I don't get it...Exile on main Street-Blue

On the subject of sexism, it’s no secret that the music industry has been objectifying women since day one. They know their target audience and were brilliant marketeers. As the main character in the movie Rustler’s Rhapsody pointed out "To be the good guy and wear a white hat, you have to be a competent heterosexual." The record companies knew this and produced album covers that were only a couple of dbs down from "whacking material." A mental sidetrack to the album Sticky Fingers come to mind here. I just can’t tell you why.

As we "matured" some of got in serious relationships (or, worse) and had to toss aside our old passions and develop new ones -- out in the open. So, we got to covertly cheat on our wives/partners and have a "date night" with Diana Krall, Allison Kraus, etc. and get up and personal with a beautiful creature while giving the one we’re with just enough ample attention as to not get caught in the act.

But seriously, we conduct performance "mods" on equipment and developed a "reference" playlist for before/after listening sessions. Yes, we have guys "singing along" with masterful guitar work. Then there’s those female voices belting out the blues and others adding a level of sophistication and delicacy to the space.

Many of the threads here have been well-worded responses by the grown ups in the room. I apologize ahead of time for my inner adolescent coming out to play.

Exile is awesome in the car !!!   really almost all of my listening to 60's - early 70's is in the car...

Anyone who’s having trouble "getting" Joni Mitchell ought to pick up Lloyd Whitesell’s book "The Music of Joni Mitchell." He analyzes every track in her catalog in terms of specific parameters: melody, lyrics/poetry, harmonic structure, personae, arrangement, album concept, etc. There are three appendices that each consider one of her releases in its entirety as a concept album.

There are other books that analyze Joni’s music, but none I’ve found that are as readable, insightful, engaging (not just a dry, academic musicological analysis), and as much fun to read while listening the recordings themselves.

Highly recommended to anyone with a layperson’s background in music theory, poetry, or pop music in general.

From the Amazon page for the book: "The Music of Joni Mitchell offers a comprehensive survey of her output, with many discussions of individual songs, organized by topic rather than chronology. Individual chapters each explore a different aspect of her craft, such as poetic voice, harmony, melody, and large-scale form. A separate chapter is devoted to the central theme of personal freedom, as expressed through diverse symbolic registers of the journey quest, bohemianism, creative license, and spiritual liberation."

I found that, after reading the book, some of my least-favorite Joni albums, like "Seagull" and "Don Juan", became my favorites. I was amazed by how much depth and sophistication was packed into even her earliest songs, such as "Dawntreader" from the first album.

krelldog OP

306 posts

04-03-2024 at 07:23pm 

TylerMunns- Go read your DEI manual and crawl back into your miserable life.

he/him
 

thanks @krelldog this cracked me up 😂

Exile is the Stones on the top of their game. The music is exploratory but all the songs are unmistakably The Rolling Stones.  At the time they were certainly in a groove and could do no wrong.  Not as pop oriented as the other albums of that era (Beggers, Bleed, Sticky Fingers).
Exile is maybe a bit challenging for more casual listeners. But like whiskey, I prefer my Stones straight up!

Blue is a masterpiece. A complete concept album with a narrative flow.  Blue is best served as a whole; it's clarity and depth comes through when listening from the beginning to the end.  In my opinion Mitchell's pinnacle achievement.