Janis Ian – “Between the Lines
Don’t be fooled by how rough looking the sleeve looks, this is one of those records that I was lucky enough to find myself a nice clean copy. But, the true lucky people were the ones who got to see Janis Ian as the very first musical guest on Saturday Night Live in 1975.
The album opens with “When the Party’s Over” and we get some nice acoustic guitar and a little bass before Janis begins to sing, and the first time I heard Janis (I have the box set of the first five seasons of Saturday Night Live) her lyrics left be kind of perplexed, but intrigued – I wanted to, and I needed to hear more from her. Her voice is one of the most beautiful voices of her generation. Next we continue with her emotional ballad, “At Seventeen” – it’s a deep and personal song, I know it was inspired by a girl who thought her life would improve after a debutante ball, and it did not, but it’s also a song about high school and what I feel like is about not exactly fitting in. The song is delivered beautifully over a samba guitar, with a flugelhorn. “From Me to You” comes and we continue with her stunning vocals, and these wonderfully written songs. It does have a nice build up, as Janis gives a great performance. “Bright Lights and Promises” opens with Janis’ soft vocals, she is accompanied by a piano, and every so often this song seems to go into an almost Jazz-like tone for a moment or two before she continues with her beautiful vocals. “In the Winter” comes next, and much like “At Seventeen” I first heard it on Saturday Night Live, and this song when I first heard it I didn’t quite understand it but I loved what I heard, the delivery and the build up to the chorus is absolutely fantastic. To my understanding, it is a song about someone involved in an affair. The chorus is the absolute pinnacle of greatness, and a key example of why there was just so much fantastic music being released in 1975. “Watercolors” closes out the A-Side, and it’s a softer, quieter song, but it is just delivered with such powerful emotion. It’s an excellent way to close out the A-Side. We get a little violin playing us out.
The B-Side opens with the title track, “Between the Lines” and we get some soft piano playing, accompanied by some bass playing before Janis comes in with her vocals, quietly slowly bringing the volume up as we get more of the backing musicianship. The tempo picks up and it takes a slightly different turn then what we’ve heard so far on the album, the song quiets down again before picking up once more. It’s great. Very great. “The Come On” follows next, and we go back to that quiet tone as Janis sings over an acoustic guitar. “Light a Light” comes next, and we get a bit more volume on this one, I do love when Janis sings a bit louder, her soft vocals are great, but the way she hits the higher notes is something of beauty. The harmony vocals on this one blew me away, they’re quite good. “Tea & Sympathy” come next, and we go back down to this calm instrumentalization, and Janis joins in with her vocals and she sings every song with such a sad emotion to her voice, it draws you in just because of how beautiful her voice is. The album closes out with “Lover’s Lullaby” which is a great way to close out the album, because it’s soft and quiet, much like a lullaby, and it’s great, especially the harmony vocals. I’m only slightly disappointed that the harmony vocals on really come in on the B-Side and near the end. Oh well, still a great album.
Catalog Number:
PC 33394
Credits:
Producer – Brooks Arthur
Percussion – Barry Lazarowitz
Bass – Richard Davis & Don Payne
Photography – Peter Cunningham
Soloists – Phil Bodner, Burt Collins, Sal De Troia, Russell George, Al Gorgoni, Janis Ian, Ken Kosak, Alan Raph & George Rocci
Released:
1975
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