Her introspective writing and multi-octave range have influenced everyone from the obvious (like fellow Canadian chanteuse Sarah McLachlan) to the unexpected (like the Artist). Yet Joni Mitchell is written off as a mainstream '70s pop singer, or compared to the illustrious Jewel, rather than lauded for writing lyrics as insightful and eloquent as Bob Dylan's.

Mitchell cranked out record after record after record in the late '60s and throughout the '70s, later on straying from her folkie image and becoming more experimental. Although less credited than most of the other Woodstock performers, she was instrumental in the folk movement, and her influence is far reaching. Her name comes up time and time again as an influence of a variety of artists, including Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and Madonna.

1971's Blue represents some of her finest and most accessible work. With occasional guitar and drums from high powered friends like Stephen Stills and James Taylor, the largely piano-driven album - far removed from most guitar-heavy folk albums - showcases Mitchell's introspective lyrics, and her clear, soaring voice.

Unlike many of her folk contemporaries, Mitchell waxes poetic about romance on Blue. Her lyrics are so descriptive and beautiful that they can stand alone as poems. She sets them to music by playing with the natural accents of words, and the result is flowing and soothing to the ear.

"Blue," perhaps the most well-known song on the album, is a beautiful multi-octave ballad about the turbulent '70s: "Acid, booze and ass/ Needles, guns and grass/ Lots of laughs, lots of laughs/ Well everybody's saying that hell's the hippest way to go/ Well I don't think so/ But I'm going to take a look around it though."

On "California" Mitchell sings about her love for her adopted home state: "So I bought me a ticket/ I caught a plane to Spain/ When to a party down a red dirt road/ There were lots of pretty people there/ Reading Rolling Stone, reading Vogue."

Perhaps the most poignant track on Blue is "Little Green," a song about the baby girl that Mitchell gave up for adoption in 1964 (and with whom she was just recently reunited). She sings, "Child with a child pretending/ Weary of lies you are sending home/ So you sign all the papers in the family name/ You're sad and you're sorry but you're not ashamed/ Little Green, have a happy ending."

With all the attention that is currently focused on female singers - many of whose music is directly descended from Joni Mitchell - it's time that Mitchell's albums were revisited. Maybe, just maybe, one day she will be recognized as one of the instrumental figures of rock music.