JONI MITCHELL
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Joni Mitchell
Blue (1971)
Rating Out of 10): 10
Tracklisting: All I Want/ My Old Man/ Little Green/ Carey/ Blue/ California/ This Flight Tonight/ River/ A Case Of You/ The Last Time I Saw Richard
When reviewing someone like Joni Mitchell, the most difficult part is deciding where to start. With her career spanning 4 decades, and having produced dozens of wonderful albums all encompassing different styles and genres, it makes it very difficult for the reviewer to know where to begin and what exactly to say that hasn’t been said before. ‘Blue’ seemed as good a place to start as any. Considered to be her best album, and also happening to be my own personal favourite, ‘Blue’, encapsulates the essence of Mitchell’s talent and most probably provides the best entrance into her work and her life.
Recorded in 1971, ‘Blue’ is a classic, timeless piece of music. Listening to it, 35 years on, it doesn’t appear dated in the slightest. It’s enduring beauty lingers on, proving Mitchell to be a singer songwriter light years ahead of her time. It is an album full of emotion, the lyrics, music and unique vocals all coming together to evoke an array of passion, beauty and sentiment unmatched by any other album or artist.
‘Blue’ contains some of the most stunning love songs ever written. It is more than just a collection of songs; it is an emotional journey, a lesson in love and life, success and failure. Someone once said that it was Joni Mitchell who taught them how to feel, and listening to this album it is easy to see why. ‘Blue ‘ encompasses all the different sides to love – the beauty, the joy, the pain, the hatred, the mistakes. It is an album that is as complex as it is beautiful. ‘All I Want’ and ‘My Old Man’ can be seen as a celebration of love in all its simplicity, while ‘River’, ‘A Case Of You’ and ‘The Last Time I Saw Richard’ question the complexities of relationships. The latter track is the ultimate high point of the album, with a long, lingering introduction, it is a simply gorgeous track that sees Mitchell giving an amazing vocal performance. The lyrics are poignant, and poetic, and even if they do sometimes veer off into the regions of comedy (“Richard got married to a figure skater/He bought her a dishwasher and a coffee percolator.”), they never lose the intensity of emotion. Other highlights of the album include ‘River’, ‘A Case Of You’, and the hauntingly beautiful title track .
Throughout the album, Mitchell proves herself to be a well accomplished lyricist, vocalist and musician. It would be almost impossible to find a single flaw in this perfect album, but it’s worth a try, because as you search you find tons of emotion, beauty and raw talent.
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For The Roses (1972)
Rating (Out of 10): 8
Tracklisting: Banquet/Cold Blue Steel and Sweet Fire/Barangrill/Lesson in Survival/Let the Wind Carry Me/For the Roses/See You Sometime/Electricity/You Turn Me on I'm a Radio/Blonde in the Bleachers/Woman of Heart and Mind/Judgement of the Moon and Stars (Ludwig's Tune)
Joni Mitchell’s 1972 album ‘For The Roses’ comes at a very critical point in her career. Slotted in between her two biggest commercial successes ‘Blue’ and ‘Court and Spark’, it is perhaps one of the most underrated albums of her career. It is difficult to tell why it isn’t as highly rated as her other albums. Perhaps it is due to the extremely high expectations placed on her following the huge success of ‘Blue’ and because when compared to Blue and Court and Spark, it does fall slightly short, but taken on its own merits it is a very good album. It further cements Joni Mitchell’s reputation as someone who effortlessly expresses emotions, whether it be love, loss, loneliness, desperation or happiness. Listening to her is an education in how to feel, and this album is no different. It is full to the brim with beautiful tracks, some piano led, some guitar dominated, all wonderfully understated, original and extremely well written. The best known song on this album is ‘You Turn Me On I’m a Radio’, which was Mitchell’s ironic response to record company pressure’s to write a radio hit. Funnily enough it did become a chart hit and provided a lot of publicity for her and the album. ‘For the Roses’ sees Mitchell display her immense talent for writing lyrics. She takes the process of lyric writing one step further, she doesn’t just write and sing words, she explores, searches, look for answers through her songs, something which really makes her stand out as a songwriter. ‘Cold Blue Steel And Sweet Fire’ sees Mitchell on very fine form lyrically as she delivers a poetic, yet haunting exploration of heroin addiction, while the title track sees her explore the benefits versus the costs of fame – a theme which occurs in a lot of Mitchell songs. It’s a shame that this album has got lost in between her two classics, as it a good album with many fine songs on it. It may not possess the same intensity of emotion as ‘Blue’, but it still possess a wealth of beauty and passion and showcases Mitchell’s talents as both a writer and performer.
