Janis Ian has arrived. The ugly duckling of Society's Child has, all these years later, become the most glittering and luminescent of swans. ["Aftertones"], her best album to date, is one of those joyous things that probably happen only once in an artist's lifetime: that particular moment when everything that has gone before finally coalesces into sustained, articulate, and controlled statement. The intelligence is remarkable, the craftsmanship superb and the attack dazzling throughout. Stay tuned, because there is going to be a great deal more said about this album—and I hope to add my own strong feelings to what has become the happiest success story in current popular music. Buy it, of course, and while you are listening remember that old bromide about the hare and the tortoise.
Peter Reilly, "Popular Discs and Tapes: 'Aftertones'," in Stereo Review (copyright © 1976 by Ziff-Davis Publishing Company), Vol. 36, No. 5, May, 1976, p. 84.
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