New Joni Interview and Great News!

[sparky]

I about crapped my Calvins when I read the part I bolded.
This makes my year, and maybe my decade.

----------------------------------------------------


The trouble she's seen

Doug Fischer talks to Joni Mitchell about her seminal album, Hejira

Doug Fischer, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Sunday, October 08, 2006

Whenever Joni Mitchell had trouble sorting out her life, she took to the road. But in early 1976, with a turbulent love affair on the rocks and too many drugs in her body, she hit the highway almost with a vengeance.

"I was getting away from a romance, I was getting away from the craziness and I was searching for something to make sense of everything," she says. "The road became a metaphor for my life."

And it inspired the album many of her fans and music critics consider her masterpiece.

Released 30 years ago this week, the nine songs on Hejira form the remarkable personal journal of a nomadic, romantic dreamer whose aural notebook is filled with the stories of doomed love, late night roadhouse dance floors, wedding gown fantasies, lost chances and a deep yearning to escape and start over.

Mitchell is not convinced Hejira is the best of the 22 albums that made her among the most influential singer-songwriters, male or female, of the past 40 years. She won't attach that label to any of her albums.

The songs on Hejira: Dissecting the moodiest music of Joni Mitchell

'Hejira could only have come from me'

But she concedes Hejira is probably her one album that could not have been made by anyone else.

"I suppose a lot of people could have written a lot of my other songs, but I feel the songs on Hejira could only have come from me," she said an interview with the Citizen.

The stories they tell are so vivid, their observations so naked and the landscapes so haunting that Kris Kristofferson famously urged her in a letter to be "more self-protective ... to save something of yourself from public view."

But Mitchell says self-confession, no matter how risky and revealing, was essential to her writing during that era.

"My songs have always been more autobiographical than most people's," she says. "It pushes you toward honesty. I was just returning to normal from the extremities of a very abnormal mindset when I wrote most of the songs (on Hejira).

"When life gets interesting I get very alert, and life was very interesting. I think that took the writing to another level."

Mitchell talked about the album by phone from her home in Los Angeles, where she revealed she's recording her first collection of new songs in nearly a decade. More wary of public scrutiny these days, the Canadian singer agreed to a Citizen request to discuss Hejira because, she said, the album recalls an "interesting transitional" time in her life and her career.

Musically, Hejira certainly marked a departure from the two jazz-tinged but radio-friendly albums that preceded it. Gone were the hummable melodies, conventional formats and jaunty horn sections she used as Top 40 flirtations on 1974's Court and Spark and '75's The Hissing of Summer Lawns.

In their place, Mitchell offered seductively sparse rhythms, lush swirling guitars and the brilliant spark of Jaco Pastorius's fretless bass to create an unceasing musical motion that is as mesmerizing as the highways she travels in her songs.

The album is also a departure lyrically. Using the music's structural looseness to her advantage, Mitchell gives her words a simple directness and poetic polish seldom seen in her music before and rarely found again.

"To me, the whole Hejira album is really inspired," Mitchell says. "There is a rootlessness to it, for sure, but also discovery along the road."

Despite good reviews, Hejira did not sell as briskly as the more accessible albums Mitchell released during the first half of the 1970s. Although exact numbers are hard to get, there are indications sales of Hejira are stronger today than ever.

Voting on jonimitchell.com, an excellent fan-driven website, ranks Hejira as Mitchell's most popular album. A critics' poll done in the late 1990s placed the album in a first-place tie with the Blue, a moody collection of love songs she recorded in 1971.

Mitchell says Hejira's songs were written during or after three journeys she took in late 1975 and the first half of 1976.

The first was a concert tour cancelled amid turmoil after six weeks in February 1976 when Mitchell and her drummer boyfriend John Guerin ended their on-again, off-again relationship, this time seemingly for good.

Soon after, Mitchell signed on with Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Review, a ragged, drug-soaked circus that also variously included Joan Baez, Mick Ronson, Roger McGuinn, Ronee Blakely, Allan Ginsburg and members of the Band. She soon became a frequent cocaine user.

"I realized you couldn't stay on that thing straight -- you'd be the only one," she explains. "It was just insane." Looking back, she says, the drugs had both "great and disastrous" effects: "I had terrible insomnia but I wrote a lot of epic poems," including Song for Sharon, for many the masterpiece around which Hejira orbits.

