Joni Mitchell - The Hi-Res Album Collection 1970-2000 (2013) Combined RE-UP

One of the most celebrated singer-songwriters of the 20th Century, some of her most successful and critically acclaimed work includes "Blue", "Ladies of the Canyon", "Court and Spark", and "Both Sides, Now". The recipient of a 2002 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, she was also ranked #72 in Rolling Stone's 2003 list of the greatest guitarists of all time. In 1997, Mitchell was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

A confessional singer/songwriter regarded as one of the finest of her generation, with poetic, emotional, and insightful lyrics.
No female artist better typified the singer/songwriter movement of the '70s than Joni Mitchell, though her public image as the serious, sensitive woman with a guitar shortchanged her abilities, ambitions, and accomplishments. Mitchell's gift for writing personal, folk-inspired songs about the thorny side of life and love was inarguable (particularly on albums like 1970's Ladies of the Canyon and 1971's Blue), but Mitchell also brought the same smarts and eloquence to glossy pop on her commercial breakthrough, 1974's Court & Spark, and she was incorporating jazz and world music into her work long before either was fashionable in American pop music (and she also collaborated with respected jazz artists such as Charles Mingus, Pat Metheny, and Jaco Pastorius, something none of her peers accomplished). At her best, Mitchell was one of the finest and most adventurous artists of her generation, and a key inspiration to many women in music as a talent who refused to be hemmed in by boundaries of genre or gender.

Ladies Of The Canyon is Joni Mitchell’s 1970 masterpiece. Possessing one of music’s greatest voices, this wonderfully varied work showcases her artistic growth. Her instrumentation flourishes with vibrant arrangements that incorporate piano, strings, electric keyboards and percussions to greater use. The songs here take on many moods, ranging from the easygoing “Morning Morgantown” to the sentimental classic “The Circle Game.” It also features several of Mitchell’s most noted classics including “Big Yellow Taxi” and “Woodstock.” One of her finest releases, the album blends folk with elements of pop and jazz. Available here as a pristine high resolution download.

This wonderfully varied release shows a number of new tendencies in Joni Mitchell's work, some of which would come to fuller fruition on subsequent albums. "The Arrangement," "Rainy Night House," and "Woodstock" contain lengthy instrumental sections, presaging the extensive non-vocal stretches in later selections such as "Down to You" from Court and Spark. Jazz elements are noticeable in the wind solos of "For Free" and "Conversation," exhibiting an important influence that would extend as late as Mingus. The unusually poignant desolation of "The Arrangement" would surface more strongly in Blue. A number of the selections here ("Willy" and "Blue Boy") use piano rather than guitar accompaniment; arrangements here are often more colorful and complex than before, utilizing cello, clarinet, flute, saxophone, and percussion. Mitchell sings more clearly and expressively than on prior albums, most strikingly so on "Woodstock," her celebration of the pivotal 1960s New York rock festival. This number, given a haunting electric piano accompaniment, is sung in a gutsy, raw, soulful manner; the selection proves amply that pop music anthems don't all have to be loud production numbers. Songs here take many moods, ranging from the sunny, easygoing "Morning Morgantown" (a charming small-town portrait) to the nervously energetic "Conversation" (about a love triangle in the making) to the cryptically spooky "The Priest" (presenting the speaker's love for a Spartan man) to the sweetly sentimental classic "The Circle Game" (denoting the passage of time in touching terms) to the bouncy and vibrant single "Big Yellow Taxi" (with humorous lyrics on ecological matters) to the plummy, sumptuous title track (a celebration of creativity in all its manifestations). This album is yet another essential listen in Mitchell's recorded canon.

Tracklist:

01 - Morning Morgantown
02 - For Free
03 - Conversation
04 - Ladies Of The Canyon
05 - Willy
06 - The Arrangement
07 - Rainy Night House
08 - The Priest
09 - Blue Boy
10 - Big Yellow Taxi
11 - Woodstock
12 - The Circle Game




Blue is the seminal album by Joni Mitchell. The recording was a commercial and critical success, reaching the Top Twenty in the United States and the U.K. It marks the very best of Mitchell’s traditional singer-songwriter period. The work highlights Mitchell’s expressive vocal range and sophisticated arrangements. It features the standouts “All I Want,” “My Old Man,” “Blue,” “California” and “A Case Of You.” It is included on various “Best Of” lists including Rolling Stone, Vibe, NME, Q and many more.

