The Joni Mitchell - Best Album POLL

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"lakota" is both embarrassing and gorgeous

emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Saturday, 30 August 2014 21:03 (ten years ago) link

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha "dancin' clown"

emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Saturday, 30 August 2014 21:13 (ten years ago) link

Night Ride Home is so good it's not possible. I feel like i'll even need to listen to Shine at some point on the off chance it's an unrecognised minor classic.

Tim F, Saturday, 30 August 2014 21:19 (ten years ago) link

yeah night ride home kills me. been listening to it around 1 am every night for the past week and it goes so many places without moving very much at all

meanwhile clear standout of chalk mark is "the beat of black wings" which is fucking unbelievable

emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Saturday, 30 August 2014 21:22 (ten years ago) link

also janet jackson's favourite song

Tim F, Saturday, 30 August 2014 21:23 (ten years ago) link

I like the Peter Gabriel duet.

My friend Inskeep wrote this for Stylus years ago:

http://www.stylusmagazine.com/articles/on_second_thought/joni-mitchell-chalk-mark-in-a-rain-storm.htm

guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 31 August 2014 00:32 (ten years ago) link

Interesting take but he makes it sound as if Joni went straight from folkie to overproduced aging boomer

licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Sunday, 31 August 2014 13:59 (ten years ago) link

one year passes...

her politics are pretty simpleminded on those late records; she's casting aspersions all over the place. it's tiresome, even when the music is occasionally seductive. although it's pretty obvious her melodic facility nearly dried up some time around 1979.

wizzz! (amateurist), Sunday, 8 May 2016 12:59 (eight years ago) link

Thanks to Tim F and John D's efforts, I've come round to the entirety of Night Ride Home, one of my favorite autumnal releases.

The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 8 May 2016 13:38 (eight years ago) link

Yeah, Night Ride Home is a wonderful record.

farmboy, Sunday, 8 May 2016 18:24 (eight years ago) link

one month passes...

So the whole time I've been in New York I've had "Song For Sharon" in my head on and off (though haven't actually listened to it). Only Joni could so deeply and indelibly imprint herself in my brain that I can be standing on a subway platform and suddenly think, "A woman I knew just drowned herself / the well was deep and muddy / she was just shaking off futility / or punishing somebody / my friends were calling up all day yesterday / all emotions and abstraction / it seems we all live so close to that line, and / so far from satisfaction..."

Tim F, Thursday, 16 June 2016 04:16 (eight years ago) link

i had "free man in paris" in my head all day today

Mordy, Thursday, 16 June 2016 04:21 (eight years ago) link

although it's pretty obvious her melodic facility nearly dried up some time around 1979.

given that some of the best melodies she ever wrote are on night ride home, lol

The bald Phil Collins impersonator cash grab (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Thursday, 16 June 2016 08:32 (eight years ago) link

"come in from the cold" is so good

brimstead, Thursday, 16 June 2016 19:18 (eight years ago) link

One of her best ever.

Tim F, Thursday, 16 June 2016 22:25 (eight years ago) link

whole album is fantastic except for "Ray's Dad's Cadillac"

because moms and because dads (Sufjan Grafton), Thursday, 16 June 2016 22:30 (eight years ago) link

I've always found the lyrics to "The Windfall" a bit off-putting.

Tim F, Thursday, 16 June 2016 22:45 (eight years ago) link

I don't know the details of the lawsuit, and that might help me enjoy the song

because moms and because dads (Sufjan Grafton), Thursday, 16 June 2016 22:59 (eight years ago) link

nahhhh "ray's dad's cadillac" is great too! love the brassy chord stabs that respond to the refrain.

brimstead, Friday, 17 June 2016 00:22 (eight years ago) link

I do like the overall vibe of the verses. I just hate the refrain so much. Focusing on the brass does help, though, so I appreciate the tip.

because moms and because dads (Sufjan Grafton), Friday, 17 June 2016 00:31 (eight years ago) link

"stokin' the star makin' machinery behind the popular song" is just a beautiful turn of phrase

calstars, Friday, 17 June 2016 03:25 (eight years ago) link

Seeing the love that "Come in From the Cold" is getting here is heartwarming.

rhymes with "blondie blast" (cryptosicko), Friday, 17 June 2016 03:44 (eight years ago) link

I don't know if there are even that many songs about looking back on yr life from the vantage point of middle age anyway, but I can't think of one better, or with such a sense of sweep to it.

Tim F, Friday, 17 June 2016 05:15 (eight years ago) link

I love how the synthesizer responsible for the billowing sound effects is called the Billotron.

The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 17 June 2016 10:31 (eight years ago) link

three weeks pass...

For the Roses holy hell

socka flocka-jones (man alive), Saturday, 9 July 2016 03:38 (eight years ago) link

jason mantzoukas is not really my thing. But he recently revelealed that he listened to Hejira every night for 10 years or something, and it's enough to make me feel something for the guy.

Salsa Golf (Argentinean Ketchup) (Sufjan Grafton), Saturday, 9 July 2016 04:48 (eight years ago) link

Eh revealed obv

Salsa Golf (Argentinean Ketchup) (Sufjan Grafton), Saturday, 9 July 2016 04:48 (eight years ago) link

seven months pass...

