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Another timeless masterpiece!

PostPosted: 20 Oct 2015, 23:21
by under a CPell
<3 <3 <3

Re: Another timeless masterpiece!

PostPosted: 21 Oct 2015, 00:32
by Wanbli
/agreed! :notworthy: :notworthy: :notworthy:

I had chills a few moments and how it ends...so upbeat, full of hope - inspired.

there is a great sense and energy of both physical and personal travels that feels like growth and change as she evolves in life and art.

Re: Another timeless masterpiece!

PostPosted: 21 Oct 2015, 16:57
by Wanbli
It is up on NPR today

if anyone wants a private link for MP3s in 320kbps and will not post it publicly, PM me

Re: Another timeless masterpiece!

PostPosted: 21 Oct 2015, 19:52
by butterbean
No words! No words.

Re: Another timeless masterpiece!

PostPosted: 21 Oct 2015, 20:07
by under a CPell

Re: Another timeless masterpiece!

PostPosted: 22 Oct 2015, 05:59
by Impossible birds
:glee: :luv: <3 I don't have much to say except that it's completely genius but also so, so life-affirming and so full of love! The mix and production are out of this world, it's all beautiful. Bah and I haven't even looked at the lyrics yet.. Hope you're all enjoying this wonderful creation!

Re: Another timeless masterpiece!

PostPosted: 22 Oct 2015, 12:54
by r-enter-ested
I confess to being a bit uneasy about new material. Musical artists often release crap sooner of later, though I do have great confidence in her abilities and sensibilities. Does anyone else worry about this? I'm glad that the response has been positive so far.

Re: Another timeless masterpiece!

PostPosted: 22 Oct 2015, 14:00
by Julia
(I already got the album today! O__O Maybe because albums are traditionally released on Thursdays in Germany?)

Well, personally I'm not instantly loving it or at least not ALL of it. More than a few songs might need some time to get into (for me!) - they seem a lot more "dissonant" in a way. But I'm very much looking forward to that process, so happy to have some new JN to listen to and delve into. I love all the piano sounds and the arrangements throughout are marvellous. Favourites so far are "Anecdotes", "Sapokonikan", "The things I say", "Divers" and "Time as a symptom".

Re: Another timeless masterpiece!

PostPosted: 22 Oct 2015, 20:36
by queenofnerds
I haven't been able to hear it all right now. So far I prefer the live performances to the full arrangements. Not loving the way her voice sounds. Maybe it will take me time, don't want to be too judgemental without giving it time.

Re: Another timeless masterpiece!

PostPosted: 22 Oct 2015, 23:52
by hen88
Hello everyone. I've been on this forum since the last album, but I haven't posted very much. I mostly just read people's responses.

So far, I'm loving the album, but in a totally different way than Have One on Me. HOOM was very confessional, and there were many moments where the songs wore their hearts on their sleeves. For me, it was really easy to get into the mood of that album. Divers has a lot of depth and intensity and twisted mind puzzles, and I've found that the lyrics have been my key to fully immersing myself into the emotions in each song. When first listening to the album before reading the lyrics, I found myself enthralled by the beauty of music and the complexity of the arrangements. But there was something missing. I realized that I had trouble understanding the lyrics (and Joanna's diction on this recording didn't help me any). Once I read and absorbed the lyrics, many of the songs felt more satisfying. My favorites so far are "Sapokanikan," "Waltz of the 101st Airborne," "Divers," and "Anecdotes." I'm hoping to listen to the album straight through once it's released tomorrow.

Re: Another timeless masterpiece!

PostPosted: 23 Oct 2015, 00:19
by kingposeidon
I love the album but even after three runs through I feel I missed something so I go back. The album features so much in such a condensed space. The fact that she plays multiple instruments - harp, piano, keyboards - simultaneously on many songs leaves me curious as to how she plans to play them live. Will the live performances feel more sparse for lack of instrumentation or more intimate?

Re: Another timeless masterpiece!

PostPosted: 23 Oct 2015, 01:17
by under a CPell
Yes, I'm very curious about that too. I'm hoping she will bring an orchestra and some REALLY good backing vocalists, but I don't think she can recreate the same soundscape as on the album, so probably won't set out to do so.

Re: Another timeless masterpiece!

PostPosted: 23 Oct 2015, 01:19
by under a CPell
For anyone who hasn't listened to the album yet, and is going to do so today: enjoy the journey!

Re: Another timeless masterpiece!

PostPosted: 23 Oct 2015, 09:19
by queenofnerds
OK. I have done a complete 180 on this album, I am completely, crazy in love. What a master piece. WOW.
Maybe it is a lack of good headphones, just listened through at work on some decent headphones and I got many tingly moments. As usual it is almost impossibly beautiful, nobody else writes music like Joanna.

Re: Another timeless masterpiece!

PostPosted: 23 Oct 2015, 11:28
by under a CPell
I'm pleased you had this turnaround! Yes, it's insanely beautiful, isn't it? It's so cosmic, for want of a better word.
It has kicked off Kate Bush's Aerial (to which, to me, it bears uncanny thematical parallels, that go even down to the bird calls/song, although on Kate's A Sky of Honey it was the Woodpigeon and the Blackbird) of my first spot, no mean feat! To my knowledge, Joanna has never cited Kate as an influence, but I think she must at least be aware of her, especially after having performed with Roy Harper. Mind you, I am by no means saying that she's imitating her or anything, merely drawing from the same universal source of inspiration and she executed that in her own wonderful unimitatable style and with a brilliance and scope and versatility and vision so vast it takes my breath away!
It does make me think, though, somehow, now birds, next: bees?

Re: Another timeless masterpiece!

