Joni Mitchell's new one, "Ladies of The Canyon," on Reprise is far from a blank. Twelve new songs, all simple, glorious, romantic and lovely, done up in that frail Joni Mitchell way, make the album a landmark.

Delicate and sensitive, the gentle maid from Canada is the very model for lady folk singers. Her voice, not exactly beautiful, rises and falls, cracks and flows at all the right times. Like the traditional folk singer, standard notions of beauty are forsaken in favor of highly effective voice manipulations.

You'll probably hear all of these songs again, as soon as the folk-rock world gets their hands on the music. Better to get it from the original - check "Ladies of The Canyon." It'll make you happy.