Joni MITCHELL - Ladies of the Canyon 1970

Joni MITCHELL - Ladies of the Canyon 1970
RS 6376

Jazz

Joni Mitchell's third album offers a bridge between the artful but sometimes dour meditations of her earlier work and the more mature, confessional revelations of the classics that would follow. Voice and guitar still hew to the pretty filigree of a folk poet, but there's the giggling rush of rock & roll freedom in "Big Yellow Taxi," and the formal metaphor of her older songs ("The Circle Game," already oft-covered by the time of this recording) yields to the more impressionistic images of the new ones ("Woodstock"). The dark lyricism of her earliest ballads is intact (on "For Free" and "Rainy Night House"), yet there's a prevailing idealism here that sounds poignant alongside the warier, more mature songs to come on Blue and Court And Spark.
By Sam Sutherland.
**
With her second album CLOUDS, Joni Mitchell established herself as an artist who was here to stay. LADIES OF THE CANYON affirmed her status as one of the most important female artists in music history. Like most artists, Joni was just getting her feet wet with her first two albums, but it was on her third that she really blossomed. For the first time, Joni sings with the right emotions that her songs often call for. Songs like "Willy", "The Conversation", and "The Arrangement" are short but difficult songs that accurately portray the hardships of love and romance. Another prominent subject is that of the loss of innocence, and Joni brings to it her distinctive brand of poetry. The sad introspection continues on songs like "Woodstock" (not the CSNY version, but in a slower, more dirge-like sound), and "The Circle Game" (which for an almost-20 year old man like me rings all too true). In fact, "The Circle Game" might be the greatest song ever written about coming of age. CANYON's best-known song also deals with the album's prominent subject of time passage: "Big Yellow Taxi". Anyone who thinks Joni is all about the feminine point of view of life's trials and tribulations will probably be shocked by this song that takes a lighthearted, funny approach to a subject that would often get drowned in the emotiveness typical of folk singing/songwriting. Joni's expression at the end of the song is priceless! As her career progressed, Joni Mitchell would get even more personal and introspective. But LADIES OF THE CANYON is the perfect document of a young woman and her approach to life, love, and the pursuit of happiness.
Eric N. Andrews.
**
Joni Mitchell- Guitar, Piano, Vocals
Teresa Adams- Cello
Paul Horn- Clarinet, Flute
Jim Horn- Baritone Sax
Milt Holland- Percussion
The Saskatunes- Bop Vocals
The Lookout Mountain United Downstairs Choir- Chorus on The Circle Game
Don Bagley- Cello Arrangement
**
A1. Morning Morgantown 
A2. For Free 
A3. Conversation 
A4. Ladies Of The Canyon 
A5. Willy 
A6. The Arrangement 
B1. Rainy Night House 
B2. The Priest 
B3. Blue Boy 
B4. Big Yellow Taxi 
B5. Woodstock 
B6. The Circle Game 
**

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Joni MITCHELL - Blue 1971

Joni MITCHELL - Blue 1971
K44128

Jazz

Sad, spare, and beautiful, Blue is the quintessential confessional singer/songwriter album. Forthright and poetic, Joni Mitchell's songs are raw nerves, tales of love and loss (two words with relative meaning here) etched with stunning complexity; even tracks like "All I Want," "My Old Man," and "Carey" -- the brightest, most hopeful moments on the record -- are darkened by bittersweet moments of sorrow and loneliness. At the same time that songs like "Little Green" (about a child given up for adoption) and the title cut (a hymn to salvation supposedly penned for James Taylor) raise the stakes of confessional folk-pop to new levels of honesty and openness, Mitchell's music moves beyond the constraints of acoustic folk into more intricate and diverse territory, setting the stage for the experimentation of her later work. Unrivaled in its intensity and insight, Blue remains a watershed.
By Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide.
**
Joni Mitchell would go on from this '71 recording to make more popular, more ambitious, and more challenging albums, but she's never made a better one. Working with minimal accompaniment (Stephen Stills and James Taylor are two of the four sidemen), the Canadian thrush summoned an involving song cycle of romance found and lost. Though Blue is an uncommonly intimate representation, it's also astonishingly open and gracious. Songs such as "All I Want," "Carey," "California," and "A Case of You" work equally well as poetry and pop music.
By Steve Stolder.
**
`Blue' is Joni Mitchell's fourth album, first released in June, 1971, after the seminal and deservedly famous previous album, `Ladies of the Canyon'. Listening to `Blue' now, after 35 years, I am surprised that there is not a single memorable song on the whole album, compared to the five or more major anthems of the generation on the previous recording.

