[r-enter-ested]

I received my CD-copy of Divers in the mail the other day.

I took it out of it's wrapper. I copied the songs onto my laptop.

I read the "credits" in the back of the booklet and looked at the exquisite artwork on each song page.

Now, I have to find a reason to listen to the CD.

I did such a thing when I bought Ys. I posted somewhere, I think livejournal, the exact events that led to my first listen to that CD.

[under a CPell]

Well, it seems to me the only reason you need to enter the realm of Divers is to be intèrested in Joanna's music...

[Steve]

My experience was that the CD came in the morning, just as I was going out, and I didn't get the chance to listen until the next day.

I delayed the moment until about 36 hours after I received it. I'm not sure if it was an effort to prolong that wonderful anticipation, or a slight fear that I'd be disappointed that Divers wouldn't live up to the first three albums.

When I did listen for the first time, I must admit that i was a bit underwhelmed. However, this has happened before with Joanna (not with MEM, but certainly with HOOM and even with Ys! ). With any other artist, that might have been that - CD filed away rarely if ever to be dusted off againn. But this is Joanna, after all, so I listened again and again, and gradually the intriguing fragments in her songs began to coalesce into a wonderful whole, that I now listen to - I mean really listen: lights off, good headset, no TV, no distractions - almost every day.

I still believe Ys is her masterpiece to date, though I'll sometimes skip M&B. HOOM is magical, but You & Me Bess and No Provenance have yet to reveal themselves to me. For that reason, now that I've appreciated the slow-burners (Same Old Man, Leaving The City, Time As A Symptom) I am daring to suggest that Divers is her most consistent album since MEM which also consist entirely of engaging tracks. No, I haven't forgotten Three Little Babes, I just happen to be the one who enjoys it.

And Divers (the song) could now be right up there with Only Skin and En Gallop among my very favourites.

I tried to copy the new cd to my hard drive, but for some reason it has not been possible to do that (some kind of protection? And I got it from Drag City, so no free Amazon mp3s to download), so I burned several copies of and have put them in different places around the house so I can always listen to a song or two, wherever I am.

[r-enter-ested]

[r-enter-ested]

[r-enter-ested]

Well, I listened to the first 6 or 7 tracks before I stopped.

My opinion of it--my reaction to it--is the first of its kind to anything of her official releases I've heard by her. (I have not heard, <i>Joanna Newsom & The Ys Street Band E.P.</i>)

[under a CPell]

When I "ripped" my CD the writing was all in Japanese! And although I changed the titles to the original English ones, on my MP3-player they still are in Japanese. So the only song I recognise is Waltz, because that has a number in the title, which was not translated.

I can't see what image you posted, r-enter-ested, I hope your experience was positive...

[Jordan~]

Were the vocals also in Japanese? If so, that disc is haunted.

[Steve]

I started with the Windows Media Player about 10 years ago, but then I discovered MediaMonkey which blew it away. I've little doubt that MediaMonkey was the finest such application available (even in its free version). I did lots of reading on the topic which seemed to bear this out.
Ately I've found it has become rather crochetty, but it's adherents still love it and it's possible that the reasons I'm havIng problems with it is that I haven't updated my hardware or my Windows for quite a while.

[Steve]

I am guessing by the tone of r-enter-ested's post (and the fact that he stopped) that he wasn't enjoying it. I could be wrong because the picture looks lovely, but I guess even people with lovely faces need to have an expression that says "indifferent", and perhaps this is hers.
As I said in my earlier post, my opinions on this album took several listens to form. Does that mean I forced myself to like it? I'd say 'no': it was just that the brain (well mine anyway) struggled to process its odd mix of conventionality and eccentricity while still learning the tunes (many of them quite angular) and to appreciate the unusual production. But whether my ultimate opinion was an induced delivery or not, it's a very genuine one now, and despite being surrounded by a very large choice of music, it's Divers that I find myself returning to almost every time I want to listen to something.

My advice: Give it another 2 or 3 tries, r-enter-Ested. And don't try reading along with the lyric book. If you want to read the words, do so on silence, and then listen to the music with eyes closed, so that your mind can assimilate each element fully and without distraction.

[r-enter-ested]

[Steve]

It was interesting to look back on the postings I made earlier in this thread, as I am currently feeling like I am appreciating Same Old Man and You Will Not Take My Heart Alive for the first time.

I've always believed SOM was the perfect comedown from the title track of Divers, but I'm now enjoying it's delicate beauty more and more. on top of that, the sustained 'drone' note gets under my skin in a good way. Effective use of drone is one of the reasons I admire John Cale so much, and Joanna has nailed it here. I also had a listen to Karen Dalton's version of this old song. At first I disliked it very much: the way her voice falls away I found irritating, compared to Joanna's more even delivery. But I did like the Asian-Indian flavour to her instrumentation, and I can see that Dalton also had the drone going on.

As for YWNTMHA, I now feel that this provides a perfect link between SOM and the final two songs.