September 2017
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ZZ WARD
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She talks sigwriting, her latest album, and how she developed her style.
PINK
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Her thoughts on growing up, her inspiration. her family. and why her marrige works.
Kate Nash
Page 15 Singing, singwriting, and now acting. How she makes it all work.
Top 20 Greatest Albums by Women Page 19 RaygunWomenRockV3.indd 3
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With lyrical bite marks and a whole bunch of sassy melodies, Ward has gathered up all her gnawing aggravations, anger, hurt and frustrations of past relationships and simmered them together into a witch’s brew that makes for one heck of a record. Interestingly, this was not her original second album. That one she scrapped because she felt it lacked depth. So she went deeper and in time had songs like “Cannonball,” “Help Me Mama,” “Ghost” and “She Ain’t Me.” And Ward hasn’t sounded better than right now. Raised in Oregon but now an LA girl, Ward made her debut with the 2012 EP Criminal, followed by her full-length Till The Casket Drops later that year. Since then, she has toured, played some of the big festivals, had her music appear in such TV shows as Pretty Little Liars, Reckless and Justified, and added her vocals to guitar player Robben Ford’s song, “Breath Of Me.” With songs that tend to hang out at the core of an open wound, Ward has never been reluctant to sing about those emoti ons onstage, as she told us during a 2013 interview – “I feel really comfortable when I’m onstage, just letting it all out there” – and again when we spoke to her on the eve of her new album’s release. Appearing onstage comes naturally to Ward, who began singing in her father’s blues band before her teens. “When I was like twelve, I would shake a lot when I got on stage, get really nervous, but then eventually you do it a lot and you kind of get over it.”
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How long had you been living with these songs before you decided to put them onto a record? Not that long, really. I had made a whole second album and then when I started to go out on the road with it, I felt like I could have gone deeper into what I wanted to create so I scrapped the whole record and then I wrote this record. These songs weren’t hanging around very long before we put them out. You know, as an artist, when I get a feeling, when I catch a feeling somewhere, I follow it. So it really just kind of progressed as I went, as I kept kind of digging in my closet, finding these things, and I felt so angry about it, I felt bad about it, you know. “Cannonball” is really slinky and you play harmonica. Did the melody come first? You know, I was in LA and the power went out in the house and I couldn’t use my computers and I wanted to write. I had planned on writing that day.
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So I lit some candles, and it was in the wintertime and it’s LA so it wasn’t that cold but it was cold (laughs). So I got some blankets and I was in the living room with some candles and I think there was something kind of magical that day about not having any electronics to really rely on. I just had to sit there with my guitar and figure out a song. And I had to come up with something that I wouldn’t really have to lay down to remember it. So I just started playing over 1-4-5, which is a rhythm, like a blues rhythm, and that is kind of where that song kind of came from. It happened that day. “Bag Of Bones” doesn’t have a lot going on with it. It’s more subtle and raw. I wrote “Bag Of Bones” for the other record that I ended up not putting out but I never actually put that song on the record. I don’t know, it was just something about where I was that really made me want to write a really stripped down song. When I was going back and thinking of songs for the new album, I had a little demo of that that I put down on my computer and I thought, you know, there’s something here, I want to explore this song. You wrote three of the new songs by yourself and then the rest are collaborations. What are you most comfortable doing?
I’m comfortable co-writing and writing by myself. I think sometimes that writing by yourself it can be more challenging because you don’t have anybody to help carry the weight of the song. It’s all on you – the melody, the lyrics, everything is on you. But also, when you’re cowriting with people, it has to be the right people to write with. Sometimes when you get in the room with people, they just want to write something quick or they don’t have the patience to keep writing and trying different things or they don’t trust you knowing what you want in a song. I was really fortunate that the collaborations I did on this record and the co-writers I wrote on this record with were very supportive writers. I don’t know that I necessarily prefer a certain way. Like, one day I may be feeling a certain kind of way and I have a lot of emotion and I’m ready to write something and that’s great; but there might be days where it’s a little harder to get in touch with that and you need people around you to kind of push some buttons and get you into that certain kind of mood.
