7 posts tagged “joni mitchell”

The subtitle is Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon--And the Journey of a Generation, so you can guess why I

bought it.  I cheated and only read the Joni chapters so far.  The author managed to talk to a lot of people, and uncovered stories that as far as I can tell have never been told before.  It's certainly interesting stuff, and for the most part the author is fair.  But the overwhelming emphasis is on Joni's romantic relationships, and that was disappointing.  The woman is an incredibly ambitious artist.  I would have liked to read more about her artistic vision and her struggles as a woman in the music business.

I wrote about the emergence of "River" as a new Christmas standard last year.  I'm sure the New Republic writers must be reading this blog, and that's why they're jumping on my bandwagon. 

I ran across this photo from March 1970 and thought it was kind of pretty.  That is all.

Yesterday, Joni Mitchell released her first album in nearly 10 years.  I won't write a full scale review yet, because no sensible person can pretend to assess a Joni work after just one or two listenings. The album is full of social commentary, which I don't think is Joni's strength, but it is also full of lovely sounds.  Not hummable, of course; Joni doesn't do hummable.  Her melodies take a while to reveal themselves.  After only two listenings, I surprise myself by favoring the album's finale, a re-working of Rudyard Kipling's poem, "If."  I really, really hate that wretched poem, but Joni's done something interesting with it.

Joni Mitchell will be releasing a new album, Shine, on September 25.  She has signed a two-CD deal with Hear Music, the Starbucks label that released Paul McCartney's latest album (the theory being, apparently, that Joni's decrepit boomer audience no longer patronizes music stores).  There's some bitching about corporate sellouts and bad coffee, but I'm just thrilled to my bones that we're finally getting some new music from Joni, after almost 10 years. And piano songs, to boot.  I'm a happy lady.

The December 21st Washington Post has an article about Joni Mitchell's song "River" showing up on all the Christmas albums this year:

I'm so glad to see it.  "Both Sides Now" has been covered umpteen million times and that's nice, but if "River" works its way into the Christmas canon, that will mean royalty pennies not just for Joni but for her grandchildren!

The song that seems to be popping up on all the holiday CDs this year is Joni Mitchell’s River.  The most high profile covers are on Sarah McLachlan’s  beautiful CD, Wintersong, and on James Taylor at Christmas.  It’s also been covered by Linda Ronstadt, Robert Downey Jr, and even Barry Manilow (ouch).

This is not your typical Christmas song.  It is sad.  It is unsentimental. It is unflinchingly honest.  It is Joni.  I never used to think of it as a Christmas song, but I guess it fits in nicely  with that subgenre of Morose Holiday Music (with Blue Christmas, First Christmas Away from Home, the original Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, and of course, oh my god,  the Coventry Carol).  

Awhile back, Joni was talking about releasing a Morose Christmas CD of her own, but it looks like that isn’t going to happen.  She is recording a new album of original material, though, which is supposed to be released in 2007.  Watch this space.