Joni's best--or all bleeeeah (formerly a poll thread)

[walto]

Sorry if I missed any other obvious ones.

[Tom Storer]

I voted for Hejira, but it's kind of a tie between that and "Travelogue".

[Fred K]

Court and Spark?

[walto]

"Court and Spark?"

Oh, phooey. I figured I'd miss at least a couple of key recordings, since I didn't have time to check AMG or someplace like that before posting. But I had to get to work! I guess it makes sense to assume that there'll be quite a few "other" votes.

[Vince Kargatis]

Admission of inadequacy: I've never heard a single Joni album. Couple tracks here and there, and probably a few more I just didn't/don't know was her.

[lazarus]

My favorite is "For The Roses" so I voted for "other".
I love songs like "Cold Blue Steel and Sweet Fire" and "Barangrill".

"Hejira" and "Blue" comes next.

[Gentle Giant]

I voted Hejira, but with an artist like Joni, who created her art in such distinct periods and styles, it's hard to choose just one best. For example, Blue, for an album of its type (to generalize, let's call it the confessional singer/songwriter thing), is probably the purest work of genius there is. Court & Spark is brilliant for breezy jazz-pop sheen. Hejira is brilliant for its poetry and minimalistic jazz settings.

It's kind of like how my three favorite Miles albums are Kind of Blue, Sketches of Spain, and In a Silent Way. I could never put them in any order, because how could you really compare them?

[Troy D]

For me, it's close between Blue and Court and Spark, but the nod has to go to Blue for a few songs in particular that are just captivating ("Blue," "River," "The Last Time I Saw Richard"). Brilliant.

[walto]

I think I'm with my man Laz (I love that song about Beethoven). I'm gonna vote other. (What a doofy poll.)

[Jazzooo]

All this poll proves is that the pollster stopped listening to Joni's work about 20 years ago! Just how strong is that old "They don't make 'em like they did when i was young" bias anyway?

Night Ride Home
Blue
Shadows and Light
Hejira
Travelogues
Turbulent Indigo

[moneyp]

Hope Walt doesn't mind me making the change.

I vote Court & Spark

[walto]

Mone, can you add "For the Roses" and "Shadow and Light" too...and let everybody vote over again from scratch? (I wouldn't bother with "Turbulent Indigo"--I've got that one and it's hard to believe that could be anybody's favorite Joni Mitchell album.)

I kind of mucked this up pretty bad. Shocker, that.

[Tom Storer]

I like "Turbulent Indigo" pretty well. But it's not as good as "Night Ride Home." That's a killer.

[walto]

OK. Add "Night Ride Home" too?

[moneyp]

Originally posted by walto
OK. Add "Night Ride Home" too?

HELL NO! (Oh, okay...)

[Gentle Giant]

'Course now, at this point it's worth noting which albums have not been mentioned - and perhaps why. They are in discographical order.

1. Song to the Seagull - If this was all she did, she'd be remembered for it, but she grew too much too quickly for this to be counted among her best works.

2. Clouds - Ditto. Someone said, perhaps in the other thread, that Joni was a tough broad (in a nice way). True, but there aren't enough balls on this record - and yet she was on the cusp of greatness.

3. Ladies of the Canyon - This should/could be a contender. You've got For Free, which is an amazing song about the purity of the street musician as seen from the eyes of one who "play[s] for fortune and those velvet curtain calls" (with Paul Horn on clarinet); you've got wonderful characters and dramatic situations in Conversation, Rainy Night House, and The Priest; and you've got three classic hits: Big Yellow Taxi, Woodstock, and The Circle Game.

[4. Blue 5. For the Roses 6. Court & Spark]

7. Miles of Aisles - Her first 2-LP live set; nothing revelatory but the sides with the LA Express groove nicely.

8. Hissing of Summer Lawns - Apparently this was one of Prince's favorite albums (note that he titled Morris Day's first album Ice Cream Castles). This is a transition from the pop/jazz of Court & Spark to the darker, sparer Hejira. A few great cuts but some stuff that doesn't work as well.

[9. Hejira]

10. Don Juan's Reckless Daughter - Same ingredients as Hejira but perhaps they were cooked too long. At 16 minutes (and the band doesn't enter until at least 3/4 of the way through), Paprika Plains was an ambitious mistake. Again, a few great cuts but some clunkers, too.

