Audio CD review:
Janis Ian - God & the FBI

Janis Ian - God & the FBI

Band: Janis Ian Title: God & the FBI Rating: Release Date: 2000-03-21 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: God & The FBI 2: On the Other Side 3: Memphis 4: Jolene 5: When You Love Someone 6: Play Like a Girl 7: Days Like These 8: Boots Like Emmy Lou's 9: She Must Be Beautiful 10: The Last Comeback 11: Murdering Stravinsky

Lose The Gimmicks! Get AFTERTONES or BREAKING SILENCE if you want the real deal. Janis-sure liked you a lot better when you were more stripped down musically! Far too much studio wizardry on this one, especially on tracks like the title song. Society's Child grows up and develops for the year 2000 " The new CD features a blues twinged " God and The FBI" as its opening track. Janis Ian is back and has released one of her best works since "At Seventeen" and "Society's Child. This song tells a story about Janis' own experience with the FBI. On " Boot's like Emmylou's" Janis sings about Emmylou Harris. My favorite songs are " The Last Comeback" a song about losing fame, and "Murdering Stravinsky" an excellant avante garde piece. Janis's new cd is amazing and presents many unreal musical ideas. The truth at 17 God and the FBI is a staggeringly good piece of work, with Janis' voice a virtuoso instrument easily encompassing the varying styles, from the haunting passion of She must be Beautiful to the electric insistence of When you love Someone, I was captivated anew. The truth I learned at 17 was that Janis Ian was going to a formidable musical force in my life, through re-invention and resurgence she has been with me for over thirty years and still she has the power to surprise. The Last Comeback, hopefully not a prophesy, is a powerhouse singalong with a darker undercurrent. The playful "Boots like EmmyLou" a poke in the eye for those who insist that Janis has no sense of humour. Jolene and Murdering Stravinsky are commercial, upbeat winners and this whole CD will be on my favoutites list for a long time. If you don't know her work, this is a hell of an introduction. A Musical Jewel Her music here is upbeat, witty, ecclectic and very singable. What really can I say that other reviewers on this site haven't already? I have been a fan of Janis Ian for some time and I must say this is the best since Between the Lines in 1975. Of note among the tracks are the title track, Jolene, and Memphis. Of course, it's not just the music that is well-crafted, but the lyrics show her normal clever turn-of-phrases and talent for lyric writing. I would recommend this to ANY Janis Ian fan and anyone who would like a relaxing CD. Janis Ian's surprise - one of the years best pop CD's! I had found her earlier music self-righteously liberal. I was pleasantly surprised to learn a CD I heard in a store was by an artist that, well, I had never liked, Janis Ian. "God and the FBI" is one of the best crafted album of the new millennium, a grab bag of musical styles. The more you listen the better it gets. The lead off title song "God and the FBI" is the best song on the album, reminiscent of Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" with a funkier beat, and similar subject matter, evokes the paranoia of the 60's, but with a tongue-in-cheek sense of humor. Janis' lead guitar player even sneaks in a few notes from "Purple Haze"! The album is uniformly tuneful with a complex, many layered production. All sorts of sneaky stuff in the sides and background! As is stated below, Janis pokes gentle fun at Emmie Lou Harris's rhinestone boots and Hummingbird guitar. Sings an eerie first-person song about a hero who saved a group of children and we come to find is a ghost. A pean to obsessive love "When you Love Someone" has a whisper chorus like The Doors "Riders on the Storm". The album meanders through the vast variety of styles with its center of gravity in folk rock and country and end with the "Stravinsky" song and layered voices coming at you from different directions like the end of the Beatles "Good Day, Sunshine". Janis Ian's voice occationally sounds like Sarah McLaughlin. She manages to maintain her sense of humour and perspective throughout. Deserves a lot of airplay. If you've written off Janis Ian before, you will be really surprised. MY Rating - Four and 1/2 stars - the best music Janis Ian has ever done. You can see a complete list of all Janis Ian discography, or go back to the Janis Ian tabs