Search - Joanna Newsom :: Have One on Me

Not bad, not great, not altogether an expected progression,

Nichole Beaulieu | new york, ny | 03/01/2010

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I am happy for a new album, been waiting for it anxiously for what seems decades, and have no problem the album is over 2 hours. Should any Newsom fan really have an issue after sauntering along with the fantastic "Emily" or "Only Skin?" However... this is far from her Magnum opus.



No doubt I will get slammed for what is an honest opinion, and my dissention should not take away from those who are in love with this CD. I'm simply calling this what I feel it is, more mundane than her previous work. Not to say that there aren't some real jewels on this as there certainly are! While I'm happy to own it, As a whole I simply don't think this is of the same wit, whimsy and caliber as her previous work.



I agree with the more middle-road reviewers here. Every Picasso painted wasn't great but listening to the flag-waving fanboys you'd think they were. I also gave the new record a few weeks listen (you can pre-listen on the web at NPR and the usual off-kilter reviewing urls), and while there are moments of absolute Joanna genius on this, "81'" and "Jackrabbits" being amazing standouts, there are also a few songs just too common, or maybe just too out of character. I'm already fast forwarding songs to avoid the discordant songs. Someone mixed a few of these to make them more easy listening and it's grating. Plus, where the heck did "Good Intentions Paving Co." come from? How did this Jazz-infusion come out of the same person who wrote "Yarn and Glue," and "Peach, Plum, Pear?" I hate to say it, but the song is just dreadful. I think I'll start mourning now if Newsom has decided to steer towards Jazz, and the person who made the decision to mix in the corny horns in some of these songs needs to be slapped.



Also, anyone else notice the vocal style change? No one can begrudge the natural evolution an adult goes through. Just look at Joni Mitchell at 18 vs now in her 60s... vastly different. Still, I miss the nasal fey timbre that first unsettled me and then drew me in. Previous albums proved her voice beautiful in its flawed nature... now you only get shades of it, and mixed with delivery it's quite obviously intentional. I dislike the new polished Joanna. What's odd to me are the reviews who called Joanna unlistenable before this album and now rave about her vocal development on this album. While not on every song, I think many of these have lost her vocal uniqueness and to me it's not a good thing.



Not to be all negative. The CD **really is worth investing in** and the good absolutely outweighs the bad. I am happy for a new album, was happy to preorder it, will enjoy a number of these tracks but will be skipping a handful which has never happened on her records before."

Joanna's romantic phase

Mr. D. A. Jones | 02/23/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I could quite legitimately be described as a Newsom fanboy. I have loved everything she has done from the helium voiced early Ep's to the intricate fables of Ys. I have seen her live 10 times, and would quite like to marry her. So I am biased, I admit it. At the same time, I think I have a sufficiently independent mind to judge each album on its own merits, and am able to hold my swoon long enough to engage my brain (this is not true at her concerts - she could sing me Uzbeki nursery rhymes backwards and I would be spellbound).



My initial reaction to 'Have One On Me' ( as with most of her output) was slightly puzzled and cautiously hopeful. I know from experience that the structure, punctuation and resonances of her work take time to settle and form, so I have let the music slosh through me and wash over me, holding back any critical judgement. And all of a sudden, as I hoped it would, the shape took form. While I have been familiar with some of these songs for a while now, it was a new new one, Go Long that seeded the crystal. The novelty of this album is a typically much longer melodic line, accompanied by a softer voice (brought about by a throat infection last year). The spacier, ringing arrangement of Go Long illustrates this change - gone are sharp points and counterpoints of The Book of Right On et al, or even the rush and tumble of Emily - instead she holds her voice, fluctuating or slowly descending around a slow, deliberate harp.



These songs are given much more musical space than the more wordy Ys, and this, combined with more varied arrangements and drawn out phrases, creates an initial impression of a hazy, unfocussed album. Once you catch the idea though, and let the slow ebb and flow of her newly sanded down voice carry you, you get it. Be it singing of abortion on Baby Birch, or of her own conception on '81, this new 'romantic' sound chimes with a much more straightforwardly emotional approach to her subjects - love, in form and in content, fills these songs. There are a couple which have not made their mark with me yet, but the album as a whole, listened to seriously and in silence, is a great and humbling listen, and I did almost cry many times - the 'kindness prevails' close to Esme had me shivering uncontrollably, and the closing Does Not Suffice is desperately sad and dare I say it, moving.



I have not had the time or wit to trace the links between these songs, but it is clear that some phrases, both musical and lyrical, reappear in different guises throughout the album - their is half jaunty, half sad blues line that haunts both Baby Birch and Does Not Suffice. I am certain that, as with her previous works, listening and relistening will repay and repay. I am looking forward to the work."

Pretty Amazing, Pretty Weird

Toby Fee | Eugene, OR | 06/28/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"For an 'album' that takes over 2 hours to listen to, with a dynamic range from melodic marches to arrhythmic nonsense, it's hard to imagine a few short paragraphs to sum it up. It's amazing. Buy it, experience it. I hope you've got some weaving to do, or a fresco to paint, where you can put this whole crazy thing on, crank it, and really listen with the patience that such a large work is trying to express."