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Court and Spark (1974)
Rating (Out of 10): 8
Court and Spark/Help Me/Free Man In Paris/Peoples Parties/Same Situation/Car on a Hill/Down to You/Just Like This Train/Raised on Robbery/Trouble Child/Twisted
‘Court and Spark’, Joni Mitchell’s biggest commercial success, heralds a bit of a change in musical direction for the singer songwriter. During the 60’s and early 70’s Mitchell had been a bit of a folk pioneer. Her albums had been pretty much dominated by acoustic style folk songs which she seemed to possess a unique talent for writing. Her 1971 album ‘Blue’ had been a masterpiece in low-fi, folk beauty and had become the most successful album to date. However, when ‘Court And Spark’ was released in 1974 it immediately sold more copies than any Joni Mitchell album before or since. It isn’t difficult to see why it was such a huge commercial success. It is very radio friendly, and possibly her most accessible album. It is full of commercial rock songs with a jazzy sheen to them. ‘Court and Spark’ is the first of several jazz influenced albums that Mitchell would record over the next few years. It isn’t as traditionally jazzy as the likes of ‘The Hissing Of Summer Lawns’, but it possess a very crisp, clear sound, and the songs are all upbeat and easy to sing along to. ‘Free Man In Paris’, ‘Car On A Hill’ and ‘Help Me’ were all released as singles and all became instant hits, particularly the latter track which still remains the best selling single of her career. I have always found it interesting that it was the last of her folk albums that was the most successful and the first of her Jazz albums that was most successful, perhaps hinting that folk is what she does best, and it was only the radio-friendly ‘Court and Spark’ that achieved more success.
As the title suggests, ‘Court and Spark’, is an album that deals with opposites. In the case of the title track it is the stability of courtship versus the excitement of a new relationship that is put under the microscope. Ultimately the album deals with finding a compromise between the two, a middle ground and the sacrifices that ensue. As always Mitchell is not afraid to deal with difficult subject matter in her lyrics, and she does a great job on ‘Trouble Child’ as she deals with mental illness in a fair and empathetic manner.
For me, ‘Court and Spark’ achieved such huge success because of it’s instant likeability. There is no doubting that it is a good album, but at no point does she manage to convey the depth of emotion that was expressed in ‘Blue’. But taken on it’s own merits, it is a very good album which displays yet another side to Mitchell’s talent.
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Travelogue (2002)
Rating (Out of 10): 8
Disc One: Otis and Marlena/Amelia/You Dream Flat Tires/Love/Woodstock /Slouching Towards Bethlehem /Judgement of the Moon and Stars (Ludwig's Tune)/The Sire of Sorrow (Job's Sad Song)/For the Roses/Trouble Child/ God Must Be a Boogie Man
Disc Two: Be Cool/ Just Like This Train/ Sex Kills/Refuge of the Roads/ Hejira /Chinese Café/Unchained Melody/Cherokee Louise/The Dawntreader/The Last Time I Saw Richard/Borderline/The Circle Game
In 2002 Joni Mitchell had the ingenious idea of compiling together a sort of greatest hits of her lengthy career, but with a twist. Instead of merely releasing a quickly thrown together compilation and then sitting back and enjoying the rewards, she went back into the studio and re-recorded a substantial selection of her past material with full orchestral accompaniment. The result is a lusciously beautiful, rich sounding album full of old favourites, treats and surprises. As the title suggests, ‘Travelogue’ is a journey that sees Mitchell taking us through 4 decades of music as she revisits well known songs and injects them with experience and new meaning. All the tracks on travelogue get a complete reworking with some sounding unrecognizable from the original. She slows everything down, stripping everything back to basics; her vocals come to the fore, and the orchestral accompaniment provides a very beautiful finish. The biggest difference between the versions on ‘Travelogue’ and the original tracks is Mitchell’s voice. People who are used to listening to her albums of the 60’s and 70’s will be in for quite a shock. Joni Mitchell’s voice was clean and faultless. It was a voice that defined perfection. But just like everything else, voices get older and are subject to change and although not everything changes for the better, this is one exception. Her voice is unrecognizable, but equally beautiful. It has become, deeper, and rather than clean and perfect, it has become grainy, husky, and full of experience. In many ways it is a more interesting voice than the voice of her youth.
The track listing for ‘Travelogue’ is quite a fascinating one. Missing are some of her most famous songs like ‘A Case Of You’, and ‘Big Yellow Taxi’ for instance, and instead there seems to be a more personal track listing, as Joni has clearly chosen her own favourites. But this does not result in the alienation of the fan, but is instead still very accessible. Well known songs like ‘The Last Time I Saw Richard’, ‘The Circle Game’, and ‘Heijira’ sit side by side with lesser known tracks and a few absolute gems including a version of ‘Chinese Café’ incorporates Mitchell’s own version of ‘Unchained Melody’ with amazing results. Some of the tracks of ‘Travelogue’ are actually better than the originals. ‘The last time I Saw Richard’ was always my favourite song from ‘Blue’ and one of my all time Joni favourites, and this version is even better. It is a song that really suits the orchestral backing and her deeper, richer voice seems to inject more emotion into the track. The final track ‘Circle Game’ ends the album very appropriately as the lyrics seem to describe exactly what Mitchell set out to achieve by recording ‘Travelogue’. (“We’re captive on a carousel of time/We can’t return, we can only look behind from where we came/And Go round and round and round in a circle game.”)
With travelogue, Mitchell takes us full circle on a journey spanning 40 years. With the wisdom of hindsight, she re-visits and re-writes the past, always learning, never taking anything for granted. At the time of it’s release, Joni Mitchell revealed that she intended ‘Travelogue’ to be her last ever album, and although I hope that this isn’t actually true, it would be a very fitting way to end a stellar career.
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