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Do you think you’re more lyrically honest writing by yourself? I don’t think I would say more honest by myself. Because I’ve been in a room with other people where you say what you’re thinking and then they ask you, “Oh, is this what you’re thinking? Are you thinking about it like this?” And you’re like, yes, that’s exactly what I mean. t is kind of powerful, “Us moving forward is me moving backwards.” And I do really like that line. I’d say that one is my favorite for right now. Which song changed the most from it’s original composition to it’s final recorded version? That’s a good question. I would say “The Storm” probably changed the most because of all the things we added to it. Working with someone like Neff-U, he’s so gifted
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at supporting the song. I wrote “The Storm” just guitar and vocal and then the beautiful string section on that song and I think Neff-U did an incredible job on that one. He really supported what the song was. Do you think you have now purged all your anger and frustrations of the past on this album so that we’ll start hearing some happy, perky, contented ZZ Ward songs in the future? (laughs) Yeah, I don’t know about that. You know, we are who we are. I’m a moody girl and I grew up listening to moody music and that’s what I like and that’s what I react to. I would love to say that I just got it all off my chest and I ain’t got nothing to complain about anymore but that ain’t true (laughs). You know, I think it’s for the best cause I think people like me singing the blues.
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She Is Doing Things
Her Way.
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High school is tough. And if you were to ask Pink her opinion on the subject she’d tell you the same. Before she became famous, and when she was still called Alicia Moore, the young superstar faced more than her fair share of highschool drama. In her interview, Pink admits
conformed to the label they gave me. I think a lot of kids just get frustrated and act the way the teachers expect them to.”
However, Pink says she never really minded being the outcast. “I’m fine with it,” she claims, “I never changed just to fit in.”
It’s no surprise that, eventually, Pink developed a problem with authority, “When they would say it had to be a certain way I would ask ‘why?’ They’d say,
Predictably, Pink dropped out of school and soon after began to sing in nightclubs. She sang any chance she could get and was eventually discovered by a talent scout while singing in a club in Philadelphia.
I’d she was stereotyped try to prove them as a troublemaker wrong.” at school, “The problem was, I was labelled as trouble–so I was like, ‘Trouble? I’ll show you trouble. You want trouble, well here it is!’” Unfortunately, Pink began to deliver what the teachers expected and the vicious cycle began. “It’s like the label they give you, you grow into it anyway. They treat you bad, so you act bad,” Pink says and continues, “Did I deserve it? In the end, yes, but I feel I just
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‘Because it always has,’ so
However, she did not always sing the type of music we are used to hearing her perform. One of her favourite singers is Linda Perry from 4 Non Blondes. Pink spent a lot of time covering her tunes in the local clubs, and even started wearing the fancy hats and combat boots associated with Perry.
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Pink was open to all types of music and was even a singer in a punk band for a short time. Her musical interests vary from Billy Joel to Madonna to Danny Hathaway and she’s told her fans, if she could open up for anyone, it would be Michael Jackson and, if she could do a duet with anyone, it would be with Steven Tyler from Aerosmith. Pink was 16 when she signed with LaFace Records, and as we know, she was launched into stardom with several hit songs and an MTV Best Video Award for Lady Marmalade. She writes most of her songs herself, some with a little help from her friends, including Linda Perry. Despite what seems obvious, Pink did not get her name from her hair colour: she actually dyed her hair to match her name. As a young girl she was easily embarrassed, which caused her to turn bright pink. Later, the nickname became permanent after the release of Reservoir Dogs and the colourful character of “Mr. Pink”.
Currently, our young pop star is sporting a blonde hairdo, which apparently is her natural colour. With her rise to fame and all that comes with it, her relationship with her family has remained the same. She told fans in a #Launch chat that nothing has changed
“I’m very close with my dad,” with her family,
she said of her father, a Vietnam vet, who is also one of her idols
He doesn’t change.” Pink does not regret anything she has done and would not change her past if she could. “To change that would change who I am,” she said in her Faze interview. She believes having faced so many difficulties at a young age is a good thing. “To experience the good you have to have seen the bad. Plus it makes you appreciate blessings more,” she says.
Pink also believes in life. “He’s real and that tough times tells it like it is and make you stronger. he’s consistent.
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“It taught me to be a fighter, which you need to be if you want to get into the music industry,” she says and recalls, “My record label wanted me to record my album a certain way and I wanted to go another way, I just didn’t want to conform to everyone else–I think I did the right thing.” For a long time, Pink has felt she has been misunderstood. She says that “life” was her inspiration for her recent album, Missundazstood! and also says, “I think we all feel misunderstood, and our main goal is to be appreciated for all that we are–most of the time we don’t even understand ourselves.” Pink encourages us to be ourselves and not to worry about being labelled.
