danny keeps trying to get me to like her and so far it's not really been my thing.

listening to this track now...i see similarities to bjork and tori amos, maybe sufjan stevens?, but musical theater in general, that perhaps is what's doing it for you with newsom? I personally find her vocal phrasing especially quite annoying. and i don't think she's much of a songwriter, as opposed to bjork/amos/stevens. there's no really great melody here sinking in for me.

Musical theater? I don't really see the connection, except that it's somewhat narrative. But as you know, I'm not a huge lyrics person.

Her vocal cadence is a bit strange, but I think that's what makes the album so good once you get used to it. Listen to the whole album a few times, is my suggestion.

Also, the melodies do meander, but they eventually cohere.

As for comparisons, I connect her more with Melanie than I do with Tori Amos or Bjork.

Admittedly, you had raised by expecatations with the song title "Monkey & Bear" - how could that not be an awsome song? But I'm just not getting into it. At all. I agree with the musical theatre reference - that, and for some reason it makes me think of those people who dress up and recreate medieval feasts. Is that just me?

No, she definitely has a renaissance fair side to her. (See, e.g., the album cover.) Monkey & Bear is the most playful track on the album. I again suggest listening to the whole thing when you get a chance.

it was the little bits of singing, banter between different singers (i think...i'm not going to listen to it again), and over-the-top orchestration that made me think of musical theater. and bjork for that matter. normally i'm a sucker for that stuff, but this doesn't mesh for me. i don't like her previous album and i don't like this song -- it took a force of will to not stop it before it had finally finished. is there really a hope that i'd enjoy the other 4 on this album?

it's true that the melodies coalesced more than initially...i listened to the whole track in the hopes that would be the case. but they didn't come together enough. if the track had started as disjointed as it was at the end and than come together more, then maybe it would be okay.

and i don't see much similarity with melanie except for her voice. what i remember of melanie (and to be honest it's only a few songs. maybe an album's worth) they were simple folk pieces, well-structured and plain. this is the opposite.

Damn, I mean she IS brilliant- I listened to milk eyed mender for a little while after I got it, but eventually the child-like lyrics distance me because the insensitive brute in me grows impatient which such trifles. This song is tremendous... it's prog-folk, really. I find myself reminded of Genesis. But I'm not going to buy this album, unfortunately, because it still stands that I will marvel at it for a little while, and then not really feel like.... oh, wait, maybe the story's not exactly what I thought it would be...

Jesse, your comment meandered like a Joanna Newsom song.

Prog-folk -- precisely. She's Melanie + Jethro Tull.

Who is this Melanie?

Melanie's All Music page.

Some Say (I Got Devil) (mp3)

incidentally, Melanie was hands-down the album my mom played for me the most as a child. I listened to it perhaps 8.5 million times, and one of her songs supplied my high school yearbook quote ("I'm glad that I'm laughing; it's a good way to die."). Although she was at Woodstock, her seminal album (Gather Me) was never CDified, and I was albumless for years until we got a record player in Vegas. I found an old Gather Me album on Ebay, and when I put it on our turntable I bawled like a baby. (That also happened when I heard "Human Nature," a positively awful Michael Jackson song, for the first time in 15 years, on the radio in the car in high school with Erik, who thought I had finally snapped my last tie to reality. Memories of this kid I used to play with as a 4y.o. came flooding back, and they are now probably my most vivid early memories, all tied to that stupid song.) Any hippie sensibility I have can be directly tied to my childhood visions of Melanie, standing on a hill in a peasant shirt, singing songs of farming, rollerskating, and pagan rituals to a kindly earthmother God. It still stirs my soul. Certain music makes me illogically emotional. Lame?

In spite of my strong socialization as a small child to like meandering, whiny high-voiced prog-folk, I hate Joanna Newsome. Go figure.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Melanie%26Beau.jpg

jesse, did you link to that pic b/c you know of beau?

I thanked Jon May for ending that song when it was over. Maybe my radio-trained brain can't handle songs without structure.

No, I just thought it was a beau-tiful photo. Why, do YOU know beau?

naw. he's got huge guns. i don't know anyone with huge guns.

Are you saying that my guns aren't huge?

Musically accomplished, sure, but this is just way too rennaissance fair and medieval re-enactment club for my tastes. And her vocal tone is about as grating as it gets. I suppose there are enough bawdy wenches, gentle knights and Jethro Tull fans out there who will give it a whirl, though.

[...] My commenters might not dig it, but Pitchfork has given Joanna Newsom’s Ys a 9.4, tied with their highest score so far of 2006. The people who hear this record will split into two crowds: The ones who think it’s silly and precious, and the ones who, once they hear it, won’t be able to live without it. I’m much closer to the latter. [...]

joanna newsom is a JOKE!!!!
she has no tact walking off stage mid-set and complaining all night about everything!!!!! JUST ASK LOUISVILLE KENTUCKY! she played in a bar... complained about noise, smoke, and lights. what the HELL does she expect!

DON'T COME BACK!!!!!