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The Joni Journey

I played Ladies of the canyon & Mingus today, both on vinyl & it was a great session. Ladies of the canyon remans a favourite, but Mingus is good too albeit not as accessible. I think you have to be in the mood for Mingus, but the sound quality and dynamics are quite astonishing at times!
 
If anybody fancies treating themselves then snap up the Joni Mitchell Love Has Many Faces boxset, released in 2014, as it is still available (probs not much longer). Numbered copy out of 5,000.

It was curated by Joni herself and is an 8LP walk through her catalogue. Beautifully put together with some of her paintings as artwork. A reason to get it is it has a number of tracks from Both Sides Now and Travelogue, neither of which were released on LP. And the mastering by Bernie Grundman is just stellar.

It contains an interesting essay/album notes from Joni that is well worth a read. For those not wanting to get the set, the notes are there to read on her website under the entry for the box in her discography. Some fascinating insights into the background and recording of her music.
 
wylton said:
I think you have to be in the mood for Mingus, but the sound quality and dynamics are quite astonishing at times!
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Indeed, I was genuinely shocked by that the last time I played it! Huge dynamic range (UK 1st press). I’ve got a US 1st press of Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter and that packs a punch too. Huge guitar and drum transients. Great albums.
 
laughingboy said:
Here's a live version of 'At Last' from that album:
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Joni is highly multi-talented but this draws on her first and greatest: vocal interpretation. Just judged as a display of a singing voice, one would rate it good-not-great, but that misses the point. Her singing communicates the feeling of the lyrics so movingly, the performance approaches definitive.
 
After not getting her when I was young Blue hooked me (though it took a few listens). I have recently acquired the studio albums box and was listening the other day to it. One of my favourite things about her singing is just how clear and always in tune it is even when she is moving a lot. Of course fantastic time sure helps there. My first introduction to Both Sides Now was Judy Collins when I was in my early teens. I like the tune quite a bit and of course the lyrics but only heard Joni sing it for the first time this week..well...tears.
 
Woodface said:
Well, after confessing my ignorance of Joni Mitchell & despite certain misgivings, I now consider myself ‘a fan’.

So far I have the following:

Blue
Court & Spark
Hejira
Hissing of Summer Lawns
Ladies of the Canyon

Ladies is probably my least favourite but I still like it despite no caring about a big yellow taxi. So, where next?
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I’ve never quite understood Joni Mitchell.
As for her records, I own ‘Clouds’ and ‘Ladies of the Canyon.’
‘Clouds’ gets played regularly, but ‘Ladies’ hardly ever.
My girlfriend ( later Wife ) listen to ‘Blue’ in her ‘20s, but I have never listened to the complete album.
 
Martyn Miles said:
I’ve never quite understood Joni Mitchell.
As for her records, I own ‘Clouds’ and ‘Ladies of the Canyon.’
‘Clouds’ gets played regularly, but ‘Ladies’ hardly ever.
My girlfriend ( later Wife ) listen to ‘Blue’ in her ‘20s, but I have never listened to the complete album.
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I think she is a genius basically & I don’t use the word lightly. She is far ahead of her contemporaries but I don’t think women are taken as seriously as men within her genre (this is largely an unconscious bias these days but more pervasive back then).
 
Clearly she peaked on Hissing of Summer Lawns. And what a peak it was.

A shame her 70s jazzy era ended, but of the modern stuff, Turbulent Indigo is very good album.

 
Filled a gap today by finding a nice US original of Shadows And Light. I’d got through the 43 years since its release without hearing it at all and it really is superb! As is so often the case the US vinyl is superb too, really open and dynamic. My copy could maybe do with being a bit quieter, but such great mastering. It is inevitably an amazing band given who’s in it!
 
Tony L said:
Filled a gap today by finding a nice US original of Shadows And Light. I’d got through the 43 years since its release without hearing it at all and it really is superb! As is so often the case the US vinyl is superb too, really open and dynamic. My copy could maybe do with being a bit quieter, but such great mastering. It is inevitably an amazing band given who’s in it!
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Never heard of it, will check it out.
 
Tony L said:
Filled a gap today by finding a nice US original of Shadows And Light. I’d got through the 43 years since its release without hearing it at all and it really is superb! As is so often the case the US vinyl is superb too, really open and dynamic. My copy could maybe do with being a bit quieter, but such great mastering. It is inevitably an amazing band given who’s in it!
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And the bonus of the vinyl is that you don't have to listen to the bass solo (sorry Jaco fans...) that's on the video version.
 
Listened to Shadows and Light on You-Tube last night. Heck of a band, and it was something to see Jaco Pastorius, in the middle of the concert, fiddling, trying, fiddling some more, etc with his guitar and amp to get things just right. A perfectionist spirit that probably also shows up in the mastering of the album.
 
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