Title: An Unfocused Mess
Review: I love Joni to death, but find this album just plain unfocused and messy. Many of the obscure and "undiscovered" tracks revisted her from Don Juan and Mingus remain as contrived and just plain weird as the original recordings. Also, instead of enhancing the material, the orchestral arrangements tend to suck the life out of the songs, the result being great classics such as Hejira and The Sire of Sorrow feel weighed down and hampered. Also, I don't feel Joni's sincerity on this release. Only on the last song, "The Circle Game," did I connect with the music, and feel she had truly "recreated" one of her songs. Not worth the price of admission, though.
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