And yet, everything which is so strong and so good about Joni Mitchell's songwriting is on this album, in spades. Contrary to the title's inclination, most of the album seems to be more about times and places than it is about colors or moods.
The single strongest aspect of Mitchell's songwriting is her ability to evoke a mood by a great use of little details. Listening to the song `Carey' makes you look forward to spending some time at a place called the Mermaid café on some beach on the Riviera with the warm winds blowing in from Africa, as I contemplate going to Amsterdam or Rome.
Blue should not be the first Joni Mitchell album you should buy, but it should be near the top of your list. The album also gives you the sense that you may want to bypass all the `Best of' collections and stick to simply collecting all the original releases, as you really don't want to miss any of Ms. Mitchell's great little three minute dramas.
By B. Marold.
**
James Taylor Jr.- Guitar
Sneaky Pete Kleinow- Guitar, Pedal Steel, Guitar (Steel)
Russ Kunkel- Drums
Joni Mitchell- Guitar, Piano, Composer, Keyboards, Vocals
Stephen Stills- Bass, Guitar, Guitar (Bass)
James Taylor- Guitar, Vocals
**
A1 All I Want  3:33
A2 My Old Man  3:35
A3 Little Green  3:28
A4 Carey  3:03
A5 Blue  3:04
B1 California  3:51
B2 This Flight Tonight  2:52
B3 River  4:05
B4 A Case of You  4:23
B5 The Last Time I Saw Richard  4:16
**
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Joni MITCHELL - Mingus 1979

Joni MITCHELL - Mingus 1979
AS 53091

Jazz

Female artists (Laura Nyro, Joni, Rickie Lee) are always getting the short end of the stick. When this album was released it was generally deemed a failure and it got no airplay and fell off the charts. Listening to it 22 years later I can't believe how underrated it has become. If you thought Joni was just a flower-powered folk singer then you were wrong. This is some of the most spacey, haunting, and eccentric music out there. Oh, the instruments may seem familiar but the way they are used is just plain out there. Jaco Pastorius can make his bass sound like a trumpet, sax, piano, Fender Rhodes, synth and more. Joni's guitar playing had never been or never was again this powerful or primal. Highlights: everything. God Must Be a Boogie Man a duet between Joni's guitar and Jaco's bass combines her haunting vocals backed by a chorus of what sounds like escapees from a mental institution. The Wolf That Lives In Lindsey: with Joni's near perfect phrasing and a devil-may-care guitar strum. The Dry Cleaner from Des Moines: an uptempo jazz-tune which, in a just world, would have been a great single. Oh and one more thing, Joni's voice would never again be this perfect. She had trained her voice and it has never sounded better. It didn't have that high screechy, nails-on-the-chalkboard sound of her early days, nor the Tom Waits-gravel quality it has today. This is an essential part of Joni's oeuvre. Get it now.
By Damien Bjorn Ruud.
**
And Sad Album by Joni Mitchell and Charlie Mingus
which is diverse from any Album that the two made
Separately, but you can still hear the influence of
each one in the music.
**
Jaco Pastorius- Bass
Don Alias- Congas
Peter Erskine- Drums
Herbie Hancock- E.Piano
Joni Mitchell- Guitar, Vocals
Emil Richards- Percussion
Wayne Shorter- Soprano Sax
**
A1. Happy Birthday 1975 (Rap) 0:57 
A2. God Must Be A Boogie Man 4:33 
A3. Funeral (Rap) 1:07 
A4. A Chair In The Sky 6:40 
       Composed By - Charles Mingus 
A5. The Wolf That Lives In Lindsey 6:33 
B1. I's A Muggin' (Rap) 0:07 
B2. Sweet Sucker Dance 8:06 
       Composed By - Charles Mingus 
B3. Coin In The Pocket (Rap) 0:11 
B4. The Dry Cleaner From Des Moines 3:22 
       Arranged By [Horns] - Jaco Pastorius
       Composed By - Charles Mingus 
B5. Lucky (Rap) 0:03 
B6. Goodbye Pork Pie Hat 5:41 
       Composed By - Charles Mingus  
**
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Joni MITCHELL - Chalk Mark In A Rainstorm 1988

