The Hissing of Summer Lawns

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Hissing of Summer Lawns
Studio album by Joni Mitchell

Publication
(s)

1975

admission

1975

Label (s) Asylum Records

Format (s)

LP, CD

Genre (s)

Folk , jazz

Title (number)

10

running time

42:34

occupation

production

Joni Mitchell

Studio (s)

A&M Studios

Location (s)

Hollywood

chronology
Miles of Aisles
(1974) 		The Hissing of Summer Lawns Hejira
(1976)

The Hissing of Summer Lawns is Joni Mitchell's seventh studio album , released in 1975.

Songs

The first track, In France They Kiss on Main Street, is a somewhat jazzy rock song about growing up in a small town in the rock and roll era of the 1950s. The Jungle Line uses a field recording from Africa by the Royal Drummers of Burundi ( called Warrior Drums in the record text ), over which vocals and instruments are laid.

The jazzy Edith and the Kingpin tells about Edith, the new gangster bride in a small town. Don't Interrupt the Sorrow is an acoustic song about women who assert themselves against male dominance. Shades of Scarlett Conquering is an orchestral piece about a Southern beauty whose life is based on the stereotypes of Scarlett O'Hara from Gone With the Wind .

The title track The Hissing of Summer Lawns is about a woman who chooses to stay in a marriage in which she is treated as part of her husband. The Boho Dance comments on people who feel that artists are betraying their artistic integrity for commercial success.

Harry's House / Centerpiece addresses the failure of marriage and loneliness in modern life, and frames the 1958 jazz standard centerpiece by Harry Edison and Jon Hendricks . Sweet Bird is a more economical acoustic track in the older style of Mitchell, which deals with the loss of beauty with age. The final track, Shadows and Light, consists of choir-like overlays of her voice and a synthesizer .

Album cover

The album cover alludes to the African theme of The Jungle Line , with a picture of Africans carrying a large snake. Both men and snakes are layered in the Beverly Hills suburbs, and Mitchell's own house is highlighted in blue on the back (green in the UK edition).

reception

The album was initially heavily criticized. In Rolling Stone, Stephen Holden wrote that the album's lyrics were impressive, but the music a failure:

"If The Hissing of Summer Lawns has a lot of literature, there will hardly be any essential music ... Four members of Tom Scott's LA Express can be seen on Hissing, but their uninspired jazz-rock style completely contradicts Mitchell's romantic style ... The Hissing of Summer Lawns is ultimately a great collection of pop poetry with a distracting soundtrack. Read it first. Then play it. "

- Stephen Holden

However, the record's reputation has grown in importance over the years. Music writer Howard Sounes has named the album a Mitchell masterpiece, "an LP that goes next to Blood on the Tracks". Prince , who was a fan of Mitchell, loved the album and extolled it in interviews.

Mitchell was nominated for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for the album at the 1977 Grammy Awards .

The album was in Robert Dimery's 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die .

Track list

All titles are by Joni Mitchell unless otherwise noted.

Page 1:

  1. In France They Kiss on Main Street - 3:19
  2. The Jungle Line - 4:25
  3. Edith and the Kingpin - 3:38
  4. Don't Interrupt the Sorrow - 4:05
  5. Shades of Scarlett Conquering - 4:59

Page 2:

  1. The Hissing of Summer Lawns - Joni Mitchell, John Guerin - 3:01
  2. The Boho Dance - 3:48
  3. Harry's House; Centerpiece - Joni Mitchell; Jon Hendricks , Harry Edison ( Centerpiece ) - 6:48
  4. Sweet Bird - 4:12
  5. Shadows and Light - 4:19

Musician

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b The Hissing Of Summer Lawns ( Memento from January 24, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ Howard Sounes: Seventies: The Sights, Sounds and Ideas of a Brilliant Decade. New York: Simon & Schuster Ltd. 2006, p. 244. ISBN 0743268598 .
  3. ↑ cbc.ca: Prince loved Toronto and these 5 Toronto women
  4. ↑ Robert Dimery: 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. Cassell Publishing, London 2013, p. 323. ISBN 1844037355 .