We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago……
After slogging through four albums for the Verve record label in the late 60’s Janis Ian was depressed. Her record company had no idea what to do with her after her surprise hit on the problems of inter-racial relationships “Society’s Child”.
Her devastating look at teenage angst was still a few years away….She looks completely haunted…maybe possessed during this live shot on The Midnight Special…
And my favorite Ian cut was even further down the road….
So, without a record contract, Ian got together a bunch of songs and Jerry Corbitt (of the Youngbloods) took her into the studio. The resulting LP was released on Capitol in 1971 and called “Present Company”.
It’s a fine collection of songs mostly led by piano or acoustic guitar. Most are short and they flow well together. There are a number of highlights for me including the tunes “Weary Lady”, “My Land” (a bit of a protest song) and the title track.
But the LP didn’t sell well and it would be 1974 before she returned to the studio with “Stars” and 1975 before hitting #1 with “Between The Lines”.
This collection certainly isn’t representative of her later work. Much less angst here…and angst became Ian’s stock and trade, for better or worse.
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