is how she translates them, especially since she lifts from, though not every album, every period of her career. Each rendition is wonderful, each phrase realized, each note sung with as much truth as when the originals were recorded. "Travelogue" is Joni Mitchell's final masterpiece, a retrospect of one of the finest songwriters in all of popular music.

Sep 22, 2006 17:38:05

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