11. Mingus - A noble project, but the production is kind of stiff, given the artists she's working with.

[12. Shadows and Light]

13. Wild Things Run Fast - Rockin' Joni. No thanks.

14. Dog Eat Dog - I think this is a great record. Most people haven't heard it; of those who have, most probably haven't heard it enough. If you can find it used or as a cutout, I definitely recommend it. Michael McDonald does his classic background vox on the opener, and Rod Steiger guests on one track as a televangelist. The Three Great Stimulants is a sublime composition.

15. Chalk Mark in a Rainstorm - This is to Dog Eat Dog what Don Juan is to Hejira. Peter Gabriel, Billy Idol, Tom Petty, Willie Nelson, and Don Henley are among the guests.

[16. Night Ride Home]

17. Turbulent Indigo - This took me a while to get into, but I do like it.

18. Taming the Tiger - Reversing a trend, this is similar to the previous album, yet much better. You have to hear Joni belt the line, "Kiss my ass!"

[19. Both Sides Now 20. Travelogue]

[walto]

mone, you skipped my post asking for "For the Roses" (the choice of Laz and me) and "Shadow and Light" (somebody's fave--I've never heard it).

AND to return all votes to zero and allow a do-over!!!!

Pretty please.

[moneyp]

Per Walt's request, new poll coming up.

[Jazzooo]

"1. Song to the Seagull - If this was all she did, she'd be remembered for it, but she grew too much too quickly for this to be counted among her best works.
"

I know there's a new poll, but i just wanted to say that i agree with this 100%.

[walto]

Again, thanx mone! Everybody who voted here should go vote on the professionally constructed, supercharged poll down the road.

And everybody who thinks Joni Mitchell is bleeeah--Ha Ha--there are now THREE Joni threads clogging up The Alley.

[Uli]

Originally posted by walto
[B

And everybody who thinks Joni Mitchell is bleeeah--Ha Ha--there are now THREE Joni threads clogging up The Alley.[/font] [/B]

bleeeah can be very popular. One could make an argument for the bleeeahr, the popular.

[Gentle Giant]

Tribute to Joni Mitchell

Released 4/24; you can hear exerpts on the site.

Free Man in Paris / Sufjan Stevens
Boho Dance / Björk
Dreamland / Caetano Veloso
Don’t Interrupt The Sorrow / Brad Mehldau
For The Roses / Cassandra Wilson
A Case of You / Prince
Blue / Sarah McLachlan
Ladies Of The Canyon / Annie Lennox
Magdalena Laundries / Emmylou Harris
Edith And The Kingpin / Elvis Costello
Help Me / k.d. lang
River / James Taylor

[LennyH]

I'm not much for picking a favorite anything. I have an easier time picking a few favorites.

I am surprised that Ladies of the Canyon gets so overlooked. It's right up there for me.

[Rachel G]

Originally Posted by walto

Again, thanx mone! Everybody who voted here should go vote on the professionally constructed, supercharged poll down the road.

Hmm. Don't know what happened to the poll that apparently was once in this thread.
Here's the poll down the road:

Joni Mitchell Album Poll Redux

Originally Posted by walto

And everybody who thinks Joni Mitchell is bleeeah--Ha Ha--there are now THREE Joni threads clogging up The Alley.

Ha Ha--there are now at least FIVE Joni threads clogging up OTHER MUSIC. Also see

Joni Mitchell reportedly coming out of retirement

Happy 60th Birthday, Joni Mitchell

Joni Mitchell: Woman of Heart and Mind

Let me know if you want any kind of merge, etc.

edit - Those last three threads have now been merged into Joni Mitchell at the thread starter's request

[Borat Pri Hagafen]

I would think it would make sense to merge the poll with this thread, personally, although I'm not involved in either, so I probably don't get a vote.

[Jon Abbey]

I think it would make sense to delete all five of those threads and set up something that delivers an electric shock to anyone trying to start a new one, but that's just my vote.

[Borat Pri Hagafen]

Wait, I didn't know I could vote for that. Can I change my vote?

[Rachel G]

I don't care myself, so I'll wait for the thread starter, Walto, to weigh in on a merge.

But the timeframes of this thread and the poll thread overlap and they contain references to each other, so merging them might result in some muddling.

[Gentle Giant]

It would be nice to have a single Joni thread since a lot of people here (at least two notable exceptions, and they've already identified themselves in this AND the poll thread) are into her, but whatever. Not quite half of the Tribute CD performances are interesting to me, but it seems like a project done with some thought and care, so I wanted to post about it.

[Rachel G]

Originally Posted by Gentle Giant

It would be nice to have a single Joni thread

I'll merge the three Joni threads that you started and wait for Walto to weigh in on the two poll threads. Yes? 10 . . . 9 . . . 8 . . . 7 . . .