Joanna Newsom: Ys or No?


Ys I read about the Van Dyke Parks credits & Stereophile's Pick-of-Month review & other press to the effect that this album succeeds against all odds as a work of genius. I'm no philistine, but while listening to sound bytes at Barnes & Noble, I flashed back to Bluto at the Animal House toga party smashing that folkie's guitar to bits on the staircase. Has anybody fully digested this album without the impulse to murder/suicide?
dgarretson
Quick thanks to Dan for his donation of this disc to a poor Music Lover! It is errrr' Unique.
Dgarretson-

Your still with us, nice to hear your urges to commit suicide passed. : ) So why Ys!!!!!?
I think Janyusay's demonstration of childlike enchantment is just what's needed from the listener to appreciate this record. In a similar way I recall the wonder my four year old experienced dancing to George Harrison's "Crackerbox Palace." Personally I prefer pretty much anything else Harrison ever did, but once and awhile a piece of music passes under the wire of the critical faculties & perhaps "Ys" does it too. However there's a fine line between the sublime & the ridiculous. For example, Jane Siberry did a beautiful stretch on "When I was a Boy," only to drive off the cliff into silliness in her next album, "Maria." Another one in this category is Scott Walker's "The Drift", which I think succeeds mightiy as art, but which like Joyce's "Finnigan's Wake" makes a difficult read & there are probably only a few diehards who make it to the end.