August 12, 2004

Posted August 12, 2004

Joni's retrospective CD Dreamland is due for release on September 14. Following are a few excerpts from today's press release:

"Curated with Mitchell and featuring several of her new paintings as well as liner notes from noted film director and journalist Cameron Crowe, DREAMLAND includes 17 tracks and their complete lyrics together for the first time in one place.

...Crowe was approached to write the liner notes that accompany the CD and submitted a wonderfully eloquent and insightful essay framing the history of Joni's work and Joni herself.

DREAMLAND includes songs from every phase of Joni's amazing repertoire. From the earliest days of Ladies Of The Canyon to the emotional intensity of Blue; from the romantic song cycle of Court And Spark to the pioneering days of sampling on The Hissing Of Summer Lawns and her jazz journeys on Don Juan's Reckless Daughter and Mingus; from the Grammy-winning Pop Album of the Year Turbulent Indigo to Joni's orchestral explorations of her own work on Both Sides Now and Travelogue, Mitchell is a seminal artist who continues to push the boundaries of both music and society."

A few words from Cameron Crowe are included with the press release: "Like her painting, like her songs, like her life. Joni Mitchell has never settled for the easy answers; it's the big questions that she's still exploring, like no one else, whether it's with a paintbrush, a guitar, a ukulele."

This is a great collection for Joniphiles who want to listen to her best-known music without having to sift through a stack of CD's to find it, or as an introduction to Joni's music for the uninitiated. The uplifting, introspective and familiar music on Dreamland works wonderfully as a contrast to the serious and challenging selections on The Beginning of Survival; the pair of CD's show different sides of Joni and serve as fine companions. And as always, the package doubles as a gallery of her latest paintings.

Although Rhino.com is sure to have information on the CD available at their website, it isn't up just yet. I'd wait until the September release date gets a little closer before checking with them.