Sad, spare, and beautiful, Blue is the quintessential confessional singer/songwriter album. Forthright and poetic, Joni Mitchell's songs are raw nerves, tales of love and loss (two words with relative meaning here) etched with stunning complexity; even tracks like "All I Want," "My Old Man," and "Carey" – the brightest, most hopeful moments on the record – are darkened by bittersweet moments of sorrow and loneliness. At the same time that songs like "Little Green" (about a child given up for adoption) and the title cut (a hymn to salvation supposedly penned for James Taylor) raise the stakes of confessional folk-pop to new levels of honesty and openness, Mitchell's music moves beyond the constraints of acoustic folk into more intricate and diverse territory, setting the stage for the experimentation of her later work. Unrivaled in its intensity and insight, Blue remains a watershed.

Tracklist:

01 - All I Want
02 - My Old Man
03 - Little Green
04 - Carey
05 - Blue
06 - California
07 - This Flight Tonight
08 - River
09 - A Case Of You
10 - The Last Time I Saw Richard




or The Roses is Joni Mitchell’s 1972 classic. It is her sole album in the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry. It features the commercial hit single “You Turn Me On I’m A Radio.” This eclectic masterpiece finds the songstress exploring elements of folk, jazz and pop, showcasing her unmatched songwriting talents. It would reach #11 on the Billboard 200.

On For the Roses, Joni Mitchell began to explore jazz and other influences in earnest. As one might expect from a transitional album, there is a lot of stylistic ground explored, including straight folk selections using guitar ("For the Roses") and piano ("Banquet," "See You Sometime," "Lesson in Survival") overtly jazzy numbers ("Barangrill," "Cold Blue Steel and Sweet Fire," and hybrids that cross the two "Let the Wind Carry Me," "Electricity," "Woman of Heart and Mind," "Judgment of the Moon and Stars"). "Blonde in the Bleachers" grafts a rock & roll band coda onto a piano-based singer/songwriter main body. The hit single "You Turn Me on I'm a Radio" is an unusual essay into country-tinged pop, sporting a Dylanesque harmonica solo played by Graham Nash and lush backing vocals. Arrangements here build solidly upon the tentative expansion of scoring first seen in Ladies of the Canyon. "Judgment of the Moon and Stars" and "Let the Wind Carry Me" present lengthy instrumental interludes. The lyrics here are among Mitchell's best, continuing in the vein of gripping honesty and heartfelt depth exhibited on Blue. As always, there are selections about relationship problems, such as "Lesson in Survival," "See You Sometime," and perhaps the best of all her songs in this genre, "Woman of Heart and Mind." "Cold Blue Steel and Sweet Fire" presents a gritty inner-city survival scene, while "Barangrill" winsomely extols the uncomplicated virtues of a roadside truck stop. More than a bridge between great albums, this excellent disc is a top-notch listen in its own right.

Tracklist:

01 - Banquet
02 - Cold Blue Steel And Sweet Fire
03 - Barangrill
04 - Lesson In Survival
05 - Let The Wind Carry Me
06 - For The Roses
07 - See You Sometime
08 - Electricity
09 - You Turn Me On I'm A Radio
10 - Blonde In The Bleachers
11 - Woman Of Heart And Mind
12 - Judgement Of The Moon And Stars (Ludwig's Tune)




Court And Spark is the critically acclaimed sixth studio masterpiece by the iconic singer-songwriter. The well-received album features Mitchell blending her folk-rock style with jazz inspired influences. It includes the Top Five singles “Free Man In Paris” and “Help Me.” The hit, “Down To You,” earned Mitchell a GRAMMY for Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s)/Best Background Arrangement. Court And Spark is included on Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Albums of All Time” and in the book, 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

