CHALK MARK IN A RAIN STORM

by

Joni Mitchell

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This atmospheric album contains several gems, like My Secret Place, a duet with Peter Gabriel. Lakota is a political protest song with a lovely Native American feel, and on Dancin' Clown, Billy Idol and Tom Petty help out on vocals. I don't know if it's mean as a comment on dance culture, but it's an uptempo love song with a catchy tune and contains the phrase "cherchez la femme" which may or may not be a reference to the song by Dr Buzzard's Savannah Band. If so, it's very gentle, inlike for example Frank Zappa's funny but acerbic Dancin' Fool. Cool Water is a dreamy poetic piece with Willie Nelson adding vocals. The lilting, swaying Beat Of Black Wings is ominous and disturbing as it probes the psyche of a disillusioned veteran - a line from the lyric gives the album its title: ""I'm just a chalk mark in a rainstorm." One of my favorites is The Reocurring Dream - a criticism of advertising and shallow materialism that Bongwater's Ann Magnuson explores so delightfully on Bongwater's work - with its interesting arrangement. Chalk Mark concludes with A Bird That Whistles, her gentle interpretation of the traditional Corrina, Corrina. This is a brilliant album that contains some of her most compelling songs.

I dug this CD out of my collection yesterday, put it on, and started working on the computer with "Chalk Mark in a Rain Storm" playing. The opening duet with Peter Gabriel was pleasant enough, but by the time I heard "Lakota" chanted over and over, I realized this CD was both dated and discordant. As I tried to sit through a duet of Billy Idol and Ms. Mitchell, I wondered what twisted muse had inspired one of my favorite singer/songwriters on this less than stellar recording.

There are some bright moments here and there, but Ms. Mitchell's better works do not, in my opinion, include this album. I see from reading some of the other reviews that I am apparently "ignorant" or worse, and I'm sure that I'll soon have as many negative votes as a porcupine has quills for daring to state a qualified assessment of an icon's work.

Guess, I'm the skunk at the picnic on this one.