Album Review: Janis Ian - 'The Light At The End Of The Line'

We’re used to artists announcing farewell tours (and then another and another), but a farewell album is a lesser-spotted creature. New Yorker Janis Ian, though, has just done that. If it hardly outshines her inspirational best, it’s a fitting conclusion to a risk-taking career. 

Ian’s journey started in her mid-teens, when she courageously tackled the subject of inter-racial teenage love with ‘Society’s Child’, banned by several US radio stations. Since then, she’s added a string of quality songs about engaging subjects, especially ‘At Seventeen’, ‘Stars’ and ‘Jesse’.  

On her first album of new songs since 2007, the upbeat ‘I’m Still Standing’ (not Elton’s) is a reflection on survival as she enters her seventies, and in ‘Resist’, she defiantly rails against the pressures on women to conform and submit. ‘Swannanoa’ comes on like a love song to nature, while ‘Nina’ is her tribute to her quarrelsome hero Nina Simone. Elsewhere, there’s an understandably wistful mood to the title-track.  

Ian’s voice belies her age, and she’s surrounded herself with ace musicians too. She deserves kudos for stoically weathering an unforgiving business, while bequeathing us so many gems.

Listen: 'Resist'

7.5/10

The Light At The End Of The Line is out now via rude records.