copped the whole collection on amazon (don't want to look at my bank account right now lol) last week. one of the first I received was Ladies Of The Canyon, wonderful stuff. listening to artists who inspired P is really helping me deal with what happened ...

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so what I'd like to find out is, did P ever mention which Joni albums (or songs - I only knew about the album 'Blue' and the song 'A Case OF You') he liked best?

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thanks for helping me out here!

I would have to guess 'Hejira' since it was one of the last few records he bought and the album cover was also featured in UTCM spotted in the background (can't remember what scene was it tho)

[Edited 5/21/16 2:24am]

I think I read somewhere that his favourite Joni album was The Hissing of Summer Lawns

lion88 said:

I think I read somewhere that his favourite Joni album was The Hissing of Summer Lawns

It was the Hissing of Summer Lawns. It got him turned on to Joni and he used to listen to it all the time.

thank you all! can't wait to hear 'Hejira' & 'The Hissing Of Summer Lawns'

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next time I watch UTCM (might be a while, watched it two weeks ago) I'll try& spot that album cover

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so far I've listened to 'Blue', 'Court and Spark', Mingus', 'Night Ride Home' and as stated in the OP 'Ladies Of The Canyon'.

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the reason I didn't check out Joni's catalogue earlier is that only gave 'Blue' a cursory listen (liked it, never played it again though - clearly a mistake) and that I absolutely disliked the tribute album (with P's 'A Case Of U', which I do like a lot). I thought the tribute album sounded very forced and amateurish. some of the musical accompaniment sounded like schmalz to my ears. I'll probably give the tribute album another listen to see if I can open up to it more now

From Rolling Stone, September 12, 1985

"Prince Talks" by Neal Karlen

Are there any current groups you listen to a lot or learn from?

Naah. The last album I loved all the way through was [Joni Mitchell’s] The Hissing of Summer Lawns

langebleu said:

From Rolling Stone, September 12, 1985

"Prince Talks" by Neal Karlen

Are there any current groups you listen to a lot or learn from?

Naah. The last album I loved all the way through was [Joni Mitchell’s] The Hissing of Summer Lawns

OF COURSE he was listening to a lot of current groups all the time and he was learning from, absorbing a lot of them, so his "Naah" response was total bs. He was always very keen on checking out the competition and keeping an eye on upcoming artists too.

And by the way, just because he mentioned Summer Lawns as the "last album he loved", doesn't mean it was his favourite Joni Mitchell LP.

Just as the CDs he bought at the record store recently shouldn't be taken as if they were his favourite albums. We do not know.

For me, it's far more likely that he already had complete discographies of all his favourite artists at home and he didn't need to buy those 6 CDs – he simply wanted to support his local record shop. It was just a genuine, lovely gesture, and perhaps he just randomly picked a few CDs of artists he wanted to show his love for. It's surely not like he was buying 'Talking Book' the first time in his life, right?

KaresB said:

langebleu said:

From Rolling Stone, September 12, 1985

"Prince Talks" by Neal Karlen

Are there any current groups you listen to a lot or learn from?

Naah. The last album I loved all the way through was [Joni Mitchell’s] The Hissing of Summer Lawns

OF COURSE he was listening to a lot of current groups all the time and he was learning from, absorbing a lot of them, so his "Naah" response was total bs. He was always very keen on checking out the competition and keeping an eye on upcoming artists too.

And by the way, just because he mentioned Summer Lawns as the "last album he loved", doesn't mean it was his favourite Joni Mitchell LP.

Just as the CDs he bought at the record store recently shouldn't be taken as if they were his favourite albums. We do not know.

For me, it's far more likely that he already had complete discographies of all his favourite artists at home and he didn't need to buy those 6 CDs – he simply wanted to support his local record shop. It was just a genuine, lovely gesture, and perhaps he just randomly picked a few CDs of artists he wanted to show his love for. It's surely not like he was buying 'Talking Book' the first time in his life, right?

makes sense indeed

I'm pretty certain he sang praises for Court and Spark in an interview.

mightycow said:

thank you all! can't wait to hear 'Hejira' & 'The Hissing Of Summer Lawns'

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next time I watch UTCM (might be a while, watched it two weeks ago) I'll try& spot that album cover

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so far I've listened to 'Blue', 'Court and Spark', Mingus', 'Night Ride Home' and as stated in the OP 'Ladies Of The Canyon'.

