The latest album from septuagenarian Janis Ian is, as you’d expect, a thing of great beauty. The years from ‘Seventeen’ to seventy may have flown by, as she reflects on over five decades of her gifted songwriting.
She has a sign above her workspace at home, she says, that reminds her not to be held hostage by her legacy. The beauty of ageing disgracefully is the right not to give a damn, quite frankly, and in this brilliant new album, we find Ian in her best reflective, introspective mode – with a delicious dose of resistance and rebelliousness that accompanied her through the years. It’s why she survived, while others floundered.
Opening with ‘I’m Still Standing’ – not an Elton John cover but her own tribute to survival, it set the scene before swiftly moving on to my absolute favourite on this album – ‘Resist’. Punching above its weight, this is an earthy, feisty, feminist manifesto. I except this would be a total crowd-pleaser live – raucous and with even a rap section – it’s stunning work. Janis Ian was never one to mince her words, but in ‘Resist’ she says it as it is and with a raised fist. A totem for these troubled times.
The themes of femininity that were so perfectly enshrined by Ian ‘At Seventeen’, a song for a generation, are echoed once more in ‘Perfect Little Girl’, with the poetic lyrics that we know and love her for.
‘Nina’, a special tribute to Nina Simone skillfully shows that beauty, tragedy, and outrageous talent overstep the boundaries of convention to create majestic and ever-lasting art.
In fact, Nina Simone covered one of Ian’s most salient songs, ‘Stars’. The fact that Ian’s insights spoke to and for other artists, ‘Stars’ was also covered several times, not least by Cher.
‘Summer In New York’ is another special track. It really takes you there. In fact, all tracks are outstanding in their own right. ‘Swannanoa’ is a gorgeous lament with Celtic echoes and a Southern vibe.
She started songwriting at just fourteen and has honed and perfected her craft ever since. A woman before her time in many respects, now everything she stood strong for has become mainstream – the unfurling of the visionary.
Best known for tackling feminist issues, racism, sexism, and society’s many failings – think back to 1966’s ‘Society’s Child’, which was banned from radio in the US, and even resulted in death threats.
I do hope ‘The Light at the End of the Line’ is not a swan song. I think there’s so much more she wants to say. In her final track, she calls for hope in ‘Better Times Will Come’. Hope springs eternal in the end – even if is with one long, discordant, glorious elongated note. She is in a playful mood at times, though the serious Ian shines strong – along with the laughter lines of maturity and FU times.
She says herself, she’s not calling this retiring. “It’s rewiring”. Hats off to that.
It’s a bittersweet era for Ian. Poignant at times, these are intimate portraits of getting older and wiser, of celebrating life, of standing up and speaking out, or exorcising demons and celebrating other goddesses.
She has lived an incredible life, and her legacy will outlive the test of time, in this society and in the stars. A stunning album that’s been a few years in the making – let’s hope, post-Covid, we can see her back performing on stage again.