Re: Bobbie Gentry - Ode to Billie Joe (1967).

by Butterfield Tue Jun 14, 2022 7:35 pm

Well, that certainly isn't what I'd normally listen to but it was pleasant and I tried to cleverly listen to it with general music-listening ears to try and judge it how other people might - and I can tell it was good. I'm never so keen on storytelling reckuds but this was fine in that regard, if a little boring for my music tastes, but as a one-off listen fairly interesting.

My score is going to be 3/5.

by Nightjar Tue Jun 14, 2022 7:48 pm

I do think that the genius of the title track is the song structure.

No chorus, just a series of relatively lengthy verses delivered melodically and, in regards to vocal delivery, a somewhat disconnected, rambling, pensive anecdotal manner, only for each verse to end with that dramatic downward key change and the repetition of the doom-laden suicide and the 'something' that's thrown conspiratorially from the Tallahatchie Bridge.

Proper spooky.

A masterpiece of the 'Southern Gothic' sub-genre.

by Nightjar Tue Jun 14, 2022 7:50 pm

That is my erudite and informed review. aristojar

by Nightjar Tue Jun 14, 2022 7:52 pm

In all honesty, since the whole album maintained that atmosphere right up the climactic finale, I may have been a bit mean with my score.

A immersive experience.

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Bobbie Gentry - Ode to Billie Joe (1967).

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