shauns@sri-unix (11/11/82)
I just bought the new Joni Mitchell album, `Wild Things Run Fast', and after trying to listen to it have found it to be the most uninteresting thing she's ever released. At least with the `Mingus' album there was a reason for the inaccessibility of the material; with this album she reportedly has attempted to make an accessible work a la `Court and Spark' but has only succeeded in aural posturing. Every song in this album has a very similar sound to it-thin, overproduced, underconsidered. Strained. There isn't the thoughtfulness of `Hejira' or the dry humor and smooth, interesting progressions that marked `Hissing of Summer Lawns'. The sheer exuberance of `Court and Spark', which was an important part of its popular appeal, is completely missing. In this album Mitchell has lost direction. She seems overly influenced by Mingus and unwilling to dismiss this phase of her career as an interesting experiment but one fundamentally at odds with her own background. She's best at L.A. light jazz-rock-folk. She should leave the monumental jazz to the monumental jazz artists. But mostly, Joni should have waited until she had something to say. Shaun Simpkins Tektronix, Inc. Beaverton, OR. tekcad!shauns