The new album by Joni Mitchell entitled Blue (Reprise) has Joni going off into new musical directions. There are several excellent cuts on the album especially the title song, "Blue," which says in its lyrics, "Well everybody's saying that hell's the hippest way to go / Well I don't think so / But I'm gonna take a look around it though / Blue, I love you."

There are some famous musicians that assist Joni Mitchell on this album: among them are James Taylor and Stephen Stills. There is an influence of James Taylor on this album. It shows in the repetition of lyrics and a slight bluesy feeling exhibited in several songs. This is exemplified in the song "All I Want" which says, "I want to make you feel better / I want to make you feel free."

The influence of James Taylor weakens the songs of Joni Mitchell. It ruins the beautiful rhythm and feeling for lyrics that is shown in her previous albums.

Mitchell's lyrics are usually beautiful personal reminiscences of events in her past. However, the album lacks this quality. A song such as "Corey" [sic] has a beautiful rhythm with lyrics as weak as the usual songs on AM radio (maybe that's why this song was played on AM radio.)

Any person who is in love with Joni Mitchell's music, go out and buy this new album. For you other people, just keep playing her previous album, Ladies of the Canyon, and hope that Joni Mitchell returns to her beautiful lyrics and melodies present in that album.