In danger of losing her equilibrium, Mitchell fled for home in Los Angeles. She was only back a few days when two friends, one of them a former lover from Australia, showed up at her door proposing they drive across the country to New England.

Mitchell eventually dropped them in Maine before heading alone down the coast to Florida, around the Gulf of Mexico and across the southwest back to California.

"I was driving without a driver's licence," she remembers. "I had to stay behind truckers because they signal you when cops are ahead. I had to drive in daylight hours only to stay out of harm's way."

In the South, where hard rock and country music dominated the airwaves, Mitchell was a virtual unknown. "It was a relief. I was able, like The Prince and the Pauper, to escape my fame under a false name and fall in with people and enjoy ordinary civilian status."

The cross-country sojourn resulted in six of the songs on Hejira, which Mitchell says was originally called Travelling -- "that wouldn't have been very memorable," she jokes.

While looking through a dictionary, Mitchell came across the word "hejira," an Islamic term for exodus or breaking with the past. It became a song title -- and against the will of her record company, which wanted something less cryptic -- the name of the album.

"I'd been struggling with a title for the song," she says. "The idea of departure with honour captured the feeling I was after very well."

[ragandbone]

Wow! Wow!
I am thrilled! I don't think any artist has affected me more than Joni. The first song I ever sang in public was one of hers.
Thanks for posting the interview,
Hejira is one of my favorite albums, and I haven't heard her speak much about it. "Amelia" shows up on almost all of my road trip mix cds.

This really belongs in the thread about the Morrison Hotel gallery show in LA, but Henry Diltz (I believe he started the gallery) has taken some of the most beautiful photos of Joni. Here is one:
http://www.morrisonhotelgallery.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Category_Code=DILTZ&Product_Code=MitchellJoni-dulcimer

[The Tower]

Well, hell.

Of course, Hejira was her masterpiece. She was truly wandering. Every song is its own being- I don't know how else to describe it.

Sparky, please tell me she's releasing another album.

Of course she was "just insane"- this was her "COKE" album. She has alluded to it many, many times. However, she was at a "different" creative period during this time- versus Blue, Ladies of the Canyon, and For The Roses. Those albums were all distinct impressions that were far and away different from Hejira.

I think her vomitorium was Hissing of the Summer Lawns. After Court and Spark, there was no other path for her to use.

Joni is a turn-on, that's all there is to it. :nod: :nod:

Oh, and by the way- if you happen to see and or notice- Mondo Drippo Chucko I miss you-

"I've got a blue motel room
With a blue bedspread
I've got the blues inside and outside my head
Will you still love me
When I get back to town"

P.S.- I'm sorry Eliza that I didn't make it to Berkeley. We could have sung "Cactus Tree", "Laughing" and "The Last Time I Saw Richard" all night long.....

[ragandbone]

P.S.- I'm sorry Eliza that I didn't make it to Berkeley. We could have sung "Cactus Tree", "Laughing" and "The Last Time I Saw Richard" all night long.....

"All good dreamers pass this way some day"
I miss my "dark cafe days" I don't get to hang out much.

Yeah, I could sing Joni all night long. I tried to get the band to do 'Amelia" but I don't think we could get the mood right. Somehow, instruments on that song (well, the whole album, really) really evoke the sound of being on the highway: doppler effect, wind, and the imagined sound of wires dipping and rising to meet the telephone poles.

[sparky]

"All good dreamers pass this way some day"
I miss my "dark cafe days" I don't get to hang out much.

Yeah, I could sing Joni all night long. I tried to get the band to do 'Amelia" but I don't think we could get the mood right. Somehow, instruments on that song (well, the whole album, really) really evoke the sound of being on the highway: doppler effect, wind, and the imagined sound of wires dipping and rising to meet the telephone poles.

What kills me are the bass lines. The meandering, ever present sliding fretless bass lines of Jaco Pastorius. They never seem to end. When I listen to that record, and to almost all of "Night Ride Home"(my favorite Joni record), the bass lines are like ocean waves...receding, surging, thrumming endlessly like the sea. Utterly hypnotic. No one has ever duplicated it. Well, except Larry Klein, who channeled Pasotirus on "Night Ride Home." I don't know how he mastered that style. It is like magic. Nothing sounds like it.