Joni Mitchell reached her commercial high point with Court and Spark, a remarkably deft fusion of folk, pop, and jazz which stands as her best-selling work to date. While as unified and insightful as Blue, the album – a concept record exploring the roles of honesty and trust in relationships, romantic and otherwise – moves away from confessional songwriting into evocative character studies: the hit "Free Man in Paris," written about David Geffen, is a not-so-subtle dig at the machinations of the music industry, while "Raised on Robbery" offers an acutely funny look at the predatory environment of the singles bar scene. Much of Court and Spark is devoted to wary love songs: both the title cut and "Help Me," the record's most successful single, carefully measure the risks of romance, while "People's Parties" and "The Same Situation" are fraught with worry and self-doubt (standing in direct opposition to the music, which is smart, smooth, and assured from the first note to the last).

Tracklist:

01 - Court And Spark
02 - Help Me
03 - Free Man In Paris
04 - People's Parties
05 - Same Situation
06 - Car On A Hill
07 - Down To You
08 - Just Like This Train
09 - Raised On Robbery
10 - Troubled Child
11 - Twisted





Miles of Aisles was a double live album by Joni Mitchell, released in 1974. On the album she was backed by the L.A. Express, the band who had also performed with her on the Court and Spark tour. Miles of Aisles reached #2 on the charts and became one of Mitchell's best-selling records. The album contained a live version of "Big Yellow Taxi", which did considerably better than the original studio single, peaking at #24 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Like most live albums, this two-record set was a profit-taking release on which the artist re-presented many of her old songs for a new acceptance now that she had a larger pop audience. Backed by the pop-jazz ensemble the L.A. Express Mitchell reprised the best from her first five albums, pointedly ignoring Court and Spark, and including two new cuts, "Love or Money" and "Jericho".

Tracklist:

01 - You Turn Me On I'm A Radio
02 - Big Yellow Taxi
03 - Rainy Night House
04 - Woodstock
05 - Cactus Tree
06 - Cold Blue Steel And Sweet Fire
07 - Woman Of Heart And Mind
08 - A Case Of You
09 - Blue
10 - Circle Game
11 - People's Parties
12 - All I Want
13 - Real Good For Free
14 - Both Sides Now
15 - Carey
16 - The Last Time I Saw Richard
17 - Jericho
18 - Love Or Money

The majority of the album was recorded at the Universal Amphitheatere in Los Angeles, California on August 14-17, 1974, with some of the tracks coming from performances at the L.A. Music Center on March 4, 1974, and the Berkeley Community Center on March 2, 1974.




The Hissing of Summer Lawns is a 1975 album by Joni Mitchell. One of her more experimental records, the album has remained a difficult but rewarding one to listen to…a lovely blend of jazz and avant-pop. Mitchell was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Performance for this album.

Joni Mitchell evolved from the smooth jazz-pop of Court and Spark to the radical Hissing of Summer Lawns, an adventurous work that remains among her most difficult records. After opening with the graceful "In France They Kiss on Main Street," the album veers sharply into "The Jungle Line," an odd, Moog-driven piece backed by the rhythms of the warrior drums of Burundi – a move into multiculturalism that beat the likes of Paul Simon, Peter Gabriel, and Sting to the punch by a decade. While not as prescient, songs like "Edith and the Kingpin" and "Harry's House – Centerpiece" are no less complex or idiosyncratic, employing minor-key melodies and richly detailed lyrics to arrive at a strange and beautiful fusion of jazz and shimmering avant pop.

Tracklist:

01 - In France They Kiss On Main Street
02 - The Jungle Line
03 - Edith and the Kingpin
04 - Don't Interrupt the Sorrow
05 - Shades of Scarlett Conquering
06 - The Hissing Of Summer Lawns
07 - The Boho Dance
08 - Harry's House - Centerpiece
09 - Sweet Bird
10 - Shadows and Light




Considered to be one of her strongest records, Hejira was written by Joni Mitchell while she was traveling cross-country by herself from Maine to Los Angeles, California. The songs contain prominent imagery including highways, small towns, snow, and restlessness. About the album, Mitchell said: "the whole 'Hejira' album was really inspired… I wrote the album while traveling cross-country by myself and there is this restless feeling throughout it… The sweet loneliness of solitary travel." The album's name is taken from the arabic word hijra, which means "journey". Released in 1976, the album reached #13 on the Billboard 200 pop albums chart and was certified Gold.

