The Other Side of the Mirror turns 30

[bombaysaffires]

I feel like OSOTM promises more than it delivers. Some songs just could have been so much better--- for example Ghosts. Emotionally it's such a deep song-- her coming to terms with certain life choices--- and the lyrics on the bridge are amazing "To fill the empty spaces she's feeling/She depends on her music like a husband" etc.

But either the drugs or the laziness or something that lead to using the same lyrics for the first verse AND the choruses just diminishes it. (And yes, I WOULD say that to Bob Dylan).

Doing the Best That I Can is emotionally just as deep. "In my distress/I wanted someone to blame me/In my devastation/I wanted so to change/In my way/disaster was the only thing/that I could depend on" is some of her best ever.

But I Still Miss Someone is just filler. Juliet is blech; too many words stuffed together; Whole Lotta Trouble had so much potential but again the overly repetitive lyrics sink it down (especially live where she'd really mess it up- "would you change your mind at the very last second/would you say stop for a second/so that you could think for a second" "I think we should stop for a moment so we can think for a moment"; and then "and the angel said/you must have had a dream/ and you remembered it/ til the dream followed through/to the end of the dream/and the dream came true" -- what?? I just can't follow all the permutations of that damned dream!

Reminds me of Wassamatta Baby "and the dream says I want you/and the dream is gone/ so she stays up nights on end/well at least there is a dream left" -- what?? Is the dream gone or is it still left??

A writer (in Rolling Stone I think) once wrote in a review something like "is there a witch who can banish the word dream from her vocabulary?"

Cry Wolf is intersting; Long Way To Go is a good look at her messed up relationship with Joe; Alice is also emotionally deep but the massively overdone vocal tracks and synths turn it into white noise.

The emotions are great on the whole but the sloppy lyrics and the production on this album really dates it.., too many synths