Of course I discovered, and became enamored of Joni far after my Stevie years started. And now, she has overtaken her as the one artist who seems
the most indefinable and utterly unique and compelling artists ever. I heard her earlier, but didn't get her. I didn't know as much about music then and my ear wasn't as developed. Frankly, neither was my life or the range of emotions I could feel. There is simply so much going on - in an orchestral sense. Joni can just play the guitar and sing, and it sounds like 50 things are happening at once. She doesn't need a producer and a band. That's how complex and layered the structures are. I f*cking adore her.

[sparky]

Well, hell.

Of course, Hejira was her masterpiece. She was truly wandering. Every song is its own being- I don't know how else to describe it.

Sparky, please tell me she's releasing another album.

That article certainly implies it. It's the first I have heard of her even writing. The last interview I read was the fantastic Hilburn piece in the LA Times (An Artist, Happy In Exile) where she said she was done with music forever. I am glad she is just as full of **** as Stevie about such things.

Of course she was "just insane"- this was her "COKE" album. She has alluded to it many, many times. However, she was at a "different" creative period during this time- versus Blue, Ladies of the Canyon, and For The Roses. Those albums were all distinct impressions that were far and away different from Hejira.

I think her vomitorium was Hissing of the Summer Lawns. After Court and Spark, there was no other path for her to use.

:shocked: How can you call anything that contained "Sweet Bird" a vomitorium ? It is one of my favorite songs, by anyone, ever.

Joni is a turn-on, that's all there is to it. :nod: :nod:

I am hoping against hope that she does release a record and does at least one show. One the greatest regrets of my entire life is not seeing her on the "Both Sides Now" tour with the orchestra. I only have ever seen her at the Stormy Weather shows.

Alas, I was not a full convert yet. What a fool I was. If I ever get to see a full length show, I will weep. I will weep with joy and relief.

[markolas]

I heard about this, and was really shocked. I really thought she was done. Dunno how I feel about another "protest" album, but maybe this won't just be a retread of Dog Eat Dog. Any album that has Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, and Brian Blade (and JONI!) can't be too bad.

[markolas]

What kills me are the bass lines. The meandering, ever present sliding fretless bass lines of Jaco Pastorius. They never seem to end. When I listen to that record, and to almost all of "Night Ride Home"(my favorite Joni record), the bass lines are like ocean waves...receding, surging, thrumming endlessly like the sea. Utterly hypnotic. No one has ever duplicated it. Well, except Larry Klein, who channeled Pasotirus on "Night Ride Home." I don't know how he mastered that style. It is like magic. Nothing sounds like it.


Jaco Pastorius was a genius. I bought his first solo album and albums with Weather Report after I had all the Mitchell albums he played on, because I couldn't get enough of his bass playing.

[cliffdweller]

"Amelia" shows up on almost all of my road trip mix cds.

God how I love that song.

I'm glad to hear that Joni's recording a new album, I just hope it's rawer than the last studio albums she's put out. Dare I say that Hejira is her last true masterpiece? What an amazing album that is.

[cliffdweller]

I think her vomitorium was Hissing of the Summer Lawns

Nah. Her vomitorium was that decade called "The 80's." Blech.

The 70's were aaaaalright for Joni, including Hissing. It's a great little hodgepodge of interesting songs imo :shrug:.

[BlackWidow]

That is fantastic news..thanks for posting!

[JazmenFlowers]

I could have sworn I saw her somewhere like a few months ago saying she was done. well, in any event, good for her. maybe she changed or mind or just doesn't give 2 squirts of duck**** (as Diss used to say) and decided to do it anyway.

[rbs3676]

I adore Joni Mitchell. HEJIRA is constantly at the top of my favorite releases of all time. The entire album - from start to finish - is a journey through lush landscapes. Absolutely gorgeous.
When I was in the 10th grade, I was failing school, was constantly in trouble at home, was in love with a boy who didn't want anything more to do with me and I was, by all counts, miserable. HEJIRA was my escape...my window out of my little world that seemed so troubled. I would stare at the graphics, wishing I was ice skating with Joni...wishing I was anywhere but in Texas. HEJIRA made my troubles disappear.

