Hot Take/ Musical Confession Thread!

Joe Mac said:
I think with Joni a lot of it is that she isn’t just telling a story. Whilst she is doing that, and is one of the very best at it to my mind, she also uses language in a very interesting way. It can feel to me that she’s painting pictures and setting scenes with words. Also her guitar playing and tunings are pretty unique because of the way she had to adapt to playing with it as a polio survivor.
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I think this is a great answer. In the end, I just don't really accept a comparison between Joni and SD; but I don't really like SD and love Joni so I have a knee jerk reaction to such a comparison.

She truly paints with her words. She also paint paints but you can hear that approach in her music.

I think SD has clever lyrics. Joni's are insightful.

The nicest thing I can say about SD: they are extremely talented musicians and extremely talented studio wizards who make extremely boring music. <Don't throw you Vonnegut books at me, this is the Hot Takes thread!>
 
Smack Bunny Diaper Baby said:
I think this is a great answer. In the end, I just don't really accept a comparison between Joni and SD; but I don't really like SD and love Joni so I have a knee jerk reaction to such a comparison.

She truly paints with her words. She also paint paints but you can hear that approach in her music.

I think SD has clever lyrics. Joni's are insightful.

The nicest thing I can say about SD: they are extremely talented musicians and extremely talented studio wizards who make extremely boring music. <Don't throw you Vonnegut books at me, this is the Hot Takes thread!>
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Yeah I think the fact that, as I put in the next post, that she almost considers herself a painter first and a musician second is definitely an enormous factor in her work, especially lyrically.

There is a trend that wonderfully talented virtuoso musicians can be pretty turgid songwriters. It can become “look at me show off how clever or skilful I am” rather than “here’s a wonderful song” or “here’s something I need to say or a story I need to tell”.
 
Joe Mac said:
Yeah I think the fact that, as I put in the next post, that she almost considers herself a painter first and a musician second is definitely an enormous factor in her work, especially lyrically.

There is a trend that wonderfully talented virtuoso musicians can be pretty turgid songwriters. It can become “look at me show off how clever or skilful I am” rather than “here’s a wonderful song” or “here’s something I need to say or a story I need to tell”.
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What other musicians have also been well-known painters? Off top of my head I can think of Capt Beefheart.
 
Smack Bunny Diaper Baby said:
I think this is a great answer. In the end, I just don't really accept a comparison between Joni and SD; but I don't really like SD and love Joni so I have a knee jerk reaction to such a comparison.

She truly paints with her words. She also paint paints but you can hear that approach in her music.

I think SD has clever lyrics. Joni's are insightful.

The nicest thing I can say about SD: they are extremely talented musicians and extremely talented studio wizards who make extremely boring music. <Don't throw you Vonnegut books at me, this is the Hot Takes thread!>
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Why I oughtta…
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Joe Mac said:
There is a trend that wonderfully talented virtuoso musicians can be pretty turgid songwriters. It can become “look at me show off how clever or skilful I am” rather than “here’s a wonderful song” or “here’s something I need to say or a story I need to tell”.
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Agreed, except Steely Dan is absolutely not in that category. If anything those guys were composers first and foremost.

I find Steely Dan’s Music more approachable than Joni’s, but it’s an apples versus oranges thing. She’s working with raw human emotions while SD’s approach is cynical and detached. They’re geniuses of a different kind.
 
bettim84 said:
Agreed, except Steely Dan is absolutely not in that category. If anything those guys were composers first and foremost.

I find Steely Dan’s Music more approachable than Joni’s, but it’s an apples versus oranges thing. She’s working with raw human emotions while SD’s approach is cynical and detached. They’re geniuses of a different kind.
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I find it very hard to warm to, like, or even appreciate art that’s detached. Perhaps comedy might be an exception. I tend to react with art, and music in particular, on quite an emotional level.
 
Smack Bunny Diaper Baby said:
What other musicians have also been well-known painters? Off top of my head I can think of Capt Beefheart.
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Dtknuckles said:
Miles Davis painted in the 90s
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Janelle Monáe painted a pretty awesome painting onstage while singing "Smile" the first time I ever caught them live. She then held a costume contest onstage for folks from the audience decked out in their best black and whites and gave the painting to the mother and daughter deemed the winners. That was very cool.
 
bettim84 said:
Agreed, except Steely Dan is absolutely not in that category. If anything those guys were composers first and foremost.

I find Steely Dan’s Music more approachable than Joni’s, but it’s an apples versus oranges thing. She’s working with raw human emotions while SD’s approach is cynical and detached. They’re geniuses of a different kind.
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Nah they are good songwriters and their songs have so many hooks. I’d say they were better at this than Joni by a mile. But she had a different idea of what a song was supposed to be.
 
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