Hejira prominently features Mitchell's guitar and the distinctive bass playing of Jaco Pastorius (most notably on "Refuge of the Roads" and "Hejira"), and is more cohesive and accessible than some of her later work, which was more jazz-oriented.

Joni Mitchell's Hejira is the last in an astonishingly long run of top-notch studio albums dating back to her debut. Some vestiges of her old style remain here; "Song for Sharon" utilizes the static, pithy vocal harmonies from Ladies of the Canyon's "Woodstock," "Refuge of the Roads" features woodwind touches reminiscent of those in "Barangrill" from For the Roses, and "Coyote" is a fast guitar-strummed number that has precedents as far back as Clouds' "Chelsea Morning." But by and large, this release is the most overtly jazz-oriented of her career up to this point – hip and cool, but never smug or icy. "Blue Motel Room" in particular is a prototypic slow jazz-club combo number, appropriately smooth, smoky, and languorous. "Coyote," "Black Crow," and the title track are by contrast energetically restless fast-tempo selections. The rest of the songs here cleverly explore variants on mid- to slow-tempo approaches. None of these cuts are traditionally tuneful in the manner of Mitchell's older folk efforts; the effect here is one of subtle rolls and ridges on a green meadow rather than the outgoing beauty of a flower garden. Mitchell's verses, many concerned with character portraits, are among the most polished of her career; the most striking of these studies are that of the decrepit Delta crooner of "Furry Sings the Blues" and the ambivalent speaker of "Song to Sharon," who has difficulty choosing between commitment and freedom. Arrangements are sparse, yet surprisingly varied, the most striking of which is the kaleidoscopically pointillistic one used on "Amelia." Performances are excellent, with special kudos reserved for Jaco Pastorius' melodic bass playing on "Refuge of the Roads" and the title cut. This excellent album is a rewarding listen.

Tracklist:

01 - Coyote
02 - Amelia
03 - Furry Sings The Blues
04 - A Strange Boy
05 - Hejira
06 - Song For Sharon
07 - Black Crow
08 - Blue Motel Room
09 - Refuge Of The Roads




Don Juan's Reckless Daughter is Joni Mitchell's ninth studio album and was released in 1977. A double album, it expanded on the experimental jazz fusion sound found on Mitchell's previous album, Hejira. The album also featured members of Weather Report, Jaco Pastorius and Wayne Shorter. Jaco helped to produce much of the record. Although Don Juan's Reckless Daughter had mixed reviews when it first came out, the album did manage to peak at #25 on the Billboard charts and was certified gold by the RIAA.

A big chunk of the pop audience Joni Mitchell had earned with Court and Spark in 1974 deserted her in 1975 and 1976 when the follow-ups, The Hissing of Summer Lawns and Hejira, proved more difficult works. With the pretentious double album Don Juan's Reckless Daughter, Mitchell lost many of the loyal fans who'd stuck with her from the beginning, but who, upon hearing her here as she spread her obscure poetic observations and thin melodies across whole sides of the album, found her disengaged from the close, personal observations that filled her best songs. This was Mitchell's last album to go gold.

Tracklist:

01 - Overture-Cotton Avenue
02 - Talk To Me
03 - Jericho
04 - Paprika Plains
05 - Otis and Marlena
06 - The Tenth World
07 - Dreamland
08 - Don Juan's Reckless Daughter
09 - Off Night Backstreet
10 - The Silky Veils of Ardor




Mingus is Joni Mitchell's tenth studio album and was a collaboration with jazz great Charles Mingus. It was recorded in the months before Mingus' death, and would be the final musical project on which Mingus was involved. The album is dedicated solely to him, and once again features musicians from Weather Report, as in Mitchell's previous album, Don Juan's Reckless Daughter. Mingus also featured the first reunion of Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock in the studio since Shorter recorded his album Native Dancer. Mingus peaked at #17 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart in 1979, and the artwork on the album features several paintings by Mitchell of Mingus.

