Joni Mitchell

[The Mollusk]

Here's a brief timeline of my experience with the artist Joni Mitchell:

Age unknown -> 25: Only ever heard "Big Yellow Taxi", and only sparingly, never paid attention to it really. Just some jaunty acoustic lollop, not really arsed mate.

Age 26 -> 31: Heard "Big Yellow Taxi" more frequently since it was on the morning playlist of a bar I spent a year working in. Had that experience where the song is on quiet and you hate your job so the lack of full focus on the song plus the loathing coursing through your veins causes you to actively dislike the song. The up/down octave and laugh she does right at the last line used to drive me up the fucking wall, WHAT THE FUCK is this commercialised hippie shite, get lost.

Age 32: Decided to give Joni another chance, listened to "Blue" on the bus one afternoon and thought fuckinell hey this is pretty good, in fact it's great, it shines immediately as one of those timeless classics like "Unhalfbricking", every song sinking into your subconscious with immediate effect, endlessly rewarding with every listen.

Age 34 (this Tuesday just gone): Not listened to "Blue" or any other Joni since two years prior. Stick it on over breakfast as I sit in my garden in the glorious sunshine drinking green tea and eating peanut butter toast. Probably the best start to a morning I've had in fucking ages. Realise I've mugged myself off not listening to Joni Mitchell all my life, spend the next three days playing almost nothing but "Blue", "Ladies of the Canyon" and "Court and Spark" on repeat.

And now here I am.

Mate, Joni Mitchell is INCREDIBLE. I've still got so much to discover as I'm told her back catalogue is rich with glistening bangers but jeeeezus! Already off these three early albums of hers I'm getting "one of the best songwriters of the 20th century" vibes, I mean in her own league she holds the same sort of high spot as Nick Cave or Kate Bush, right? A remarkable talent, a painter of scenes so vibrant and vivid, not sounding laboured at all, just her natural talent flowing out of her. My brain zoomed in on the lyrics to People's Parties this morning, just one of many stunning little tales she's spun, little over two minutes long, so much going on in those lyrics.

After all this though I still think "Big Yellow Taxi" isn't much cop, it's a bit grating and almost feels like a square peg in the round holes of "Ladies of the Canyon" which is otherwise entirely lilting and gorgeous.

Before I leave the thread open for everyone else to say how objectively great she is and talk about their favourite stuff, a request from me: I've not had a smoke in a few months and a pal gave me a pipe's worth of hash the other day. I plan on spending my Saturday afternoon toasted and watching a top tier Joni concert performance. Could anyone recommend a good (full) one on YouTube please?

Alright, spill yer guts.

[shagatha crustie]

Get fucking Hejira on, stat.

[shagatha crustie]

Oh and for a live performance, this super HQ film footage of her Isle of Wight set 1970. An angel in a mudfield, facing down the hostile crowd and soothing them with her beautiful music, nowt but piano, guitar and voice:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpLO96_9Qwc

[Z-Model Ford]

Get fucking Hejira on, stat.

I think Old Furry Sings the Blues might be my very favourite song of hers, not least because she really did go to meet Furry Lewis, who really did not like her. And told her so.

[Kankurette]

Not that arsed about music, but fuck me, her lyrics are incredible. Pure poetry.

The Hissing of Summer Lawns was the one I like, especially Harry's House/Centrepiece. And agreed that Big Yellow Taxi, while I like it, doesn't do her justice.

[pigamus]

Honourable mention for For The Roses. But Hejira is the one.

[LynnBenfield69]

Hejira is indeed the one, followed closely by Hissing of Summer Lawns for my money.

I reckon once you go deep with Joni you realise that she's not just up there with the top-tier rock pantheon, she kicks seven shades of shit out of anyone else. Better lyricist than Dylan, finer musical composer and performer than anyone I can even think to mention. She is lacking in zero departments.

[shagatha crustie]

No, Blue is the one. That's how good Blue is, that Hejira is NOT the one.

[shagatha crustie]

Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, Crosby, Nash, James Taylor - better than them all. Shagged them all.

[pigamus]

Hejira is indeed the one, followed closely by Hissing of Summer Lawns for my money.