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“Just wait,” she says, “Give it a couple of years, then it won’t matter. Because no matter what label they give you, the best thing you can do is prove them wrong.” Well, I was always considered butch. So a “girl like me” is someone who doesn’t rest on her looks, who has had people tell me from day one, “You’re never going to get magazine covers because you’re not pretty enough.” I’m totally comfortable with that. I know my strong points: I work hard, I have talent, I’m funny, and I’m a good person.
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So what makes me feel beautiful?
When I’m fit and healthy. When I get out of the shower and my skin looks okay and my teeth look sort of white, I feel like I didn’t eat too much pizza the night before, and I can see sort of a line I used to have in my stomach. I’m not a hard sell these days. Well, hanging upside down and being physical
makes me feel beautiful. Feeling beautiful to me is when I feel good in my leather pants and my husband grabs my ass. Or when I’m sitting on a mat and my daughter runs to me with complete joy. Beautiful has never been my goal.
Joy is my goal-to feel healthy and strong and powerful and useful and engaged and intelligent and in love. It’s about joy. And there’s such joy now.
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Time
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4 Things Pink Learned in Couples Therapy
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Scre w con fear, i t’s tagi Infe ous ctin It m g eve a r stup kes me ything id, s do s uch I say tupi d mea things I stuff n nev Wh er at ex actl thin y do k I Wh ? o am If I I pr fa o my ll it’ll b tecting face low ? up i Tha n t’s ju st cr azy I’m deli sens cate, I’m it Plea ive s e tr care y ful to be m ore
Rule #1: Marriage is a 100-percent commitment. “You can’t have one foot in and one foot out,” says Pink. “You have to dive in and be willing to be executed at the stake for the love you want.”
You ’r luna e mean , yo t u’re Let’s ic a fun try to m agai n ake this It’s o n awa ly love y , giv e it (It’s o You nly lov e) ’l back l proba agai bly ge n t it (It’s o It’s s nly lov e) im thin ple, it ’s a s g illy Thr ow i t boo m away I wi erang like a sh ligh we all ten cou ld It’s o up nly time love bom , not a b
Rule #2: Fighting can be a good thing... “I think it’s really bad when a couple retreats to their sides of the dinner table and have nothing to say to each other,” says Pink. “So there have been times where I’m like, As long as I can get Carey to bite, even if he’s angry, [it means he] still cares. When you become silent and give up, you’re doomed. We did that [in 2008]. We became silent, and we broke up.” Rule #3: ...but only when there’s a goal in sight. “When my parents screamed, they never resolved anything,” Pink says. “I knew how to walk away when I met Carey. I knew how to tell him to f--- off. But I didn’t know how to sit at a table and actually work through something. Now we’re really good at that.”
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s ight n t s la from d it e tir rted eaks a t I’m s n’t t r sp figh h I had y fea m s I wi e when t a Ih e t sty m me na ld star r o f u s ake e co n It m ught w whe o s h y t I da the in aga ack to iends me r b fr Go lt like ious fo ty r e l i f e we l too s I’m gu al It’s I know son poi e fire And d th s an tick add to s h c I r Mat s what frozen to a lia ’ t t Tha ear, I’m a sain d My ed from ay n it aw e Tur v , gi love ) y l e on It’s nly lov o (It’s l ’l You
ain ck g a b et it ly g e) b a ing g b pro nly lov a silly th omeran o o ’s s (It’ ple, it like a b en up im y ht It’s s it awa uld lig bomb o w e c Thro we all ot a tim h n s I wi ly love n ious o prec s It’s e b t to tres wan to feel s t ’ n I do t want n’ , I do ving i l e r th ell is fo ng h Life ot a livi n But e it e ak of m l l a So t this have Take ou can y Oh, it e Tak this Take you can e, Her
ss g thin e flawle s to y r e ev ob cut have t want t ant the ’ n I do I go I w n e Wh w sho e it me ak ll of a So t this e hav Take ou can y Oh, it ng k ythi a r e v Bre it e ave Take ck it, h ay fu it aw Oh, e v i ain ve, g k ag ly lo e) c a n b o It’s nly lov get it ly o (It’s probab l l ) ’ You nly love o (It’s
R u l e #4 (this one’s from Carey): Learn to accept your spouse for who he or she is as a person. “Look, it’s completely flattering that she’s writing songs about me, calling me a tool and selling millions of albums doing it,” says Carey. “I think it’s pretty special to be the muse--it’s the good, the bad, the ugly. I wouldn’t expect anything else. That’s why I love her, and why we’re together.”
