It was about 5 or 6 years ago when I first became a Janis Ian fan. An old friend of mine told me that Janice was her cousin and asked how I liked her music. At the time I had no idea who she was and had no idea what her music sounded like. She gave me this CD as a gift and I immediately fell in love with it. Janis Ian has to be one of the most underrated (and underplayed) American Folk singers of our time. Her best song is "At Seventeen." It has such a rich sound and such a great message. Ms. Ian's voice will get inside you because she can speak to everyone. I love this CD and recommend it to anyone that appreciates American Folk. Fun fact: Janis Ian performed on the very first SNL in 1974.
May 16, 20081975's finest. Perhaps one up- or mid-tempo tune short of an all-the-way (explosion, fireworks) masterpiece (that closing track is a touch maudlin), Between The Lines nevertheless blows out Ian's nearest "rivals" (Carole King, Billy Joel, Stevie Nicks and, dare I say, Paul Simon) and makes a serious claim for one of the 70's preeminent essential LP artifacts.
The success here, I believe, is that Ian (already a songwriting master by '69) keeps the chords simple enough to let her mesmerizing blasts of lyrical wisdom run their course. And there is sagacity, however embittered, on every track. The arrangements are smart, providing properly discreet shading to Ian's soul-inflected folk (and, occasionally)cabaret musings.
Ian sings a mean, low-key revelation. Even when her lyrical and sonic milieu is the tawdry dancehall ("Bright Lights and Promises"), she never showboats. Ian has the inspired ice of Peggy Lee. "The Come On," a deeply dire meditation on cheap love and low esteem, never lapses into sobbing gymnastics. Ian just delivers the bad news like an X-ray. Perfect every time.
There is a fiber-optic perfection to Ian's poetic observations. Male radio programmers and DJs were compelled by burning telephone lines, not market imperatives, to air "At Seventeen" - a startling runaway hit (prefiguring the later, bolder success of Suzanne Vega's "Luka"). It was simply heavy lasers set to kill. Ian didn't hit the mark, she expunged it.
What an artist.
April 12, 2007Listening to this CD brings back memories of my "younger" years. It still is as pertinent now in its wording as it was back then...just in a different way. A great rememberance.
January 15, 2007One of the best voices God ever created. A mix of rock and easy listening to words and music you can understand. Every line connects with the very core of every human being that listens to her. Janis Ian is a true voice in the music industry.
January 10, 2007 |  | THE LAST OF THE '70's SONGWRITERS |  |
Some of Janis Ian's wordplay could make a bad poet blush. Take this line from her adolescent hell signature song, "At Seventeen", a tune betrayed by this bizarre description of teenage alienation, "Their small town eyes will gape at you, (gaping eyes?), in dull surprise when payment due, succeeds accounts received at seventeen". How's that, a teenage accountant? Or this from, "Tea and Sympathy", "Pass the tea and sympathy, for the good old days are long gone, we'll drink a toast to those, who most believe in what they've won." Never have I wanted to drink a toast to those, who most believe in what they've won. But just when you want to file these feminist minded, man-eating compositions under aimless testements, Ian slam bangs the finish with two monumental orchestrated numbers questioning the choice between laying down to the death of a lifetime with your lover, or the freedom artistic pursuit and single-hood can offer, making all her previous meandering diatribes sound meaningful. Here the album stands up and says hello, and the crescendoing climax calls you back for another listen. Some nice touches here and there as well, including a brooding cello solo at the end of, "Water Colors".
February 26, 2006More reviews at Amazon.com ...
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