Joni Mitchell - Dog Eat Dog - is it time for a re-appraisal of this fine album ?

I've said this before on another Joni thread... get this:


And then, get everything else.

 

Not one of her best albums one or two good songs

 

The three great stimulants live in '85 - problem with the lip sync but still worth a watch
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This is an album that shouts '80s' @ you, but if you don't mind that, or you can get past it, there are some fine songs on there.

 

I agree with the opinion that Dog Eat Dog was Mitchell's last truly great album, and also a pleasing return to form after the misjudged Mingus and the unadventurous Wild Things Run Fast. Certainly it sounds dated today due to the high-tech arrangements, but to my mind she was one of the few sixties and seventies artists to take on eighties technology and production styles and win. It certainly helps that she wrote some of the best songs of her later career. There's even a bit of self-deprecating humour on there, which is unusual for Mitchell, in the shape of "Smokin' (Empty, Try Another)", which is entirely built around a sample.

 

'dog eat dog' along with 'chalk mark in a rainstorm' are my personal favorites in mitchell's catalog.

2 absolutely amazing albums with an array of great guests and lyrically on par with everything else she ever did "study war no more".

 

Joni's post-Asylum albums, for me are a wildly hit and (mostly) miss affair. While instrumentally her songs are strong, lyrically her Geffen albums (starting mostly with Dog Eat Dog) begin what I call Joni's preaching phase.

Gone, for the most part, are the personal, intimate portraits that bring universal themes to light through small, personal interactions. Instead she is now painting with overly broad brushstrokes in a rather didactic style, devoid of subtly.

I don't know what happened between 1979 (Mingus) and 1982 (Wild Things Run Fast), but aside from some moments of brilliance, Joni, for me, was never the same.

 

I know we have been talking about her studio work but Shadows & Light is essential too!

I may get bashed for this but I was thinking about how I would recommend every Joni album as essential in one way or another but I wouldn't say the same for her song-writing peers Lennon, McCartney, Prince, Neil Young, Dylan, Morrison, etc just to name a few.
Even my Top 2 bands I wouldn't recommend all their albums (Deep Purple, Kiss).
Maybe Led Zeppelin is another artist I would say the same thing about that you should get all of them? They made less albums though.

Is there anyone else where every release is essential in your opinion?

 

Being a lifetime Joni fan, Wild Things Run Fast is my "cut-off" album. I could easily make Hissing Of Summer Lawns the last album in my collection however. I used to own all the Geffen material, but those after Wild Things, were intolerable to me. They sounded like crap too. Not the crystal clarity I crave that was heard on Blue or For The Roses.

 

I am turned off by the 1980s production in this case, but if there are acoustic demos available, official or not, I would love to check them out.

 

the only thing i dislike about joni mitchell, and this may be a result of her handlers and not her, is the re-packaging of previously recorded songs onto new albums and giving it a title like it is something new (instead of calling it what it is) when there is nary a single new note on either one of them.

horrible practice, just horrible...the doors and the beach boys have also done this.

 

Despite the eighties sound all over 'Dog Eat Dog' it was albums like this from brilliant artists like Joni Mitchell that kept me listening in what for me was a very 'blah' decade musically. Not on par with her best albums from the previous decade but a good album none-the-less.

 

Yes, there are quite a few Joni compilations out there.

 

Yes I'm one of those who buys 'Song from a prairie girl' and 'The beginning of survival' for no other reason than it's new and hopefully the sound is improved
Will resist that 4 cd ballet set tho.

Bit of a shame no official set from the big '83 tour ever came out ... fans would have gone for that ..Amelia and Song for Sharon sound fantastic on the YT Wembley Arena clips available ...amazingly there's a bootleg of that tour on Spotify ...

 

Never seen the interview portion, Wogan's right Joni sounds full hoser here!

 

but those 2 are really called 'compilations' in the true sense of the word.

ahe/they took songs, note for note, from various albums throughout her career and put them on an album and gave it a name, as though it was something new and different. no disclaimers of 'previously released material' at all.

to a joni neophyte, they may not have any idea.

a scam to me, of course this just my personal opinion.

 

yeah. this i agree with. I got into Joni Mitchell via the Chalkmark record. I didnt even kno who she was but I loved that entire record and through it I got into Larry Kleins work and Mike Landau. Afterwards I worked my way to her other catalog. The record does sound dated today, but at the time, it was very cool sounding.

 

"Paprika Plains" sounds better to me on ...Prairie Girl than on Don Juan's.

 

How does it compare to the original cd's? I've always liked this album.

 

Excellent remastering. Very little tweaking done. Plus the bonus tracks are really good.

 

As it happens, I bought TBOS and SOAPG too, just to have the tracks in one place - -I like the selections.

 

i really love this album. i don't care what the others might say!

 

for me, Don Juan's is the high water mark, I had a lot of difficulty with Mingus (it just seemed sooooo slow)
and I've never warmed to the Geffen era. I hope to maybe hear these albums again with different ears because Joni is truly an exceptional artist if occasionally a difficult one and her lyrical insight has blown my mind on many an occasion.

 

I also think that it is her worst album, worse actually than Mingus. A waste of time. By the way, none of her 80s albums are great.

 

Gave it a pretty thorough listen tonight and still had trouble with the 80s production on some songs. It won't be one of my favorite Joni albums, but I won't avoid it. I actually like the last three songs.