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hing ng illy t omera s a bo it’s ple, y like a hten up m i s b lig awa It’s w it ll could ime bom o r a Th we at not sh I wi ly love n ) It’s o nly love ing ) o g e (It’s nly lov a silly th omeran o o ’s (It’s ple, it like a b en up im y ht It’s s it awa uld lig bomb o w e c Thro we all ot a tim h n s i e I w ly lov n It’s o
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Today, Kate talks about speaking up and out, the cookie-cutter pop star. I’d feel wrong doing that because I would be like, “This isn’t me. Why am I thriving in an industry that doesn’t necessarily doing this? I feel like shit. I feel fake. I don’t like it. have space for her, and finding new purpose and I feel really confused. What is songwriting? What is connection to her body. art? What am I doing?” That is where my head goes When you’re writing a song with political when I’m trying to write something that isn’t true It’s content, do you think about it beforehand? Do to me h a rd you think about whether or not people will in the Whereas, with “Agenda, ” the beat was going, talk about it or share it? m u s i c and I wrote it in a few minutes. That feels very I just don’t care. I have a song on my second natural to me. industry to album called “Mansion Song” and it’s not feel like really aggressive punk poetry. Loads of You would prefer to say what you want to you’re constantly people told me not to put it on my album say and not be successful, rather than failing. I know I’m not and I was like, “No, I really want it be really successful saying a bunch of alone in that. on here; it’s really important to bullshit. me,” and I didn’t really think Yeah, I want to succeed, but it doesn’t That’s basically how every about the consequences. I feel like a choice to me. It feels so band and artist feels—even the just kind of DON’T. I think I wrong and depressing, and I feel biggest ones you wouldn’t believe. have that inside me where like I’m peeling my skin off to be The industry makes you feel like that, I just wanna fuck shit up something I’m not. I can’t do it. because they have more control. But it’s a little bit. I think people I’ve tried. really important to enjoy the moments that SHOULD do that. you have and the success you have because we’re I don’t know what it is yet mostly just like, “I’m not good enough. I’m not here yet, I think people like me because my life is about and I haven’t got this,” and that’s my biggest battle, because I don’t worry to change with GLOW trying to appreciate what I’ve got. That’s probably just about that. That’s coming up. life in general. I’m trying to stay comfortable with the my appeal. I’m not I fact that I don’t really know where I exist in terms So, I’m floating in a have of what kind of artist I’m seen as or I am. But weird spot. had girls I keep doing my own thing and working hard say to me, “I and trying to enjoy what’s happening. wanna call myself a Have you noticed people staying feminist, but I wanna be away from a political or able to do other things,” and I’m social issue in the like, “Okay, do you want me to show you past?’ a dictionary because it’s not like I’m asking you to join a sorority or the army.” A lot of people didn’t want to collaborate with me on things because I was too aggressive. Now that we’ve had Beyoncé and Taylor Swift say “I’m a feminist” or Beyoncé standing with “feminist” behind her, that’s huge. I was in Topshop and there was a shirt that said “feminist!” When I was talking about feminism in 2007, not many people in the pop world were. I had journalists tell me that I was the only one that would talk to them about feminism. It was not cool to be associated with.
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Let’s talk about GLOW. I’m really excited about GLOW coming out for lots of reasons. It’s an amazing show, it tells the stories of these women really well, and it’s addressing a lot of issues in the wrestling community, Fo r which there’s still A LOT of racism and sexism. But [GLOW] also understands the power of me it’s wrestling and the culture, how amazing it is, and how empowered it makes people. been such a You can be like, “Yeah, the world is fucked and I’m angry about this,” but when journey to learn you’re only driven by anxiety and anger it gets you to a certain point how I really feel about where you start to hurt yourself. I think GLOW is coming at the myself, which isn’t that good. perfect time. People need something to feel good about. You need I work really hard on trying to feel to inject some positivity into your life to be able to keep good about myself, but I realize how fighting the battles. It can’t always be doom and gloom. insecure I am about things and wrestling helped me with some of that and empowered me. I’m excited for this show to give people I wanted to look like a good wrestler; I wasn’t just escapism and empowerment. I’m worried about looking good. I wanted to look like a genuine especially excited for women wrestler. I had to keep my partner safe. I had to learn the moves. to see women using their I had to flip. I needed to learn to do it all safely and make it look good. bodies in such an empowering way. It made me feel really excited about my body because I was using it instead of just criticizing it.