I reckon once you go deep with Joni you realise that she's not just up there with the top-tier rock pantheon, she kicks seven shades of shit out of anyone else. Better lyricist than Dylan, finer musical composer and performer than anyone I can even think to mention. She is lacking in zero departments.

Her crime was that she knew it, and never bothered hiding that she knew it.

[Kankurette]

I never got why Dylan is considered a better lyricist than Mitchell.[nb]Or is he?[/nb]

[LynnBenfield69]

Her crime was being a woman in a world of men. Her treatment at the hands of the rock press was insane.

Blue is lovely but it just hints at her potential, her later 70s albums are BEYOND.

[crankshaft]

Hejira is the album. Hissing is a close second. Don Juan's Reckless Daughter would be perfect but for the drum circle track, which must be skipped. Everything before Hissing has value (and there are many fucking amazing songs) but they feel like a warm up as soon as you get into the likes of "The Boho Dance", "Song For Sharon" or "Don Juan's Reckless Daughter".

The sexism she was subjected to disgusts me. An actual genius in your midst, but let's gossip about how she's "loose" and forget about her art.

[Kankurette]

And she painted her own album covers! Except one dickhead record company wouldn't let her.

I'm going to have to check Hejira out now, you lot have got me interested.

[The Mollusk]

Her crime was that she knew it, and never bothered hiding that she knew it.

How is that a crime

[crankshaft]

How is that a crime

It wasn't, but it allowed male journalists to dismiss her as uppity, because sexism.

[Astronaut Omens]

Don Juan's Reckless Daughter would be perfect but for the drum circle track, which must be skipped.

The Tenth World? I really like that one, it gives the album as a whole a nice anything-could-happen feel, and it's got Chaka Khan in there as well.
Although her acoustic guitar playing is incredible (there is a lot of really useful info for guitarists about her unusual tunings here ), I think my favorite track is the "The Jungle Line" just for it's unique Moog and percussion thing.

The comparisons between Dylan and Joni always seem like apples and oranges to me. Like- it goes without saying that Dylan never did anything as harmonically sophisticated and urbanely witty as "A Free Man In Paris", but that's not really what he was aiming for, was it? You might as well point out that Dylan was less talented an instrumentalist than every single jazz or classical musician.

[thugler]

I think my favorite track is the "The Jungle Line" just for it's unique Moog and percussion thing.

Yeah that is an unbelievably good and strange sounding track, and sounds really timeless. Agree it's between Hissing and Hejira, but there's stuff to like throughout, I think I got into her because of being a big Charles Mingus fan, although her record in tribute/semi-collaboration with him isn't great. If she was a man she'd be celebrated at least on par with Dylan if not beyond.

I have to admit, despite being a fan, I've not ventured into the 80's and beyond so much. What's worth checking out?

[non capisco]

I need to fill in my Joni blindspot, then. I only know 'Hissing..' which is obviously brilliant but I only listened to as a Prince obsessed teen because it's his favourite album.

[riotinlagos]

I have to admit, despite being a fan, I've not ventured into the 80's and beyond so much. What's worth checking out?

The only Joni albums my parents taped for the car were Hejira and Night Ride Home so I have lots of fond childhood memories attached to those records but the latter is definitely a good place to start. A return to the jazzier acoustic stuff after a bit of an iffy 80s (haven't properly listened to Dog Eat Dog which is generally considered her worst but Wild Things Run Fast and Chalk Mark in a Rain Storm are both decent).

[Crabwalk]

Whenever I write about my favourite artists here I always come up with a load of gushing hyperbole.

That said, Joni is undoubtably the number one solo artist of the millennium and the thought of her shuffling off is filling my heart with an icy dread.

My own favourites are Blue, The Hissing of Summer Lawns and Hejira. All instantly beautiful, yet after 100s of listens apiece I still feel like I've barely begun to comprehend the artistry, poetry and depth of meaning imbued in each. Just on a completely different level to her peers (including Dylan, IMHO) in both ideas and execution.

I love her even more now than I did then.

All those amazing albums? Yeah, she produced them too. Write and demo some astonishing songs [nb]and do listen to the Hissing demos if you haven't ('The Seeding of Summer Lawns'), which are freely available and astonishing[/nb], find the best players available, have a decent engineer on hand and knock out a run of masterpieces by yourself, in the face of a hostile and deeply misogynistic industry. Only Stevie was operating anywhere near that level in popular music at the time until Prince rocked up, and his purple patch (arf) didn't last as long as their's.

