New Joni Mitchell Box Set Chronicles the Turn She Took After ‘Blue’

The Asylum Albums (1972-1975) features an essay by her friend and fellow Canadian Scorpio Neil Young

by Angie Martoccio
Rolling Stone
July 28, 2022

DAYS AFTER STUNNING the internet with her surprise performance at the Newport Folk Festival, Joni Mitchell announced the upcoming box set The Asylum Albums (1972-1975).

The release chronicles the pivotal turn Mitchell took following the massive success of 1971's Blue when she famously retreated to British Columbia's Sunshine Coast for a period of solitude. There, she wrote For the Roses. The release contains the remastering of that album, followed by 1974's Court and Spark, the double live album Miles of Aisles (1974), and The Hissing of Summer Lawns, released the following year.

The Asylum Albums, out Sept. 23, will be released in a variety of formats that include a 5-LP set limited to 20,000 copies. You can hear "You Turn Me On I'm a Radio," the hit single she wrote ironically when asked for a hit single, above.

The cover art of the box set features an original painting by Mitchell and includes an essay written by her friend and fellow Canadian Scorpio Neil Young. "Joni's music is so deep and transporting," he writes. "She comes right from the source. There is no mistaking it...For The Roses, Court And Spark, Miles Of Aisles, and The Hissing Of Summer Lawns...are all classics in my book. I listened to every album as it came out. The musicians she played with were always above my abilities. She had grown from folk to jazz and in between, creating a unique kind of sound that I loved to listen to over and over."

In the same way that The Reprise Albums (1968-1971) accompanied the release of Joni Mitchell Archives Vol. 2: The Reprise Years (1968 To 1971), the upcoming box set will drop shortly before Joni Mitchell Archives Vol. 3, which has yet to be officially announced.