How to buy... Joni Mitchell

by Hugh Gregory
MOJO
August 2003

Is she better than fellow Canadian Neil Young? Yes.

After the release of the 2 CD set Travelogue at the end of 2002, Joni Mitchell memorably described the record industry as a "cesspool" and declared that she would never record again. Happily her opinion seems to have softened since then. It would be a shame for her career to conclude on such a rancorous note, for of all artists who came of age at the end of the sixties, Mitchell may well prove to be the most enduring.

At first she was the embodiment of the emancipated singer-songwriter, meditating cathartically on the perfidies and complexities of modern living. While her stance was often too close to the bone to make it plain easy listening, the subtlety of the arrangements and the use of the best session musicians money could buy meant that her albums were intellectually and musically outstanding. In an era when Los Angeles was spawning groups like The Eagles and singer-songwriters such as Carole King and James Taylor, Joni Mitchell stood apart.

In the mid seventies, Mitchell edged away from the usual crop of Los Angeles sessioneers by using players like bassist Jaco Pastorius and members of The Crusaders, until by the end of the decade - with the album Mingus - she was recording jazz material with jazz musicians.

Into the nineties, meanwhile, she faced the growth to maturity with an unflinching eye and a voice smoked deep by cigarettes.

While the first four albums (up to Blue) have been digitally re-mastered, Mitchell's catalogue - including the ten year sojourn with Geffin - has been left to take care of itself.

There are just two greatest hits collections, two double live albums, and now two releases with orchestral arrangements. All this suggests that Mitchell keeps a very firm hand on catalogue exploitation. So should this really be the end of the road - and it could be - Travelogue is as good a place to end as any.

10 Both Sides Now
Though named after one of her most famous and oft-covered songs, this is no 'greatest hits'. Performed with a seventy piece symphony orchestra, it's mostly a collection of standards from the 30s and 40s that traces the peaks and troughs of a love affair in first bloom and final expiry. It's further proof of Mitchell's versatility that she is able to invest songs popularised by such giants as Sinatra and Billie Holiday with her own self; the re-recording of Both Sides Now is particularly affecting. Nice cameos from Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter give an edge to the lush arrangements.

9 Wild Things Run Fast
Having just married her bassist Larry Klein, Mitchell's next move was to make a carefree, jubilant and accessible album. With covers of Unchained Melody and Leiber and Stollers's Baby I don't Care complementing the usual slew of originals such as Ladies Man , this is an 80s pop-rock album without tears. The balance in the arrangements is also well judged, with regulars such as Wayne Shorter on soprano sax providing the emotional grist against the smooth lines of guitarists Larry Carlton and Steve Lukather. Not her greatest, but nice to hear her unambiguously happy.

8 Song to a Seagull
This is where it all began: Carole King was probably recording Tapestry at the same time and Judy Collins, an interpreter of the first order, was beginning to adopt more luxurious arrangements. Produced by David Crosby, STAS is an art-folk concept album. The first part, entitled I Came to the City, chronicles the tedium of urban life, while the second, Out of the City and down to the Sea, celebrates the mystery and majestic forces of nature. The sound is a touch dated, but a strong narrative drive and still twinkling melodies more than make up for it.

7 Miles of Aisles
This live set covers material from the first five albums, and certainly exceeds the national live album average. Versions of such well known songs as Both Sides Now, Big Yellow Taxi, The Circle Game, Woodstock and Chelsea Morning (sic) are played with the LA Express and members of The Crusaders, and their clean precise arrangements call to mind Steely Dan at their best. Be aware, though, that between song banter has been removed from the CD, making the original vinyl issue in some ways the more authentic document of a bygone golden afternoon of southern Californian rock.

6 Hejira
After two albums of experiments and expansion, Hejira is cooler and more low key, fitting in beautifully with the ebb and flow of Mitchell's output. Here she is accompanied by a smaller combo than usually - piano, acoustic guitar and Jaco Pastorius's extraordinary bass playing take centre stage - and the songs are correspondingly more reflective. Particularly wonderful is Amelia, which uses the iconic female aviator as a metaphor or romantic loss and self realisation. Neil Young guests on gob-iron on Furry Sings the Blues. A strange album, but definitely worth investigating.

5 Blue
At the peak of her drawing power as a performer in the early 70s, Blue sold by the bucket load. Now digitally re-mastered, the arrangements still sound sharp, showcasing the chops of the LA based Crosby Stills and Nash mob. The 10 songs are all pearls, evoking growth as well as decline of romantic happiness much like Both Sides Now would almost 30 years later; A Case of You and My Old Man are among the best ever songs about relationships. Benign and joyful without being vapid, and sad and stark when it needs to be, it's arguably her most rewarding work of all.

4 Mingus
One of the boldest moves in a career that's full of them. Mingus sold well and actually made the US top twenty. This was some feat; the challenge of writing lyrics for the melodies of great jazz bassist and composer Charles Mingus was a spur to greater heights of impressionistic glory and confirmed Mitchell as one of the most idiosyncratic performers of the modern era. Having said that, it requires effort, but the rewards are immense; a record that opens up new vistas every time. Some listeners to this opus have even been moved to check out the Mingus catalogue. Praise indeed.

3 Turbulent Indigo
The first striking thing? The cover art, a Van Gogh pastiche where Mitchell paints herself as the woeful Vincent after chopping his own ear off. Accordingly, this poetic, tuneful and sparse album is full of self doubt and recrimination, well able to depict an artist seemingly in denial and emotionally on the edge. The arrangements, however, crackle with energy and invention, particularly when sax player Wayne Shorter is on hand. All, of course, is delivered in the cigarette ravaged voice that distinguishes her later work. Probably her best release of the nineties.

2 Court and Spark
While Mitchell was never resistant to change, Court and Spark' sudden upgrade to smooth pop was surprising to many. A complex romantic and gently mocking album, its sophisticated arrangements foreshadowed the assimilation of jazzers like Tom Scott or Joe Sample. She mocks her own susceptibility - Help Me is engagingly dizzy - while arrangements are refined and elegant with just enough steel to give them bite (hear Robbie Robertson on vintage rock'n'roll flavoured Raised on Robbery). While not as heady as her more experimental work, it's her most commercially successful album.

1 The Hissing of Summer Lawns
Reputedly the favourite all time album of one Prince Rogers Nelson, this record spurned the commercial possibilities that followed the earlier Court and Spark to explore edgier, more rarified spheres. Made with members of The Crusaders and the LA Express, this is an album to take you from urban southern California to the primeval and the agrarian. The Jungle Line, for example, juxtaposes jazzular Moogy oddness with the Warrior Drums of Burundi; Harry's House, meanwhile, appeared in the Burt Reynolds movie Sharkey's Machine. Daring, eclectic and beautiful, it still has secrets to reveal.

ALSO
There are two Joni Mitchell compilations - The Hits and The Misses. The former is self explanatory, while the latter comprises the favourite songs of the artist, who compiled the album herself.

Elsewhere, Travelogue is a 2 CD set featuring songs from her entire career on which she is accompanied by a full orchestra.

A starker in-performance set, Shadows and Light features jazzy arrangements and guitarist Pat Metheny, both overpowering the intimacy and cogency of her songs.

AVOID
While she does not make bad albums, selections from Mitchell's canon are an acquired taste. Dog Eat Dog is a case in point; she seems out of kilter with herself as much as anything