Of her post-70s work I think only Turbulent Indigo and Night Ride home have much merit to them from the 80s-90s. On those she dials back the excessively slick/bombastic production that'd plagued her through the 80s[nb]I do have a soft spot for the opening two tracks on Wild Things Run Fast, mind.[/nb] and they contain some decent, and often quite moving, songs. It's all a bit 'tasteful' compared to her peak though.

The two orchestral/jazz 'reinterpretation' albums from the early 2000s though, Both Sides Now and Travelogue really make the most of her vocal range drop and she proves herself worthy of Herbie Hancock's earlier proclamation that she was one of the greatest jazz vocalists he'd ever heard. Those are stunning records, and her new version of 'Both Sides Now', where all of her decades of personal pain, professional frustration and artistic endeavour pour out, is a devastating and worthy bookend to her career[nb]I've never actually listened to that Starbucks album from 2007[/nb].

By the way Nags, I fucking hate Big Yellow Taxi.

[popcorn]

The two orchestral/jazz 'reinterpretation' albums from the early 2000s though, Both Sides Now and Travelogue really make the most of her vocal range drop

I think lower-octave Joni sounds freakishly similar to the Japanese singer Mai Yamane, most famous for the Cowboy Bebop soundtrack, example.

her new version of 'Both Sides Now', where all of her decades of personal pain, professional frustration and artistic endeavour pour out, is a devastating and worthy bookend to her career[nb]

Makes me cry that does. I understand that it also makes someone cry in Love Actually but I'm not going to let that stop me.

[shagatha crustie]

her new version of 'Both Sides Now', where all of her decades of personal pain, professional frustration and artistic endeavour pour out, is a devastating and worthy bookend to her career

The 'Case of You' on there is a stunner too.

[Crabwalk]

Makes me cry that does. I understand that it also makes someone cry in Love Actually but I'm not going to let that stop me.

Another reason why I'll never watch that film.

[The Mollusk]

I'm a sucker for not paying attention to lyrics but on this week's voyage of discovery I've been soaking up every word. Last night my fiancée and I sat and listened to "Ladies of the Canyon" and I got quite choked up at "Rainy Night House". That thing is fuckin profound.

Afterwards "A Case of You" came on auto play just as my partner was remarking it was one of Prince's favourite songs and it tipped me over the edge into tears. Stunning.

Listened to "Hejira" this morning and maybe it was the shit weather on my commute but I have to confess I wasn't really bowled over by it. My main criticism is that it's quite metallic sounding, the bass, the electric guitar... I will of course give it more of a chance but I think spending the week obsessing over her more jazzy pastoral early stuff didn't help. Plus my mental condition dictates that I will get obsessed with something and then get emotionally tired and need a break afterwards. Give it time.

[pigamus]

It wasn't, but it allowed male journalists to dismiss her as uppity, because sexism.

I think Graham Nash said, "She's about as humble as Mussolini!" Didn't fit their image of demure and modest like girlies are supposed to be.

[Crabwalk]

my fiancée and I

Congratulations! Ace news.

It may well take time (it did with me) but one day you'll post on here that Hejira has become your favourite. I'd put money on it.

[poodlefaker]

I love Hejira, but it's never been my favourite - all the songs are similar tempo, I prefer the variety of Hissing or Don Juan.

Apart from what everyone else has mentioned, I'd recommend Herbie Hancock's album River: the Joni Letters. The version of "Tea-Leaf Prophecy" on there is one of my favourite things of hers. Tina Turner doing "Edith and the Kingpin" is pretty brilliant too, although Leonard Cohen's "The Jungle Line" is cack.

[willbo]

I've got Blue and like it, and I always wanted to get Hejira because it has Jaco on bass. I heard Morning Morgantown (from the album Ladies of the Canyon) on the radio once and thought it was very uplifting. I have to be in the mood for JM though. Sometimes I find her a bit wishy washy.

[The Mollusk]

Congratulations! Ace news.

Thanks man! ☺️