ILXers Get Out Your Polls And I'll Put On Some Joni Mitchell Voting and Nominations #26 (Voting Deadline: September 28)

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8438/7976705239_78dc04edf1_o.jpg

Oh you're a mean old Daddy, but I like you fine.

Pick your twenty favorites tracks.

1:40, 2:36, 3:33, 4:30, 5:28, 6:26, 7:25, 8:24, 9:23, 10:22, 11:21, 12:20, 13:19, 14:18, 15:17, 16:16, 17:15, 18:14, 19:13, 20:12

You can nominate in this thread and post youtube links for fave tracks.

You're voting for any track that Joni appears on which could include stuff like Carol King's "Will You Love Me Tomorrow," where she sings backing vocals w/ James Taylor, or her performance of "Helpless" w/ Neil Young in The Last Waltz.

You can vote for live tracks, even if they haven't gotten an official release (there is a large Joni bootleg scene), but I'll likely combine them w/ studio versions and note in the results that there are different versions.

BONUS POLL:

List your five favorite Joni albums.

Discography and track listing can be perused here: http://jonimitchell.com/music/

Submit your ballots to jonimitchellpoll AT gmail DOT com.

Whahey!

But I think Mojo short-circuited your hotlinked image. If you rehost it and post the link I will fix it in the OP.

It looks okay to me -- but here it is on flickr:

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8438/7976705239_78dc04edf1_o.jpg

I have images off and when I click on it I get a Mojo logo. If it shows OK for everyone else then no worries.

I'm seeing a Mojo logo too (up top, not xp).

Been waiting for this poll! Woo-hoo!

Changed the OP image to the flickr link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkgGsjQ-e1E

What's the deadline?

I'm completely ignorant of the post-Mingus albums. Hoping to discover a few great things from the 80s from this poll.

oooohhhh second one of these I'm gonna participate in. yeah when is the deadline? not gonna have time this week

Oh yeah. Forgot the deadline. Um. How long are ppl generally giving for these? 2 weeks? 3?

give 2, or til the end of next week or something

Sounds good to me.

10 days, lately

Good work Mordy. I was going to sit out the next few polls, but I think I might have a bash at this one, I really loved Blue once.

ITT I will shamelessly, repeatedly foist Night Ride Home on you all until you vote for it and half its songs.

was eager to vote in this poll way back when, but having listened to all my Joni Mitchell albums just a little while ago I confess I pretty much hate everything that I own post-Hissing Lawns (ie, Hejira, Mingus, Wild Things Run Fast, Chalk Mark in a Rain Storm). the sonic template she adopted just makes my ears bleed.

aw yeah! i was actually wondering the other day if there was a joni poll lined up

I'm an early Joni fanatic, and that'll probably make up the majority of my ballot. I think the split between Joni post-folk jazz fans and pre-1975 fans will be interesting. Also, will anyone stan for the really recent (like post 2000) compositions? I have an idea about how to incorporate her artwork into the poll too...

dude how can you hate hejira.

I don't hate any of it! But for me 68-74 > 75-79 > 82-88 > 91-07

dude how can you hate hejira.

fretless bass + synth washes = total hell

I hate both of those things, and I love Hejira (but they're also the reason I hate Mingus).

no synth washes on Hejira, Shakey!

I listened to all five of those post-hejira records in a row, it all sort of mushified together for me at a certain point

er four

I've tried to like Night Ride Home as much as aero and Tim, and while it's the best of her post-peak period -- the billowy synths complement the dark blues and violets of her voice -- the songwriting is maddeningly uneven.

Are you okay with 10 songs? Yet another artist where I can name 10 I already love, but to get to 20 I'd have to start relistening. And I'm lazy. And old. And not crazy about voting for 10 extra songs I'd never given a thought to until this week.

oh yeah, absolutely. 10 is fine.

So I kicked off with Blue tonight. It's not as pleasant a listen as I was anticipating tbh - she's really pretty complex at that point melodically and harmonically, seems like I was more in the mood for something to holler along with. Lord knows how I'll cope when I get to the avantjazz stuff youse've been discussing already.

I often forget that Blue was my first exposure to her and for many her best; when it's on I agree.

I am heartily tired of the "autobiographical" angle though.