I don’t necessarily recommend every young girl goes out and tries to wrestle because it is very hard on the body, but finding something that gives you a purpose with your body. Even just going on the journey with the characters will be really cool because I think we’re so held back by how shitty we feel about ourselves, if we’re really honest. I also think the world doesn’t want you to look like a wrestler. So, it’s hard to feel convinced. Like, maybe I want to be a wrestler, but no one is gonna like me —a nd girls are taught to not take up space, to make themselves smaller. It’s literally not ladylike to be big and strong. But I’ve always been kind of a big person. I take up a lot of space. I feel big in spaces. I’ve got big feet. I’ve got big hands. I’ve got big shoulders. I’ve never been able to sit somewhere and feel invisible and it’s nice to embrace that. Like, I’m big and that’s good because I have strong feet and that’s gonna help me with wrestling. All of the women are so vulnerable in he show, the men too. Everyone on the show was vulnerable and exposed themselves and really went out for something. I think it’s a really empowering show. Glow is available to stream on Netflix.
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20. The Ronettes, Presenting the Fabulous 16. Fleetwood Mac Ronettes Featuring Veronica (Philles Records, 1964) Rumours (Warner Bros., 1977) “Be My Baby” with its heartthumping kick drum, plaintive whoah-oh-oh’s and dense production courtesy of Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound.This is what passion sounds like, when transcends the capacity of language. —Alison Fensterstock
19. Selena Amor Prohibido (EMI Latin, 1994) When “Bidi Bidi Bom Bom” cme on floors would tremble when this song came on as everyone was pulled to the dance floor. She didn’t break barriers with this album as much as she tore them down.—Jessica Diaz-Hurtado
18. Lucinda Williams Car Wheels On A Gravel Road (Mercury, 1998) Tracks like “Can’t Let Go” and “Right In Time” solidified Lucinda’s position as one of the best American songwriters of our time, thanks in part to her talents for capturing granular slices of life, delivering them with a poet’s eye and a craggy, world-weary voice. —Jessie Scott
17. Janet Jackson Control (A&M, 1986)
The album took on important issues such as sexual harassment, safe sex and abstinence, and we sang right along with her. —Tanya Ballard Brown
S o Fa r. . .
It’s personal, relatable, and because it captures the whole scope of a romantic experience, from new love through breakups and back again, it’s a mainstay. —Sarah Handel
15. Diana Ross and the Supremes Where Did Our Love Go (Motown, 1964) Where Did Our Love Go captures The Supremes in that tender moment between finding their footing as a “girl group” and rocketing to superstardom; by the end of the decade, they would be Motown’s best-selling act. —Andrea Swensson
14. Whitney Houston Whitney Houston (Arista, 1985) It’s chock full of Whitney classics, including the lovelorn ballad “All At Once” and the breezy “Saving All My Love for You.” Like her 1992 hit version of Dolly Parton’s, “I Will Always Love You,” this song is a cover that Whitney made a signature. — Nina Gregory
13. Madonna Like a Prayer (Sire, 1989) Through interweaving gospel, funk, soul and pop, the album’s songs raise questions about religion, sexuality, gender equality and interdependence. This album led the way for a new generation top female pop stars to express themselves. — Laura Sydell
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...