I found this pretty tasteless, given that afaik Joni is still alive, but by all accounts will very likely be part of next year's montage, which I believe operates as the morbid implication here

Wimmels, Monday, 27 February 2017 19:04 (seven years ago) link

do they only sing songs for that montage from dead musicians? i personally wouldn't read too much into it. idk.

Mordy, Monday, 27 February 2017 19:06 (seven years ago) link

I'm probably just sensitive because I really want Joni to live forever. But no, I don't think they specifically typically use a song by a dead musician, but when I saw the headline, it made me think Joni'd died and I hadn't heard about it. And the elephant in the room is, you know, she's been very ill...

Wimmels, Monday, 27 February 2017 19:11 (seven years ago) link

seven months pass...

"The Silky Veils of Ardor" is killin' me tonight.

morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 17 October 2017 03:02 (seven years ago) link

I came across this podcast a couple weeks ago when Lilly Hiatt did an episode, and now I've been going through the backlog listening to older ones.

John Oates spoke so glowingly about Blue that I'm almost at the point where I'm ready to commit to making myself like Joni Mitchell. Even if I never do, it was a joy to hear him talk this way about an artist and album he so clearly loves.
http://mrjeremydylan.com/post/151644261850/my-favorite-album-165-john-oates-on-joni

Also, Wimmels man, chill out. Both Sides Now is such a fixture in pop culture that it hardly even registers as a Joni song anymore. It's just a song everybody knows.

Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Tuesday, 17 October 2017 03:36 (seven years ago) link

nine months pass...

court and spark is my favourite, weird it only got 4 votes

which that outro to help me would just loop forever

Ross, Wednesday, 15 August 2018 15:35 (six years ago) link

c&s is my favorite too

marcos, Wednesday, 15 August 2018 15:41 (six years ago) link

court and spark
hissing of summer lawns
don juan's reckless daughter / hejira
blue
for the roses

the others ive listened to quite a lot but they don't feel familiar enough to me to rank

marcos, Wednesday, 15 August 2018 15:42 (six years ago) link

court and spark should have stormed this. Night Ride Home is underrated, if only because of

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1j0j4r_gnw

Hmmmmm (jamiesummerz), Wednesday, 15 August 2018 15:45 (six years ago) link

Night Ride Home has "come in from the cold" too

brimstead, Wednesday, 15 August 2018 16:33 (six years ago) link

Surprised Don Juan gets so overlooked. Feels like the second CD of a hypothetical Hejira deluxe reissue

licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Wednesday, 15 August 2018 18:43 (six years ago) link

Well, exactly. It's a good album but I don't think there are many listeners who like it a lot who wouldn't like at least one of Hissing or Hejira better.

Tim F, Wednesday, 15 August 2018 19:04 (six years ago) link

don juan imo is looser, warmer, more spontaneous, and free-flowing than hejira, even if the quality is slightly lower. i reach for it more than hejira

marcos, Wednesday, 15 August 2018 19:18 (six years ago) link

one year passes...

The Guardian rank Joni Mitchell's albums.

Bit of a surprise in second place.

Portsmouth Bubblejet, Thursday, 15 August 2019 12:05 (five years ago) link

What begins promisingly (opening track Sunny Sunday is a reminder of her 70s work) soon disappoints with rhymes as basic as “And the oil spills / And sex kills.”

I love this couplet, thanks to her sandpaper-dry delivery.

TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 15 August 2019 12:16 (five years ago) link

Without wanting to sound contrary, I think Blue is my least favourite of the albums I've heard and maybe the reason I was originally put off by her music, as I'd originally pegged her as a simpering MOR singer-songwriter type. It doesn't have as much of the playfulness or experimentalism of the other albums I like.
Gun-to-head I'd go for Court & Spark (which is her 'Radioactivity' in that the songs are short and you can easily listen to it as a suite).

frame casual (dog latin), Thursday, 15 August 2019 12:21 (five years ago) link

I had a mild argument on Twitter last Tuesday on that very point: Blue is my least favorite of the major albums. The lack of sonic play is part of it; also, I can't deny that the media line for forty years has been it's her best because it's Her Most Personal Album, which, you know, bollocks to that.

TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 15 August 2019 12:29 (five years ago) link

"A Case of You" and "Edith and the Kingpin" are two great songs with vastly different arrangements and intentions, but I'd rather listen to the latter.

TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 15 August 2019 12:30 (five years ago) link

Sometimes an album full of brilliant songs is more than plenty, there's tons of playfulness in the playing and writing on Blue. Not that I ever want to play the best of game with Joni

uptown top tanking (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 15 August 2019 12:37 (five years ago) link

yeah i agree with dog latin and alfred, the arrangements on court & spark elevate it way above blue for me, and it also feels just much more melodically generous (which is also aided by the arrangements)

ufo, Thursday, 15 August 2019 12:47 (five years ago) link

there's tons of playfulness in the playing and writing on Blue

otm, disagree pretty aggressively with this run of posts

american bradass (BradNelson), Thursday, 15 August 2019 12:54 (five years ago) link

the arrangements may not be as sumptuous or thick as on court or hissing but it keeps thinking up ways to be inventive without necessarily amplifying it, i'm thinking of the intro to "all i really want" with those guitars chicken-scratching away in the emptiness, an unsettled and yearning feeling that the rest of the album lives in. also needless to say the title track sets up for the roses which sets up the next few records etc. and this is not even getting into "the last time i saw richard" as a composition

american bradass (BradNelson), Thursday, 15 August 2019 12:59 (five years ago) link


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