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Rock/pop

Joni Mitchell: Wild Things Run Fast

Wild Things Run Fast
Joni Mitchell: Wild Things Run Fast
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Joni Mitchell’s career has been filled with startling detours. From the dulcimer- strumming folkie of the Woodstock era, to the jazz-infused, smoky stylist of today, the gifted singer/songwriter has been a bold and restless musical adventurer. Others might have been satisfied with early popular adulation and critical approbation, but rather than falling back on hits like “Big Yellow Taxi” or “Clouds,” Mitchell continually expanded her creative vocabulary by taking risks. Wild Things Run Fast (1982) was Mitchell’s first effort for newly formed Geffen Records after a long stint at Geffen’s Asylum label. While not as well received as the celebrated Court and Spark, WTRF was a return to more familiar musical terrain. A mélange of jazz/pop invention coated with swirling vocal harmonies, WTRF is best remembered for “Chinese Café” which quoted from the Righteous Brother’s hit “Unchained Melody.” Although the original pressing was a solid recording it’s no match for this 45-rpm, 180-gram, double-LP from ORG. Bernie Grundman’s remastering has smoothly unlocked the air, treble bloom, and taut bass too often hidden on the original— and the dimensionality and image focus are now superb. Not her finest, true; but even garden-variety Joni is exhilarating.

By Neil Gader

My love of music largely predates my enthusiasm for audio. I grew up Los Angeles in a house where music was constantly playing on the stereo (Altecs, if you’re interested). It ranged from my mom listening to hit Broadway musicals to my sister’s early Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Beatles, and Stones LPs, and dad’s constant companions, Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett. With the British Invasion, I immediately picked up a guitar and took piano lessons and have been playing ever since. Following graduation from UCLA I became a writing member of the Lehman Engel’s BMI Musical Theater Workshops in New York–working in advertising to pay the bills. I’ve co-written bunches of songs, some published, some recorded. In 1995 I co-produced an award-winning short fiction movie that did well on the international film-festival circuit. I was introduced to Harry Pearson in the early 70s by a mutual friend. At that time Harry was still working full-time for Long Island’s Newsday even as he was writing Issue 1 of TAS during his off hours. We struck up a decades-long friendship that ultimately turned into a writing gig that has proved both stimulating and rewarding. In terms of music reproduction, I find myself listening more than ever for the “little” things. Low-level resolving power, dynamic gradients, shadings, timbral color and contrasts. Listening to a lot of vocals and solo piano has always helped me recalibrate and nail down what I’m hearing. Tonal neutrality and presence are important to me but small deviations are not disqualifying. But I am quite sensitive to treble over-reach, and find dry, hyper-detailed systems intriguing but inauthentic compared with the concert-going experience. For me, true musicality conveys the cozy warmth of a room with a fireplace not the icy cold of an igloo. Currently I split my time between Santa Fe, New Mexico and Studio City, California with my wife Judi Dickerson, an acting, voice, and dialect coach, along with border collies Ivy and Alfie.

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