i like 'river' and 'help me' by joni mitchell

- "River" is very representative of the Blue sound, if a bit on the dour end of things (though there's plenty dour on there anyway). Get Blue.

- I don't like "Free Man In Paris", it's one of the few moments on Court & Spark which feels incredibly forced and too deliberately jaunty. Especially because the lyrics do nothing to justify that level of upbeatness (and it doesn't have that nice contrasts feel that Steely Dan do either).

- For The Roses is good in doses but I think it's overall one of Joni's more awkward albums, the one which sounds most vulnerable to charges of overvaulting pretentiousness. Mind you it was the first Joni album I heard when I was thirteen and I liked it well enough then.

- Buy Blue, then Court & Spark, then Hissing and Hejira, then back to For The Roses.

Besides the ones already mentioned, you should get Ladies of the Canyon! For "Morning Morgantown", if nothing else.

Also, try to download Dave Von Ronk's version of "River".

i really need to "rediscover" court&spark. i thought i didn't like it as much as some of the others but i keep hearing it in my head.

Yeah.

i really need to "rediscover" court&spark. i thought i didn't like it as much as some of the others but i keep hearing it in my head.

I'm gonna put it on right now and reevulate. It's been a year or two since I last listened.

x-post

Yeah, it's fair to wait on For The Roses. It's a good one, but not essential, and worth working on once you're already a fan. It's her first foray into jazz horns, etc, with some very lovely songs and a few lesser ones too. search Barangrill, For The Roses, Electricity, Cold Blue Steel and Sweet Fire, and Judgement of the Moon and Stars. Blue is a more solid album, but not as exciting.

I just listened to C&S today too, and it's always better than I remember it being, esp. Just Like This Train. It and Blue were the first albums that hooked me in grade 8, I guess, before Hejira et al hit me hard. I have a habit of skipping Raised on Robbery and Twisted, to be honest, and Carey and Little Green on the latter.

I don't much like the "Carey" on Blue, but the one on Miles of Aisles is really great. The one I skip on Blue is "California". The "Raised on Robbery" and "Twisted" finish can be slightly out of place, but I think they're great when I'm in the mood.

I listen to Ladies the least of all, I think, except maybe Mingus(and all I don't have are the two late 80's albums). I chalk it up to having been overplayed in my childhood, and my relative dislike for Circle Game and Big Yellow Taxi. There are definitely some good songs, incl. The Arrangement and The Priest.

i'll check that link; thanks.

"River" is the "heaviest" song on the album, and I don't think any are "dire." ("Blue" is intense, but lyrical; Richard serious, but airy). Rather, that song is at the heart of the album's winter-months inwardness, reflected in the cold tones of the production/cover art/name, and characterizing the moderately playful, agile, good-spirited songs ("My Old Man" is my favorite) that make up at least half the album. if Blue is wintry, For the Roses is more vernal, Court and Spark summery, and Hejira, I understand, autumnal.

god that song is awesome.

Circle Game

i don't like t his one at all, it's a really crappy metaphor to begin with. although whenever i am witness or party to an argument that goes around in circles i always jokingly start singing, "and the circle, it goes round and round, and the painted ponies go up and down..."

Woha! It's one of the best albums EVER. It's not sad, it's about finding yourself through others (men). It's a relationship album. Never really without hope, but more about living with sad/blueness. I recommend it unless you're in a deep depression (like I was when I discovered it). :-)

That could describe a fairly large chunk of Joni's songs, though. "Circle Game" isn't good because it's profound, it's good because that's one hell of a hook!

the dumb, outsized metaphor (for *life* do you SEE) seems to point the way toward some of jackson browne's worst songs

Apart from a few examples (most notably "Last Time I Saw Richard"), I've never thought she was a fantastic lyricist, content-wise. But, she's great with imagery and sounds. "Circle Game" and "Both Sides Now" both have equally dumb, obvious metaphors but the words sound pretty good--especially when Joni makes "round and round" sound like a Merry-Go-Round.

You know what's incredible? C&S, Hissing, Hejira, and Don Juan all came out within a year of each other. That stylistic arc is incredible if only for the mere 4 years it spanned.

some interesting discussions on this here:
TS: Joni Mitchell - 'Hissing of Summer Lawns' vs 'Hejira'

If you listen to vinyl records, go to the used bin at your local store, you can find most of Mitchell's albums dirt cheap. I think I picked up most of them up for a buck each. Her 70s albums are all worth a listen, "Mingus" included.

I'd love to here a version of "Help Me" by SSI-era Dinosaur Jr. I think it would have been as fab as their Cure cover.

but then once in a while she surprises with a punchy, straightahead, affecting pop lyric ... like court and spark's "car on a hill," one of my favorite pop songs by anyone ever.

Another great example of this is "Morning Morgantown".

Really?

First time since "Woodstock" if so.

“help me” has no right to be as funky as it is

I bought Court & Spark a few months ago and Help Me has been in my head nearly non-stop since then. Just floating effortless, liquid, joyous between all of my dumb thoughts.

I can’t of think any pop production that has the high-hat up in the mix like that until Aja seven years later

aja was only 3 years later (some of the same players, too!)

I thought Court was 71 and Aja 78 no?

“help me” has no right to be as funky as it is

― calstars, Monday, July 22, 2024 12:35 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

One of my favorite all time drum grooves. I think about it a lot.

xp court & spark is '74, aja '77

I mean Joni liked it so much she married the drummer, which I get

lol