In the months prior to the passing of legendary jazz bassist Charles Mingus, Joni Mitchell had been personally summoned by the bop pioneer to collaborate on a musical version of T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets. The project would entail Mitchell to condense the text for Mingus to score instrumentally. He planned on utilizing a full orchestra, as well as the more traditional guitar and bass. They would accompany Mitchell's vocals and the narration of selected portions of the text. After a few weeks of consideration, Mitchell's reaction was that "[she]'d rather condense the bible." Mingus then bestowed Mitchell with six melodies – "Joni I" through "Joni VI" – penned specifically for her. Mitchell spent a few weeks with Mingus – who was totally immobilized from amyotropic lateral sclerosis (aka Lou Gehrig's Disease) – during the spring of 1978. Their partnership advanced the half-dozen tunes. More importantly, it shook Mitchell from a three-month long writer's block/drought – yielding two of her best late-'70s compositions: "God Must Be a Boogie Man" and the revisitation and completion of a track she'd been wood-shedding, now titled "The Wolf That Lives in Lindsey." Incidentally, the former piece was inspired by the opening chapters of Mingus' autobiography, Beneath the Underdog. Initial recordings during Mitchell's stay with Mingus in New York City produced several interesting experimental sessions with the likes of Stanley Clarke (bass), Jan Hammer (keyboards), John McLaughlin (guitar), Gerry Mulligan (baritone sax), and Tony Williams (drums). A few of these recordings – while rumored to have been lost, destroyed, or made otherwise unavailable – were leaked into the trading community in the late '90s. Arguably, Mitchell could not have chosen any finer musicians than the sextet she ultimately incorporated into this work. The luminaries include Herbie Hancock (electric piano), Wayne Shorter (soprano sax), Jaco Pastorious (bass/horn arrangements), Peter Erskine (drums), Don Alias (congas), and Emil Richards (percussion). Sprinkled amongst these soulfully jazzy pieces are five "raps," or aural snapshots of the time Mitchell and Mingus spent together. Sadly, Charles Mingus passed before he was able to listen to this timeless and ageless paean to his remarkable contributions to bop and free jazz.

Tracklist:

01 - Happy Birthday 1975
02 - God Must Be a Boogie Man
03 - Funeral
04 - A Chair In the Sky
05 - The Wolf That Lives In Lindsey
06 - I's a Muggin'
07 - Sweet Sucka Dance
08 - Coin In the Pocket
09 - The Dry Cleaner From Des Moines
10 - Lucky
11 - Goodbye Pork Pie Hat




Shadows And Light is Joni Mitchell’s exhilarating 1980 live double-album masterpiece. The singer-songwriter is joined by an all-star cast of musicians including Pat Metheny, Lyle Mays, Jaco Pastorius, Don Alias, Michael Brecker and The Persuasions. It features performances of hits including “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat,” “Hejira,” “Woodstock,” “Shadows And Light” and much, much more. The undeniable classic fully displays Mitchell’s unmatched musicality.

Shadows and Light is Joni Mitchell's second live album, and it serves as a good retrospective of her jazzy period from 1975-1979. As expected, she assembles a group of all-star musicians including Pat Metheny (guitar), Jaco Pastorius (bass), Lyle Mays (keyboards), and Michael Brecker (saxophone) who give these compositions more energy than on the studio recordings. The musicians are given room to jam, and they sound terrific on uptempo songs such as "Coyote" and "In France They Kiss on Main Street." If there is a general theme of these songs, it's about growing older and maturing after the failed idealism of the late '60s (the album opens with audio clips from the movie Rebel Without a Cause). Although this album is pleasing, the live arrangements are not different enough from the studio versions to warrant higher marks. In fact, Mitchell has always been an album artist who recorded studio albums that had a sound and feel all their own. While Shadows and Light provides a nice summary of her experimental period for casual fans, interested listeners should start with Hejira or The Hissing of Summer Lawns.

