Joni Mitchell was 80 years old yesterday, so it seemed apt to look at one of her albums at last. Happy Birthday if you're reading, Joni.
The obvious would have been Blue, which I know well, and play frequently. But if this exercise has any point it is to get me to listen to albums I've bought and I don't listen to enough, so I've gone for this one, still viewed as 'classic Joni'.
It might seem like sacrilege, but I'm not completely convinced by this album. Perhaps my 'Joni-ometer' has been calibrated by the standard of Blue and my expectations are too high.
There are some great songs here. Opener In France They Kiss On The Main Street, is a fine bouncy number, and it's followed by the African drums backing The Jungle Line. Shades Of Scarlet Conquering is a beautiful slower ballad, and Harry's House / Centrepiece, with it's lounge jazz feel in the second half makes a definite impression. The final song Shadows And Light wraps the album up beautifully, with Joni multitracking her voice in a beautiful chorus, giving a sound not too far away from what Paul Simon would attempt a decade later on Homeless.
Those songs not mentioned aren't anything less than good Joni Mitchell songs, but they aren't (to these ears) memorable among her work. It's at time like this, that I wish I wasn't using such a crude scale as 1-5. This is better than a three, clearly, but I'm sure there are albums I've scored at three that most of the time I'd listen to in preference to this. I think there's enough that is great to merit a better judgement, even if the album doesn't always feel consistently so.
4* - how good the 'great' songs are swayed me in the end
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