To my ears, the band's best moments after "Rag" come in two of singer Joe McDonald's tributes to individual women: "Not So Sweet Martha Lorraine," a Dylanesque track about a self-absorbed mystical lady that's held together by keyboardist David Cohen's neatly cheesy organ fingering, and "Janis," a rueful waltz-tempo paean to Janis Joplin with a dulcet chorus and doleful harmonica background. As heartfelt a lost love song as ever came out of the San Francisco Scene, it shows that this still-active part-time political rabble-rouser could be a pretty sweet folk-rock popper when he put his mind to it. (I'm thinkin' Lou Reed, another rocker with more than his share of erratic LPs to his name, mentally replayed this track a lot when he was working on songs for the VU's fourth album.) While it may've been their biggest audience moment, CJ&tF were still worth more than a simple four-letter cheer.
"A sinister cabal of superior writers."
Article comments
1 - Connie Phillips
Congrats! This article has been forwarded to the Advance.net websites and Boston.com.
2 - anthony hansen
I would like to add that CJ&TF have been an inspiration to me regarding the environment with their "Save the Whales - Save the Earth" Album,out in the early 1970's and I still sing their song about the whales to young & older audiences here in the Illawarra(South of SYDNEY,AUSTRALIA). It is a classic as is "Breakfast for Two".