Can anyone recommend any standout tracks from the post "Mingus" era? I can't face listening to several entire albums of session-dude jazz-inflected songcraft to get to the nuggets, quite frankly.

I think of the eras of Joni as:
1968-1970: the folkie years, some good songs but still developing.
1971-1976: the peak years, run of 5 amazingly great studio albums
1977-1979: the overstretching years, Don Juan and Mingus are good, but less compelling than what came before.
1980 onwards: I've barely heard any of this stuff, apart from Wild Things Run Fast, which is good but slight, and the material on Misses. I've heard elsewhere that Night Ride Home is good though.

Pick for overlooked song - Love or Money from Miles of Aisles (1974 live album): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfplwJaBN1E

From 'Night Ride Home', check "Passion Play", "Cherokee Louise", "Slouching Towards Bethlehem", "Come In From The Cold", "Nothing Can Be Done" and "Two Grey Rooms".

'Turbulent Indigo' is basically a lesser version of the same album (though ironically won more acclaim), but it's worth checking "Sunny Sunday" and "The Sire of Sorrow", from memory.

yeah i imagine the vast majority of my ballot is gonna be from the 71-76 period

At least three tracks from 1969 alone are sure things for my ballot

Came to vote, stayed a couple minutes to rep for Shine (2007 album). For having not written a song for a decade prior, Joni actually has something interesting to say without blowing up in a storm of bad 80s synths about it. Not a classic, but definitely a great latter-day album from a 60s/70s genius.

I love "Come in from the Cold"

This bit:

Is it just vulgar electricity?
Is it the edifying fire?
Does your smile's covert complicity
Debase as it admires?

The cracks forming in her voice by this point give the song a simultaneous fragility and gravity which allows her to carry off lines like that.

i want to make A CASE for YOU to vote for "Urge for Going" which afaik is not on any of the LPs except for the Hits collection but is gorgeous

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMhNTFzmRw0&feature=related

I love "Come in from the Cold"

― Mordy, Tuesday, September 11, 2012 7:28 PM

yes. This is the best example of what she achieved in her later years: the parched vocal does wonders with vowels and punctuates those synth billows with devastating effect.

btw I will defend Dog Eat Dog, particularly the title track, "Impossible Dreamers," and "Good Friends." The last song is a misbegotten attempt (Michael McDonald!) to assume that the late seventies studio rock comity still existed in 1985 (it was also her last Hot 100 appearance in America). I posted the video upthread.

Tom Rush does a really nice "Urge for Going" on the same album he does "The Circle Game." That's the first time I've heard Joni's original, I have to admit.

top ten should basically be Court & Spark tracks 1-10, with Twisted thrown in a bin somewhere

yeah that's gotta be one of the all time worst album closers. Doesn't fit the album at all

it's like someone at the record company was trying to sabotage the album. it's SO BAD.

Was Joni a big influence on Robert Plant by any chance? I'm hearing all sorts of his phrasing and melodic tricks on things like 'Free Man In Paris'.

Not sure why I'm assuming the influence goes that way, actually, except that he didn't start off singing like that, and a vague feeling that 'Going To California' might be a homage to her.

I apologize in advance but I'm going to totally gum up this poll with endless 80s-00s Joni stanning

OK no I won't I'll just submit that ballot but I encourage all serious voters to listen to latter day material
My #1 is from "Night Ride Home"

I've listened to her first 10 albums now, all of which I like to varying degrees. I'll have to listen some more before I can make a tracks ballot.

I bought Don Juan's in April, prepared to accept it as an Unheralded Masterpiece. So it surprised me when I found nothing awful but little that imprinted itself (unlike, say, Mingus' "The Wolf That Lives in Lindsey").

Yeah there's nothing offputting about it, it's just that once you get past the surface most of the songs seem undeveloped.

Whereas "The Wolf That Lives In Lindsey" is insane.

They are underdeveloped, but there are a couple that really hooked me. 'Talk To Me' I like, it's got a nice groove and I can even overlook the horrible heptalk at the end. What's that all about, anyway, just her getting deep into the jazz? And appearing in blackface on the sleeve too, it's kind of an unusual move.