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the reason I didn't check out Joni's catalogue earlier is that only gave 'Blue' a cursory listen (liked it, never played it again though - clearly a mistake) and that I absolutely disliked the tribute album (with P's 'A Case Of U', which I do like a lot). I thought the tribute album sounded very forced and amateurish. some of the musical accompaniment sounded like schmalz to my ears. I'll probably give the tribute album another listen to see if I can open up to it more now

There is music on Court & Spark that always fells like the Parade era too me

check out Down To You especially when it goes into into the instrumental parts and I hear Venus De Milo I hear the Parade album, I hear the UTCM score

KaresB said:

langebleu said:

From Rolling Stone, September 12, 1985

"Prince Talks" by Neal Karlen

Are there any current groups you listen to a lot or learn from?

Naah. The last album I loved all the way through was [Joni Mitchell’s] The Hissing of Summer Lawns

OF COURSE he was listening to a lot of current groups all the time and he was learning from, absorbing a lot of them, so his "Naah" response was total bs. He was always very keen on checking out the competition and keeping an eye on upcoming artists too.

And by the way, just because he mentioned Summer Lawns as the "last album he loved", doesn't mean it was his favourite Joni Mitchell LP.

Just as the CDs he bought at the record store recently shouldn't be taken as if they were his favourite albums. We do not know.

For me, it's far more likely that he already had complete discographies of all his favourite artists at home and he didn't need to buy those 6 CDs – he simply wanted to support his local record shop. It was just a genuine, lovely gesture, and perhaps he just randomly picked a few CDs of artists he wanted to show his love for. It's surely not like he was buying 'Talking Book' the first time in his life, right?

you're right, that was in those years where he wanted to create an aloof mystique, and he did. He used to say he didn't listen to any current music and he might have even said he only listens to his own. In some ways, he didn't change a lot, he was fond of saying that he didn't have time for new music and if he wanted to hear some, he just made it up. i never believed it though, mainly because his style was similar to the sound of the time. Partly because of his huge influence but also because that's the way the music was being played in that era.

and no, he wasn't buying talking book because he needed it, in the same RS interview he put on Stevie's failed experiment "the secret life of plants" so you know if he knew and album that wasn't a classic, you know he'd know any that were (of stevie's).

Who's to say what his favorite Joni album was. In the 80s he did an interview with RS where he said that The Hissing Of Summer Lawns was the last album he listened to all the way through. I'm not surprised that Hejira was one of his last record purchases. It is a timeless record that is still in my top 5 records of all-time.

I'm guessing that one of the reasons he appreciated her was not only her genius -- but she surrounded herself with only the best musicians. Pat Metheny, Larry Carlton, Don Alias, Jaco Pastorius, Lyle Mays, Michael Brecker -- and that's just for starters. Surround yourself with great musicians, and your vision becomes easier for the mainstream to connect with. Prince did that at times, but failed at other times quite spectacularly. (Not just on stage, but in the studio.) And like Prince, she made music for herself. She didn't care what the critics had to say (Prince clearly did at times.) But pre-Batman, it felt like Prince didn't care what critics had to say. He unfortunately became a lot more predictable Batman and beyond.

P.S. Wendy & Lisa were on her "Dog Eat Dog" album... I believe that was the album they were on. Not one of my favorites as that was a period where it seems like the record company was trying to make her more pop -- or maybe she was just trying to fit in. (Billy Idol was on that record too.)

There are said to be allusions to Joni's work in Prince songs too.

The famous one is "I was working part-time at a five and dime, My boss was Mr. McGee" from "Raspberry Beret"-- which some say is a reference to "McGee's General Store" from Joni's "Paprika Plains" on Don Juan's Reckless Daughter. Could be a coincidence, but he was so into her work I wouldn't put it past him at all.

When I first heard the line in "June": "You're off somewhere being free." My first thought was that this was an allusion to "Cactus Tree" from Joni's 1968 debut album Song to a Seagull. It's a fairly distinctive, memorable lyric that's repeated at the end of each chorus: "While she was off somewhere being free", "While she was so busy being free" etc.

I wonder if there are more?

MrSquiggle said:

There are said to be allusions to Joni's work in Prince songs too.

The famous one is "I was working part-time at a five and dime, My boss was Mr. McGee" from "Raspberry Beret"-- which some say is a reference to "McGee's General Store" from Joni's "Paprika Plains" on Don Juan's Reckless Daughter. Could be a coincidence, but he was so into her work I wouldn't put it past him at all.

