4 stars (Q19) March 1988 No artist, nor indeed album, better straddled the Q divide between art and commerce than Prefab Sprout, and their long-awaited return after 2 and a half years away with From Langley Park To Memphis was duly lapped up and praised to the heavens. And I should think so too! EG.
It was one of two seminal albums produced by Thomas Dolby to be released within a week of each other, along with…. 4 stars (Q20) April 1988, album released March 1988 …though Q chose to feature the review for Chalk Mark In A Rainstorm in the following month’s issue (for which she was also one of the cover stars). This was my Joni awakening, and the extensive interview/article inside Q20 helped to place the new album in the context of her whole career and reveal more of her complicated, intelligent persona than I had probably anticipated. Chalk Mark In A Rainstorm weirdly didn’t make my most recent All-Time Top 100 list in 2016 (which formed the basis for this blog, just over 3 years ago) but it’s always been one of my most treasured Joni albums and the one I have the strongest emotional attachment to. It’ll be back in that Top 100 next time! EG.
Thomas Dolby produced Joni Mitchell! How did this slip by my radar. Please tell me it has some Prefab vibes. Might be the album to finally open up Joni Mitchell for me at last.
Joni used to complain (perhaps in jest) that Dolby didn't produce, he "interior decorated" her albums He did Dog Eat Dog and Chalk Mark. Yes, it has a Prefab vibe, if you play From Langley Park.. and Chalk Mark back to back, they're almost of a piece. Lots of trickery, sampled voices and sounds, multi-layered harmonies... I Remember That and Beat Of Black Wings seem to share the same synth sound. EG.
It's actually quite commercial...moreso than Dog Eat Dog. More relaxed. You've got a big Don Henley duet Snakes & Ladders with tons of synth drums all over the place...the Peter Gabriel duet that sounds like it could be straight off So....and Dancing Clown is fun in a Traveling Wilburys way. EG.
Oh and @Bobby Morrow - the 1988 pressing of Chalk Mark is an AMAZING sounding CD. The detail in the production still astonishes me. EG.
May try this again when the remaster comes out (next month!). I remember becoming quite overcome by the number of lengthy, sleazy funkathons when I listened to the album in 1987 I’d have bought the original CD, but it’s rumoured to be quite poor sound wise in comparison to his other albums.
I wasn't that impressed with the sound, as I recall. Wasn't CD supposed to be perfect? I've been stopping myself playing this album lately, so that I can fully enjoy the ridiculously expensive Deluxe edition. EG.
Part 3 now up on the blog; I thought working through 10 at a time would ease the workload but they're ending up as lengthy as my verbose ramblings on Chris Rea and Elvis Costello..... Q: The Music, Part 3 (1988-1989) EG.
Not so much for me here. I once owned the R.E.M and Tinita Tikarum albums, but didn’t care for them. The only one I have of these is Brian Wilson. Always struggled with a-ha. I have Hunting High & Low and Scoundrel Days and other than the singles, I can’t remember a thing about either of them. You’d think given my poppy tastes a-ha would be right up my street. Not so. Take On Me is a great record, but if I’m honest it’s the only a-ha song I really like. Haven’t heard the others on this list.
It's the only a-ha song I particularly like and I don't own it on anything so I have to agree. I got tired of Take On Me a long time ago. I remember hearing it as a kid a long time before it was a hit and liking it, then not hearing it again for ages. Even at a young age to me it sounded like a hit. I taped it from the radio. Was it released a couple of times before it finally became a UK hit? Possibly before the video was made.
I can’t remember. I bought the Stay On These Roads 3” CD single just to get Take On Me which was a bonus track.
It was released at least two, maybe three times. An 1984 version (included on the Deluxe reissue), then the remix we know, and then again with the animated video and a re-release after it broke through in America. 3rd time round it actually charted! I'm a massive a-ha fan, and prefer their darker, more atmospheric, introspective side. But the jokey bops are okay. EG.
I nearly included Alphabet City in my list (it's something I've rediscovered big-time lately), but I felt I had too many 1987 choices. From memory, Q gave it 3 stars I think. EG.
I dropped in around issue 5 or 6, maybe, around the time there was a big feature on Robbie Robertson's first solo album, that was one of the earliest issues I bought. No longer have the issue, but can vividly recall most all of the anecdotes, as the journalist followed Robertson around - in the studio, in the local bars and restaurants, etc etc. Ran to maybe 8 or 10 pages (?). Yes, I liked that level of detail in my music magazines.
I love Joni Mitchell. However, I would not recommend this album as your first one of hers. There is a box set featuring most of her early albums. Joni Mitchell - The Studio Albums 1968-1979 Comprehensive, and can be found quite cheap, but it is perhaps a bit too much to take in in one sitting? I would go with this compilation. If you don´t like these songs, you probably don´t care for Joni´s music. Which is fine, of course. Joni Mitchell - Hits
Also for Joni compilations (which are all flawed in some way), there is: Joni Mitchell - Dreamland and this: Joni Mitchell - Songs Of A Prairie Girl EG.
(Ironically, my favourite Joni compilation is the one focused on her more outspoken, "issues" material: Joni Mitchell - The Beginning Of Survival EG.
I’ve now played Chalk Mark in full. I did enjoy it, but if I had it I know I wouldn’t play it much! I may have a run through her earlier albums on Spotify though.