12. Erykah Badu Baduizm (Universal, 1997) Erykah Badu is not afraid to repeat herself. She sings like she’s having a conversation that might go on forever, accidentally. For Badu, if there’s a thought worth articulating, it’s worth ruminating. —Leah Donnella
11. Dolly Parton Coat Of Many Colors (RCA Records, 1971) On this album she laid out more of her musical template. She was, it would become clear, a splashy, savvy, broadly appealing complete package like neither the country nor pop worlds had seen. —Jewly Hight
10. Carole King Tapestry (Ode, 1971) With Tapestry, Carole King cemented her place as one of the key architects of 20th-century popular music. Here, she fully claims the spotlight, not only as a top-notch composer, but as a deeply soulful lyricist and singer. — Jill Sternheimer
9. Amy Winehouse Back To Black (Island, 2006) Funk and R&B grooves snapped through a post-breakbeat filter; her lyrics about lost love and selfdestructive habits pulled zero punches; her delivery came fluid as exhaled cigarette smoke. — Rachel Horn
8. Janis Joplin Pearl (Columbia, 1971) It was her high point, and tragically, she didn’t live to see it. Janis had put the band together and approved all the songs. And she called the shots. Pearl hit No. 1 on the charts, making Janis Joplin one of rock’s most successful artists. — Rita Houston
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7. Patti Smith Horses (Arista, 1975) Horses is confrontational, defiant and completely unafraid of the ugly. It was her unfiltered, fearless singularity that galvanized believers in the Church of Smith not to become more like her but to become more like themselves. For that, we owe Smith everything. —Talia Schlanger
6. Beyoncé Lemonade (Parkwood/Columbia, 2016) Pop music has very rarely sprung from the mind or talent of a single auteur, but few solo artists have conceived of collaboration in as wide-ranging, or dimension-shifting, a way as Beyoncé has on this project — she is the one most definitely in command. —Anastasia Tsioulcas
5. Missy Elliott Supa Dupa Fly (The Goldmind/Elektra, 1997) This album dismantled the hip-hop boy’s club. Elliott knew her music was groundbreaking and reminded us throughout the record with her boisterous lyrics. She didn’t just change the scope on sexy and gangster: The genres bended to her liking. —Stasia Irons
4. Aretha Franklin I Never Loved a Man The Way I Love You (Atlantic, 1967) It’s personal, relatable, and because it captures the whole scope of a romantic experience, from new love through breakups and back again, it’s a mainstay. —Sarah Handel
3. Nina Simone I Put A Spell on You (Philips, 1965) Nina Simone knew her own power. Not only did she cover the song “I Put A Spell on You,” but she also used it as the title of her autobiography. In Simone’s hands, it became something more, a kind of simmering sorcery. —Audie Cornish
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2. Lauryn Hill The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (Ruffhouse/Columbia, 1998) The Fugees struck gold in the late 1990s with albums like The Score, a feat that also made their resident wordsmith, Lauryn Hill, a household name. But when Hill went out on her own two years later and dropped her debut, the neo-soul masterpiece The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, she schooled everyone all over again in new and necessary ways. In it, Hill refuses to shy away from topics often left unspoken, injecting classroom love lesson interludes and hard-hitting lyrics about how money changes people in the banger “Lost Ones.” Then there’s the cautionary tale “Doo Wop (That Thing),” a bold song that unpacked sexual politics and not only scored Hill two Grammys, but also earned her the distinction of becoming the first woman since Debbie Gibson (with 1988’s “Foolish Beat”) to have a song that she simultaneously wrote, recorded and produced soar to the top of the Billboard charts. And that’s just one song on The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. The album, rife with Hill’s biting rhymes and sharp turns of phrase, is a wonder from start to finish. It’s further proof that, yes, women absolutely can — and will continue — to have it all. —Paula Mejia
1. Joni Mitchell Blue (Reprise, 1971) After nearly fifty years, Blue remains the clearest and most animated musical map to the new world that women traced, sometimes invisibly, within their daily lives in the aftermath of the utopian, dream-crushing 1960s. It is a record full of love songs, of sad songs; but more than that, it is a compendium of reasonable demands that too many men in too many women’s lives heard, in 1971, as pipe dreams or outrageous follies. “All I really, really want our love to do, is to bring out the best in me and in you, too,” Mitchell sang to an elusive partner on the album’s first track. That line, like so many of the melodic and lyrical gestures throughout Blue, is simple, but so radical. With the counterculture collapsing under the weight of its machismo-driven mythologies, women pushed forward with calls to imagine genuine equality in real life — in the private places where love and art is made. Blue articulates that demand and its effects more clearly than any other work of art. Musically, it reflects Mitchell’s belief in what she’s called “the feminine appetite for intimacy,” with her nearly naked guitar playing, Appalachian dulcimer and occasional piano dominating the mix. Yet its rhythms and unexpected flights of melody also reveal Mitchell’s movement toward the deeper improvisational waters of jazz, a sonic illustration for her love of crossing lines, the “white lines of the highway” or the generic ones of the recording studio. Lyrically Blue communicates both the cool of Joan Didion and the rawness of Sylvia Plath, and reminds us that emotional writing is only powerful when it is punishingly precise. The way Mitchell made the album was also revolutionary: She produced the sessions herself, directing a small band that included rival/peers like James Taylor (one of several lovers honored and exposed by her observations) and Stephen Stills. Mitchell would travel much farther on the lonely road she identifies in “All I Want,” but Blue is her crossroads, where she bests her devils and invents a mode of expression that every singer-songwriter must master, but none can truly imitate. —Ann Powers
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