When I first heard the line in "June": "You're off somewhere being free." My first thought was that this was an allusion to "Cactus Tree" from Joni's 1968 debut album Song to a Seagull. It's a fairly distinctive, memorable lyric that's repeated at the end of each chorus: "While she was off somewhere being free", "While she was so busy being free" etc.

I wonder if there are more?

I have no doubts. Surely Susannah, Wendy and Lisa would know. "Power Fantastic" sounds like it was recorded after a marathon Joni listening session.

I've never understood how one could be a huge Prince fan, without also being a the same for Joni.

We are SO lucky to have been alive while they were making music. I wish I'd been born a decade sooner so I could have seen the "Shadows & Light" tour. My parents went to the tour promoting "Blue" in Hawaii. Tickets were $2.50

suomynona said:

P.S. Wendy & Lisa were on her "Dog Eat Dog" album... I believe that was the album they were on. Not one of my favorites as that was a period where it seems like the record company was trying to make her more pop -- or maybe she was just trying to fit in. (Billy Idol was on that record too.)

You're thinking of Chalk Mark in a Rain Storm from 1988. W&L sang backing on "The Tea Leaf Prophecy." Personally I don't think she ever cared about being pop. You could certainly take that album that way, but I think she's always just done whatever she was interested in at the time. I saw an interview with her once where she said that people never like the album she's just done, and always wish it was like the one before it.

suomynona said:

I've never understood how one could be a huge Prince fan, without also being a the same for Joni.

We are SO lucky to have been alive while they were making music. I wish I'd been born a decade sooner so I could have seen the "Shadows & Light" tour. My parents went to the tour promoting "Blue" in Hawaii. Tickets were $2.50

I agree. I actually changed my name to Joni not long ago, haha. It's a long story, but after seeing Prince a few months ago in Sydney, including "A Case of U", I realised I was transgender. I never really had a shortlist of names, once I knew I was going to live the rest of my life as a woman there was only one choice: Joni. A very high standard is set for me with that name and Prince would likely have agreed. I'm taking Nelson as my middle name as well.

I've never seen her live. I wonder if she'll ever tour again, I really doubt it. It would certainly be a great event if she did. I wouldn't rule out some new music at some point. Shine came out of the blue.

I also forgot to mention the famous quote from "Help Me" in "The Ballad of Dorothy Parker."

MrSquiggle said:

suomynona said:

I've never understood how one could be a huge Prince fan, without also being a the same for Joni.

We are SO lucky to have been alive while they were making music. I wish I'd been born a decade sooner so I could have seen the "Shadows & Light" tour. My parents went to the tour promoting "Blue" in Hawaii. Tickets were $2.50

I agree. I actually changed my name to Joni not long ago, haha. It's a long story, but after seeing Prince a few months ago in Sydney, including "A Case of U", I realised I was transgender. I never really had a shortlist of names, once I knew I was going to live the rest of my life as a woman there was only one choice: Joni. A very high standard is set for me with that name and Prince would likely have agreed. I'm taking Nelson as my middle name as well.

I've never seen her live. I wonder if she'll ever tour again, I really doubt it. It would certainly be a great event if she did. I wouldn't rule out some new music at some point. Shine came out of the blue.

I also forgot to mention the famous quote from "Help Me" in "The Ballad of Dorothy Parker."

you chose great names!

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I think Joni stated she'll never tour again? (not 100% though, could have been she said she wouldn't record a new album ever again) there's a big chunk of her catalogue (the seventies records) that, due to smoking for years on end, she can't perform the same way she used to, I think

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back to the subject of names again, if I ever have children the name 'Joni' is definitely on the table

mightycow said:

MrSquiggle said:

I agree. I actually changed my name to Joni not long ago, haha. It's a long story, but after seeing Prince a few months ago in Sydney, including "A Case of U", I realised I was transgender. I never really had a shortlist of names, once I knew I was going to live the rest of my life as a woman there was only one choice: Joni. A very high standard is set for me with that name and Prince would likely have agreed. I'm taking Nelson as my middle name as well.

I've never seen her live. I wonder if she'll ever tour again, I really doubt it. It would certainly be a great event if she did. I wouldn't rule out some new music at some point. Shine came out of the blue.

I also forgot to mention the famous quote from "Help Me" in "The Ballad of Dorothy Parker."

you chose great names!

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I think Joni stated she'll never tour again? (not 100% though, could have been she said she wouldn't record a new album ever again) there's a big chunk of her catalogue (the seventies records) that, due to smoking for years on end, she can't perform the same way she used to, I think

.

back to the subject of names again, if I ever have children the name 'Joni' is definitely on the table