Audio CD review:
Janis Ian - Uncle Wonderful

Janis Ian - Uncle Wonderful

Band: Janis Ian Title: Uncle Wonderful Rating: Release Date: 1996-06-11 Media: Audio CD Tracks:

Invite the Callused Mind This Australian release from 20 years ago retains Ian's classic spunk, while being rooted in the 80's era. "Uncle Wonderful" is certainly a different CD from most of Janis Ian's work. "Just A Girl" is about as close to a Janis Ian disco track as you're likely to hear, which means it isn't exactly disco, but it certainly has the beat and an exuberant arrangement. "Uncle Wonderful" is a catchy little tune about sexual abuse with a blues progression and an aching Ian vocal, "My eyes invite the calloused mind. My thighs excite like newly-ripened wine. I take their lust & swallow fast. " -- Perhaps tacky, certainly sad, powerful & unlike much of the rest of the Ian canon. "Why Can't I" is a slow snaking ballad with Janis' fully-committed vocals, "I miss you even when you're near, you're leaving, pouring out tears; If hope tries to fight the rest of time, why can't you & I?" "Body Slave" is a real timepiece, throbbing relentlessly like a lost soul on an 80s dancefloor. "Hit You With the Guilt" is more full-blooded Ian disco, sounding a bit like Janis sings the Bee Gees (but well done, mind you!). "Sniper of the Heart" is a peppy tango-rhythm track with Janis singing up & down the scales faster than Britney Spears on a diet. "This Night" is a rare male-female love tune that Janis sings powerfully; it is a gorgeous melody and a beautiful vocal performance. The CD concludes with "Mechanical Telephone," an unusual Charles Ives-like song construction that is the artiest piece on the disc. "Uncle Wonderful" is really a very good collection, mostly upbeat, with Janis' sterling musicianship. She must have been working without a net for this set, which may be why it never made it Stateside. Seek & you shall find! Enjoy! . Janis's "red' period Lyrically, it's hardly a departure at all from what we're used to from Janis. I happen to think Uncle is a strong work, impaired only occasionally by some techno-pop arrangements. (I disagree with the reviewer from Seattle who found it difficult to believe Janis could have made this album. ) It features some excellent musicians, and Brooks Arthur (Stars, Between the Lines) co-produced with Janis. "Mechanical Telephone" is brilliant, and my favorite track. It picks up where "Between the Lines" (the song) left off. You can't get more "Janis" than: Now we rarely talk alone / We usually speak in groups / to the people you invite / for the theatre and a bite / who are used to you. -or- Bet you thought I'd be an easy lay / I bet you thought I lived alone / hungry for the vision and the afterplay / I've had better times alone. As for some of the arrangements, they're not my favorite either, but you have to remember the time during which this was recorded. Popular music was undergoing a major transformation in the early-mid '80s, and it's reflected here. For me, finally, all the songs here connect to other Janis Ian songs, and to the characters who inhabit them. For example: the 'she' in "Just a Girl" appears again as 'I' in "Play Like a Girl" (God & the FBI). The sick, sad characters in the song "Uncle Wonderful" revisit us in "Breaking Silence" (the song). The ugly duckling girl in "At Seventeen" reappears years later as the self-doubting dreamer in "This Night". Finding these people again, anywhere, having somehow survived, is something to treasure. 'uncle' IS wonderful So it's not like any other Janis Ian album? Who cares -- in fact that makes me like it all the more. I've been a big Janis Ian fan for over 25 years, but this album is so obscure even I hadn't heard about it until over ten years after its release (it was originally released only in Australia and was, according to Janis Ian's website, recorded for a film project). Uncle is different, with a harder edge than most of her work. You might call it urban pop or dance, it even has an outright disco song, Body Slave. Heart Skip Too Many Beats was written with the late Dan Hartman and is a catchy, bouncy dance tune. Perhaps best are the title song and Mechanical Telephone, two dark, semi-sardonic portraits of people on the edge -- the first being street hustlers and the second most likely Janis herself, who was involved at the time in what she has since revealed was an abusive marriage. It's hard to believe that the creator of Between the Lines also created Uncle Wonderful. That's not a criticism of Uncle, but it is so different than Ian's best-known work that you can't help but be stunned. Count me as a fan of this offbeat, beat-heavy pop music experiment. Uncle not-so-wonderful I've played it over and over and gotten comfortable with some of the songs, but overall it just doesn't fit Janis' usual style. I can't believe I've rated a Janis Ian recording at a 3 star! This album, however, is very different. "Uncle Wonderful' is a preview of two tracks regarding abuse on her more recent album 'Breaking Silence': "His Hands" and "Breaking Silence". The year it came out was 1985,when Janis' career, personal life and health were in dire straits. She even looks different. "This Night" is a teen angst song, other than that I can't bring myself to really enjoy the songs. They are technically fine, just not the Ian I'm used to. You can see a complete list of all Janis Ian discography, or go back to the Janis Ian tabs