In place of the usual grousing, just a few quick notes, this month.

• Has anyone noticed that the backing to Joni Mitchell’s “Help Me” has all the qualities that make Jethro Tull what they are? That flute, for instance, is right out of Aqualung. Has she gone Anglophilic on us, or merely suffered a lapse of taste? I love you madly, Joni, but please, more like “Radio” and “Robbery,” and less like this, OK?

• Robert Christgau recently wrote an excellent Newsday piece in which he labels Elton John rock’s most consistent presence. I like the idea, but as usual, beg to differ; my vote is in for Stevie Wonder. I love “Don’t You Worry

About A Thing as much as anything he has done. It encompasses all of pop from Sinatra to Sly. If Motown could clone Stevie, their treasury would be even more mint-like than it' already is.

• Last Friday, three Boston radio stations simultaneously broadcast Maria Muldaur’s dismal “Midnight At the Oasis.” This is like turning on the radio and finding nothing but “Kick Otit the Jams,” or “Walk on the Wild Side.” Even in Detroit, or New York, you’d be depressed.