PostPosted: 23 Oct 2015, 11:59
by r-enter-ested
queenofnerds wrote:I haven't been able to hear it all right now. So far I prefer the live performances to the full arrangements. Not loving the way her voice sounds. Maybe it will take me time, don't want to be too judgemental without giving it time.

This is a fine advertisement for not listening to bootleg live recordings of content yet to be released.

I learned my lesson prior to Ys: I listened to a version of Sawdust; loved it. When the album was released, did not like studio Sawdust.

In my intro, I promised: "I won't criticize members' postings of 'unauthorized' content, in the manner I have expressed in previous appearances." I hope that this post is perceived as a cautionary piece of experience and not a criticism of any particular member.

I don't have any hurdles to overcome with respect to the new release that were caused by exposure to what may or may not be on the new release.

----------------------------------------------

Some of the more astute fans will ask, "If Sawdust has the same instrumentation whether live or studio versions, then what was the difference that lead [you] to prefer the live version? Was it the crowd's applause? Her chatter? Lack or "production"? What?, for heaven's sake?"

I'm sure you all have the version. The file's name: "(Joanna_Newsom)_05-04-20_Sawdust_And_Diamonds.mp3"; Album: "l'europeen (20/04/2005)"; Length: 9:42; Title: "Joanna Newsom - 03". There is a frantic, frightful, panicked tone to the performance and the tempo is increased in sections. (FYI, some of you may remember that I recognized a repeated section that is "inspired" by a section of a Billy Joel song. Ten years later, I have not found that Joel song: I am not still looking, but I ought. LOL)

---------Edit: changed "me" to "you"-------------------

Re: Another timeless masterpiece!

PostPosted: 23 Oct 2015, 12:31
by Jordan~
I prefer to think of bootlegs as just different versions of the same song, without really worrying about whether or not a given version has the status of 'canon'. It seems to me that the same argument against listening to bootlegs could be applied to seeing her live: you may be disappointed by the recorded version compared to the live version of any particular song. I've never found that I can't appreciate both the recorded version and a live version. Taking Baby Birch, for example, my favourite version by far is the Somerset House bootleg, which I also saw live; the quality of the recording is dreadful. The album version is really very different, but I still enjoy it.

Re: Another timeless masterpiece!

PostPosted: 23 Oct 2015, 13:42
by r-enter-ested
Jordan~ wrote:I prefer to think of bootlegs as just different versions of the same song, without really worrying about whether or not a given version has the status of 'canon'. It seems to me that the same argument against listening to bootlegs could be applied to seeing her live: you may be disappointed by the recorded version compared to the live version of any particular song. I've never found that I can't appreciate both the recorded version and a live version. Taking Baby Birch, for example, my favourite version by far is the Somerset House bootleg, which I also saw live; the quality of the recording is dreadful. The album version is really very different, but I still enjoy it.

I did not know that anyone worries about the status of "canon".

Re: Another timeless masterpiece!

PostPosted: 23 Oct 2015, 18:19
by Jordan~
By that I meant that I don't see why being disappointed by the album version is worse than being disappointed by a given live version, or why preferring the album version is better than preferring a given live version. I assumed that the salient difference was supposed to be the 'officialness' of the album version, but I suppose there could be other significant differences - the unique quality of the recording on the album version, for instance. I've never been much concerned about recording quality either, though.

Re: Another timeless masterpiece!

PostPosted: 26 Oct 2015, 16:36
by source of the light
New to this forum, but I've been a Joanna fan for about 4 - 5 years now. I'm glad that it's finally here, although it feels a bit weird like it does when you've anticipated something so long.

I have only listened to it twice so far, so these are my initial reactions which are subject to change. On first listen, it was just so... overwhelming. There's just so much going on, I felt dizzy listening to it. Too much to take in. On the second listen, it was more familiar so it wasn't as overwhelming, but there's still so much left to process. It's so dense, like always with Joanna, but I kind of feel like this is even more dense than usual. Maybe because it's so short by Joanna's standards.

Anecdotes is such a killer opener! Almost makes the rest of the album seem disappointing in comparison when you're starting on such a high note. Probably the best song I've heard this year. A Pin Light Bent and You Will Not Take My Heart Alive also impressed me. And of course Divers is a marvellous song, but I prefer the live version. I guess that's the downside of listening to bootlegs before the studio versions are out. Speaking of which, it's time to get negative! While the songwriting is stellar as usual, I don't like the arrangements that much. Not on Anecdotes, of course, that song is perfect, but on some songs I feel like the arrangements are dragging it down. It's especially bothering on Leaving the City and Time as a Symptom. The live version of LtC was so beautiful and effective with just the harp. I don't understand why she felt the need to throw so much crap on it. Ironically, that "fast" part felt much more lively when it was just harp and the studio version takes that liveliness away from it. With Time, I've only heard the studio version so I don't know what it could have sounded like if it was different, but the orchestral parts are just so overblown and a little bit cheesy (kind of like Monkey and Bear was cheesy - don't get me wrong, it's a great song, but there's a reason why it's my least favourite on Ys). It sounds like she really wanted it to be epic, but it's just so mismatched and uninspired. And I get that feeling sometimes on the record, that she threw in some extra instrumentation to make it sound "bigger" but it ended up not fitting. On Ys, the instrumentation was very lush and epic, but the songs were long epics so it fit. Here, it would have benefited if she toned it down a bit. The songs are relatively short, so it doesn't have as much room to build on as, say, Only Skin did. Even on HOOM the shorter songs were pretty sparse, and I like that because it gave the songs room to breathe. I also would have preferred more harp and less piano. Not that I have anything against the piano, I just like her harp playing more.

This album is probably not a masterpiece like Ys and HOOM, I think it's more on par with MEM which is still very good. But like I said, I haven't listened to this album nearly enough yet, so I know there's a lot left to discover and it will probably grow on me more.