Been getting into Joni and picked this up yesterday. I'm just intrigued about it's theme. Judging by the artwork it seems 2 be 9/11 thing but it puzzles me that there's not a written explanation especially 4 an album of that length. Can anyone please fill me in about this record.
Also what other Joni stuffs worth getting. I have Blue, Court and Spark and The Hissing Of Summer Lawns already. Thanx in advance folks...

"Hissing of Summer Lawns" is gorgeous...I love that album. "Blue" is her classic signature album, though I've never really been able to get into it 100%...it's definitely worth a listen, though...

Blue, Court and Spark, and Hissing of Summer Lawns are great albums. "Mingus" is another album worth investigating, it was dedicated to the jazz bass Legend Charles Mingus, a very haunting album with a recording of Mingus speaking at his last birthday party, beautiful. One of the first albums I bought by her after Hissing and Court, was "Chalk Mark in a Rainstorm" it's not a flawless album but it has it's moments. The songs "The Beat of Black Wings", "My Secret Place" (featuring Peter Gabriel) and The Tea Leaf Prophecy (featuring Wendy and Lisa) makes it worth the purchase (shouldn't be hard to find in the cutouts). It's a lot different from here earlier releases, kinda of a slick late 80's production and only has one acoustic guitar and voice song (featuring Wayne Shorter) that has a incredible soprano saxophone solo.

You should definitely add "Don Juan's Reckless Daughter" to your library. And you MUST have its precursor "Hejira," one of her crowning releases.

As for her more recent stuff, I'd say "Turbulent Indigo" is probably her best original work in the last 15 years.
[This message was edited Wed Oct 22 11:49:49 PDT 2003 by Lammastide]

Blue is incredible.

sinisterpentatonic said:

Could'nt have said it better myself...but I will stress that Court & Spark, and Blue are incredible albums!!! BLUE is the perfect 'haning around on a Sunday morning with a cup of coffee' album! Try it...you'll love it trust me!

You really can't go wrong with any of her output from 1970-1977 (from Ladies of the Canyon to Don Juan's Reckless Daughter). I am partial to hearing her accompanied by a piano rather than a guitar (then again, I am a pianist).

Court and Spark is by far my favorite Joni Mitchell album. "Down To You" is a masterpiece.

the TRAVELOGUE album is not really supposed to be themed 9-11. she just included the paintings she made after she saw the twin towers on television in the book. and the album starts with OTIS AND MARLENA, but i think that is all. for me, the album is more about the journey of getting older.

No one suggested LADIES OF THE CANYON yet, that is the album before BLUE. It has got four mayor songs on it, LADIES OF THE CANYON, WOODSTOCK, BIG YELLOW TAXI and THE CIRCLE GAME.

My favourites are HEJIRA, THE HISSING OF SUMMER LAWNS, NIGHT RIDE HOME and BLUE.

Hey how excited was I to find this thread!!!

I had just been doing a medley (really bad) in the shower of "For Free", "Woodstock", "A Case Of You" and "Conversation".

Cool to know that there are so many Joni-heads out there today!

travelogue sucks ass

Erm, Said in my original post that I HAVE Blue, Court and Spark, and Hissing of Summer Lawns and I happily cosign all opinions of those albums on this thread.
Will check out all other recommendations here though.
Also is there a decent biography of Joni? I don't really know much about her beyond her great music and lyrics.
Joni=

Jamademus said:

JONI MITCHELL: SHADOWS AND LIGHTS The definitive biography by Karen O'Brien, Virgin Books, isbn 0-7535-0708-0

JONI MITCHELL: BOTH SIDES NOW by Brian Hinton, Sanctuary Music Library, isbn 1-86074-160-6

THE JONI MITCHELL COMPANION: Four Decades of Commentary by Stacy Luftig, Schirmer Books, isbn 0-8256-7190-6

i have these books, and i liked all of them. the first one is best en most recent. it's nice reading about her life, just makes her music better.

Amazon have got a Joni bio DVD

http://www.amazon.co.uk/e...44-0424436

Hissing is my all time fav Joni album

Her Hits/Misses collection is a good starting point to sample different phases of her work.

Hejira is also wonderful.

Turbulent Indigo and Both Sides Now are good as well when you're ready to get into Joni's deeeppper more aged voice.

One I wouldn't recommend is Taming The Tiger. Joni is kind of hit or miss, she does either brilliant songs or complete stinkers. Taming is one of those stinker albums in my book.

She can go from a wonderful song like "Amelia" to "Dog eat Dog" which (instrumentally) almost sounds like the theme song to a cheesy 80s tv drama.
[This message was edited Thu Oct 23 18:43:06 PDT 2003 by Tom]
[This message was edited Thu Oct 23 18:43:38 PDT 2003 by Tom]

Ahem. I have only one, Ladies of the Canyon. Stunning, stunning it is. My introduction to Joni. Gonna make a note of all the others that you and other ppl have heard. I want them all!!


[This message was edited Fri Oct 24 14:11:00 PDT 2003 by Therapy]

Tom said:

I don't think "Taming the Tiger" is a complete stinker, but it is a lesser imitation of the great "Turbulent Indigo."

Oh my god! It just dawned on me that no one has recommended "For the Roses!" Any Joniphile MUST have that!

Lammastide said:

of course, i have it.

SEE YOU SOMETIME is beautiful, ELECTRICITY, YOU TURN ME ON (I'M A RADIO) are nice and poppy. The rest is moving more towards her jazz influences.

"The Hissing Of Summer Lawns" surely is one of her best
albums and it contains my fav Joni song

"The Jungle Line". I can't even think about how that must
have sounded back in the day. It's enigmatic voodoo, it
sounds like a liveband floating down the river into the
deep heart of the Congo.

Travelogue is pretty good as well. Altho I don't like the
bigband stuff as much as I thought I would, BothSidesNow
is a cool record but I hardly ever play it.

Clouds is worth checking out after the majority of what's been already mentioned.