I loooove "God must be a boogie man", both 1979 and 2001 versions. I don't know why but I always get "Which would it be? / Mingus one or two or three?" in my head all the time. Except for the bawling choir of jerks on the chorus it would be a top 10 Joni track.

That bawling choir of jerks is what almost made this top 20 for me! Although I can see how others may find them an irritant.

bawling choir of jerks

I love this phrase

Voting deadline tomorrow! Get your ballots in!

What do you guys think of "Paprika Plains"?

Is it weird if I find Summer Lawns a little boring?

In other weirdness, I think I like For the Roses more than Court and Spark.

I love it, was the first track that really stuck out on DJRD. It didn't quite make my ballot though (xpost).

Voted! Usual last minute agonies (why do no marks like The Cure get 40 track ballots and all the greats get only grumble grumble etc etc?)

Lindsey and the choir of jerks high on my ballot. Paprika Plains just made the cut.

can we postpone the deadline to sunday? i can't vote before, i have to work!

Fine with me!

Tbh, I haven't even gotten my spreadsheet to work. I may end up aggregating the scores manually idk.

It's Sunday now?

done and sent! thanks for doing this mordy

let's say that ballots are due friday but if they trickle in before too late on Sunday (when I plan to aggregate them) I'll include them

Friday! Can't wait to get joni'ed out tomorrow putting together a ballot.

another bump to remind people that ballots are due today!

I'd listened to my sister's copy a couple of times before but it's finally sinking in just how devastating Blue is.

I might even rank this over Hejira. Maybe ...

My poll is feeling very canon-y but what can you do.

I've little idea what the canon is here, so it should be a fun rundown

Isn't the canon all about Blue first and then Court and Spark?

Either that or I have listened to so much pre-Don Juan Joni that I think the whole damn thing is the canon.

I mean, I think "The Arrangement" is a historically critical musical achievement so getting down from a shortlist of 50 to 20 is going to be difficult.

If it's Taxi #1, Woodstock #2 and the rest nowhere, I'll be underwhelmed

It's really tough narrowing down the tracks on Summer Lawns - lots of great mini-hooks in almost every track and a very consistent sound throughout.

Oooooh finally did my listen-through this past week, made my ballot and boy did my memory foam underestimate the immensity of Hejira giant corpse.

1968-1971: 6
1972-1976: 7
1977-1991: 5
1992-present: 2

Three (!) albums-I-love got shut-out on the tracks list.

boy did my memory foam underestimate the immensity of Hejira giant corpse.

Wait, what did you mean by this?

Not trying to be a dick, just interested.

I mean Hejira is unspeakably unstoppably good and "hmm! what Dog eat dog song could I vote for?" quickly became "Why can't I vote for all the Hejira songs"

submitted!

It's really tough narrowing down the tracks on Summer Lawns - lots of great mini-hooks in almost every track and a very consistent sound throughout.
― skip, Friday, September 28, 2012 2:41 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it's all about In France... and Edith... for me

In France is actually one of my least favourite Hissing tunes, feels kinda forced to me. Whereas Edith is amazing, probably my favourite. It's the song which most fully embraces that dazzled soft-jazz glow she's going for.

The "riff" so to speak of Edith just slays me....and the lyrics are amazing

"Why can't I vote for all the Hejira songs"

Oh, totally. Double-tracked flanged guitars + fusion bass = musical heaven

Voted

I applied a rule of no more than 5 songs from one album mainly to avoid voting for all the Hejira songs.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0097AQEOK/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=amz08223-21&camp=2902&creative=19466&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=B0097AQEOK&adid=1BRVAX2FD11094H92M7B

Just a reminder that though the deadline was yesterday I will still take ballots until aggregation probably sometime tomorrow evening. I will give fair warning but if you don't want to be caught out before tabulation occurs, get your ballots in now!

ballot sent, hopefully not too late.....

sending in a bit

I'll be accepting ballots until late tnite.

Ballot sent - hopefully in time.

voted finally, hope to read this thread someday!

voted. MOrdy and Joni rule!

Jessica Hopper review of the new studio albums box set: http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/17269-the-studio-albums-1968-1979/

This is a basic set-- no frills, just all the albums' original layouts reproduced in envelope sleeves, the fonts so tiny only mice could read them. There are no extras, outtakes or re-anythinged.

Ugh, why??