Joni's "Dog Eat Dog"

[hound!hejira]

Well folks, I've finally found a good reason to put down my copy of HoL 
for a while.  Yup, I just bought Joni's newest and I'm hooked.  Here 
are some of my first impressions.

Joni has discovered the Fairlight!   The album does bear some similarity
to KB's TD (sorry, Doug) ... especially on the first side.  There are 
some wonderfully intricate background vocals and the album, on the 
whole, is very polished musically.  Background musicians and vocalists
include:  Steve Lukather, Thomas Dolby, Michael McDonald, JT, Don
Henley and Wayne Shorter.  As usual with Joni, the lyrics are excellent.

One theme that seems to be pervasive throughout the album is the notion
of society on the decline.  The tone of the album, except for the last 
song, is quite cynical.  Some examples:

Side 1:

Fiction

	"Elusive dreams and vague desires
	Fanned to firey needs by deadly deeds
	In falling empires ..."

The Three Great Stimulants

	"Last night I dreamed I saw the planet flicker
	Great forests fell like buffalo
	Everything got sicker
	And to the bitter end
	Big business bickered ..."

Tax Free

	"Lord, there's danger in this land
	You get witch hunts and wars
	When church and state hold hands
	Fuck it!
	Tonight I'm going dancing 
	With the drag queens and punks
	Big beat deliver me 
	  from this sanctimonious skunk..."

	(Joni's war with evangelists and censors)

Dog Eat Dog

	"Land of snap decisions
	Land of short attention spans
	Nothing is savoured
	Long enough
	To really understand
	In every culture in decline
	The watchful ones among the slaves
	Know all that's genuine will be
	Scorned and conned and cast away..."


My favourite song on the album is "Ethiopia".  It's a stunning commentary 
on the realities of the famine.  Joni carries this one off perfectly -- 
there are even cries of dying children in the background.  I have to 
provide you with the lyrics...

	"Hot winds and hunger cries--Ethiopia
	Flies in your baby's eyes--Ethiopia
	Walking sticks on burning plains
	Betrayed by politics
	Abandoned by the rains
	On and on--the human need
	On and on--the human greed
		profanes
	Ethiopia--Ethiopia--Ethiopia

	Your top soil flies away--Ethiopia
	We pump ours full of poison spray--Ethiopia
	Between the brown skies
		and sprinkling lawns
	I hear the whine of chain saws 
		hacking rain forests down
	On and on--insanities
	On and on--Short sighted greed abounds
	Ethiopia--Ethiopia--Ethiopia

	Little garden planet--Oasis in space
	Some hearts hurt--They can hardly stand it
	Famine phantoms at the garden gates
	Ethiopia--Ethiopia--Ethiopia

	Every Sunday on TV--Ethiopia
	You suffer with such dignity--Ethiopia
	A TV star with a PR smile
	Calls your baby "It" while strolling
	Through your tragic trials
	On and on -- stupidity
	On and on -- the basic needs are defiled
	Good air--good water--good earth
	Ethiopia--Ethiopia--Ethiopia

	Little garden planet--oasis in space
	Some hearts hurt--they can hardly stand the waste
	Ethiopia--Ethiopia--Ethiopia"


I guess you just have to hear this song to feel the emotion -- very 
powerful.  Joni's on the piano, and Kazu Matsui is playing the 
Shakahachi (what is this??) and there are really fascinating background
noises...  Hope it gets some airplay.

Well, I have to get back to my listening .. any comments, analyses, etc
would be appreciated!!

	-  Rob

		"They're gonna slam free choice behind us..."