Tracklist:

01 - Introduction
02 - In France They Kiss On Main Street
03 - Edith And The Kingpin
04 - Coyote
05 - Goodbye Pork Pie Hat
06 - The Dry Cleaner From Des Moines
07 - Amelia
08 - Pat's Solo
09 - Hejira
10 - Black Crow
11 - Don's Solo
12 - Dreamland
13 - Free Man In Paris
14 - Band Introduction
15 - Furry Sings The Blues
16 - Why Do Fools Fall In Love?
17 - Shadows And Light
18 - God Must Be A Boogie Man
19 - Woodstock




Originally released in 1998, Taming the Tiger is Joni Mitchell’s sixteenth studio album. Recorded in 1997 and would be the last record of original material released by the Mitchell until 2007's Shine, as she entered a semi-retirement and has turned her focus to performing covers and various side projects. Taming the Tiger marks the premiere of Joni’s synthesized guitar, which she took with her on the accompanying tour to perform older songs, often having to re-learn them in the process.

This 1998 disc from Joni Mitchell harks back to the days when she heard the hissing of summer lawns and the jazzier essays of her Hejira days. The only difference between then and now is her use of a guitar synthesizer for her aural textures and melody templates. Always employing the best of musicians to help her out, Mitchell takes off on a trip through "Harlem in Havana" and ending up with "Tiger Bones" to show for it. Along the way, she puts forth "No Apologies" and rocks things up with "Lead Balloon" (which will remind one of "Big Yellow Taxi"), and contains one of her best opening one-liners ever. With "Taming the Tiger" dedicated to her newfound daughter and grandson, "Stay in Touch" could be about them, or almost anyone Mitchell's been close to. Either way, it's a great tune. Taming the Tiger is her most pleasing and consistent disc since the mid-'70s; even after all these years, Joni Mitchell continues to expand her music while keeping her integrity intact. This is definitely one of her best.

Tracklist:

01 - Harlem In Havana
02 - Man From Mars
03 - Love Puts On A New Face
04 - Lead Balloon
05 - No Apologies
06 - Taming The Tiger
07 - The Crazy Cries Of Love
08 - Stay In Touch
09 - Face Lift
10 - My Best To You
11 - Tiger Bones

Please note: Tracks 1, 7, 10 & 11 are available in 44kHz/16bit only.




Joni’s 2000 album, which won the Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Album, finds the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer and nine-time Grammy®-winner performing a stunning set of orchestral jazz. Mixing jazz standards like “Stormy Weather” and “At Last” with Mitchell’s own classic “A Case of You” and more in a band that includes jazz greats Herbie Hancock and Peter Erskin. Features orchestral arrangements by Vince Mendoza, who won a Grammy for Best Instrumental Arrangement for his work on the album.

Ex-husband Larry Klein, who serves as co-producer and musical director, explains in his liner notes that Joni Mitchell intended to tell the story of a "modern" romantic relationship in the songs, most of which come from the '30s and '40s. If so, her concept of a modern relationship is very troubled – most of the selections are unhappy love songs. Vince Mendoza's arrangements – a third of them played by a gigantic 71-piece orchestra, a third by a regular-size orchestra, and a third by a swing-style big band – often suggest the oceanic sweep and serious, melancholy tone of film noir movie music. They also do a lot of Mitchell's work for her. As a singer, she has never had much projection or power, but she is a master of phrasing and tone. Mitchell often sounds like an alternate Billie Holiday, with the breathiness and note decay characteristic of later Holiday, if none of her delayed timing. Both Sides Now is not revelatory in a musical sense, but it does achieve its intention of reconceiving Joni Mitchell as an interpretive singer.

Tracklist:

01 - You're My Thrill
02 - At Last
03 - Comes Love
04 - You've Changed
05 - Answer Me. My Love
06 - A Case Of You
07 - Don't Go To Strangers
08 - Sometimes I'm Happy
09 - Don't Worry 'Bout Me
10 - Stormy Weather
11 - I Wish I Were In Love Again
12 - Both Sides Now


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