Joni MITCHELL - Chalk Mark In A Rainstorm 1988

Jazz

Long before Frank Sinatra made his Duets album, Joni Mitchell cast a variety of name singers in prominent roles for the songs on Chalk Mark in a Rainstorm. Peter Gabriel sings with her on the leadoff track, "My Secret Place," and Don Henley is heard on "Lakota" and "Snakes and Ladders," Billy Idol and Tom Petty have roles in "Dancin' Clown," and Willie Nelson brings his dry phrasing to "Cool Water," while ex-Cars singer Benjamin Orr and ex-Prince associates Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman also have backup parts. Mitchell uses the vocal firepower over spare tracks heavy on percussion (by Manu Katche) and programming to tell stories and comment on social issues. "Lakota" deals with Native American and environmental matters, "Cool Water" (a Mitchell rewrite of the Bob Nolan original) discusses water pollution, "The Tea Leaf Prophecy (Lay Down Your Arms)" and "The Beat of Black Wings" tell war-related tales. But Mitchell's main theme, which encompasses those topics, concerns the evils of contemporary culture in which one struggles to be "Number One," rises and falls like a game of "Snakes and Ladders," and suffers "The Reoccurring Dream" brought on by advertising. Chalk Mark in a Rainstorm rarely makes these points personally enough to stir the listener, and the trendy percussion sound (popular with artists like Gabriel and Kate Bush in the '80s) is already beginning to sound dated. But the songwriting and Mitchell's voice remain impressive, especially when she recalls her past with a revised version of "Corrina, Corrina" at the end.
By William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide.
**
Wendy Melvoin- Vocals (Background)
Benjamin Orr Vocals- (Background)
Iron Eyes Cody- Vocals, Vocals (Background)
Steven Lindsey- Organ
Lisa Coleman- Vocals (Background)
Manu Katche- Drums, Drums (Snare), Choir, Chorus
Larry Klein- Bass, Keyboards, Choir, Chorus
Michael Landau- Guitar, Choir, Chorus
Julie Last- Choir, Chorus,
Steve Lindsey- Organ
Willie Nelson- Vocals, Vocals (Background)
Thomas Dolby- Marimba
Peter Gabriel- Vocals, Vocals (Background)
Don Henley- Vocals, Vocals (Background)
Billy Idol- Vocals, Vocals (Background)
Joni Mitchell- Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals, Vocals (Background),
Tom Petty- Vocals, Vocals (Background)
Steve Stevens- Guitar
Wayne Shorter- Saxophone
**
01. My Secret Place 5:01
02. Number One 3:46
03. Lakota 6:25
04. The Tea Leaf Prophecy (Lay Down Your Arms) 4:49
05. Dancin' Clown 4:09
06. Cool Water 5:25
07. The Beat Of Black Wings 5:19
08. Snakes And Ladders 5:37
09. The Reoccurring Dream 3:02
10. A Bird That Whistles 2:38
**
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