Janis Ian

Janis Ian was always one of the most perceptive and thought-provoking of the folk singers that proliferated in the mid-sixties and seventies. Alongside the likes of Dory Previn, Laura Nyro and Melanie she wrote songs that didn’t just appeal to but taught life skills to the unaffected and Bedsit Lonely. Her music was also rather special and she attracted the likes of Jerry Wexler and ‘Shadow’ Morton to involve themselves in her music.

Listening to her in 2010 her voice is no less plaintive and her music – largely due to the quality of the playing and the simplicity of production – has not aged at all. She wrote great songs 40 years ago and they are as relevant and as honest today as they were then.

The three albums covered in these two releases contain her biggest ‘hits’ – ‘At Seventeen’, ‘Sweet Sympathy’, ‘Boy I Really Tied One On’ and ‘Tea & Sympathy’ – but there is also a hell of a lot more in her music and the live numbers that accompany these albums show a remarkable ability to understand and to be at one with her audience.

On all three albums her guitar playing is simple and there to support the lyrics and it is in the lyrics that she hits right, deep in the belly by drawing out emotions and feelings that youy forgot were there in the first place.

Of the three I would say that ‘Between The Lines’ is absolutely essential but the ‘Stars/Aftertones’ pairing is hardly less crucial. She was then – and is now – a wonderful talent and these should be on the shelves of any discerning collection; bedsit lonely or not.