"In a highway service station
Over the month of June
Was a photograph of the earth
Taken coming back from the moon
And you couldn't see a city
On that marbled bowling ball
Or a forest or a highway
Or me here least of all..."

She's truly the most gifted songwriter of our time. To think that she wont REALLY be retired makes my heart smile. :]

And Sparky, you and I need to talk about NIGHT RIDE HOME...it's a gem.

rbs

[The Tower]

Nah. Her vomitorium was that decade called "The 80's." Blech.

The 70's were aaaaalright for Joni, including Hissing. It's a great little hodgepodge of interesting songs imo :shrug:.
:shocked: How can you call anything that contained "Sweet Bird" a vomitorium ? It is one of my favorite songs, by anyone, ever.
I'm sorry- I didn't quite express myself correctly. When I said that "Hissing" was Joni's vomitorium, I meant that she was purging herself of her past- it was the turning point for her. All her previous albums led themselves in a straight line (in terms of song stylistics and growth structure) and ended up at "Court and Spark". "Hissing" was a transitory, chrysalis-like album. Right after it was the butterfly that is Hejira.

And, yes, Cliffy- Joni's nadir was Wild Things Run Fast and Dog Eat Dog (and parts of Chalk Mark {"Dancing Clown :eek: }). Blech is right.

I am hoping against hope that she does release a record and does at least one show.
I really doubt she would do a show- it would great though, don't get me wrong.

One the greatest regrets of my entire life is not seeing her on the "Both Sides Now" tour with the orchestra. I only have ever seen her at the Stormy Weather shows.
That show at the Greek in L.A. was magic. It was such a beautiful night. I freaked out when she pulled out "Judgement of the Moon and Stars". I also went to her show at Royce Hall when she toured with Bob Dylan and Van Morrison. She stole the show away from those guys- both Dylan and Van Morrison seemed tired. Joni was masterful, singing "Just Like This Train", "Amelia", "Hejira", and many other great cuts.

Alas, I was not a full convert yet. What a fool I was. If I ever get to see a full length show, I will weep. I will weep with joy and relief.
Sorry you missed those shows, Sparky. They were both fantastic.

[The Tower]

"In a highway service station
Over the month of June
Was a photograph of the earth
Taken coming back from the moon
And you couldn't see a city
On that marbled bowling ball
Or a forest or a highway
Or me here least of all..."
"Refuge of the Roads" !!! One of my favorite songs, ever.

And Sparky, you and I need to talk about NIGHT RIDE HOME...it's a gem.
Don't even get me started about "Passion Play" and "Two Grey Rooms"- and, of course, the title track... JOY!!:blob2:

[BlackWidow]

What kills me are the bass lines. The meandering, ever present sliding fretless bass lines of Jaco Pastorius. They never seem to end. When I listen to that record, and to almost all of "Night Ride Home"(my favorite Joni record), the bass lines are like ocean waves...receding, surging, thrumming endlessly like the sea. Utterly hypnotic. No one has ever duplicated it. Well, except Larry Klein, who channeled Pasotirus on "Night Ride Home." I don't know how he mastered that style. It is like magic. Nothing sounds like it.

Of course I discovered, and became enamored of Joni far after my Stevie years started. And now, she has overtaken her as the one artist who seems
the most indefinable and utterly unique and compelling artists ever. I heard her earlier, but didn't get her. I didn't know as much about music then and my ear wasn't as developed. Frankly, neither was my life or the range of emotions I could feel. There is simply so much going on - in an orchestral sense. Joni can just play the guitar and sing, and it sounds like 50 things are happening at once. She doesn't need a producer and a band. That's how complex and layered the structures are. I f*cking adore her.

I discovered her post Stevie too...I am still backtracking the Joni catalog to catch up.I am still blown away by her talent.

[BlackWidow]

Nah. Her vomitorium was that decade called "The 80's." Blech.

The 70's were aaaaalright for Joni, including Hissing. It's a great little hodgepodge of interesting songs imo :shrug:.

Shades of Scarlett Conqouring is amazing!

Stevie stold the scarlett idea of 7 wonders.

[JazmenFlowers]

Stevie stold the scarlett idea of 7 wonders.
oh possumsquat! Stevie didn't even write Seven Wonders you dildo. :wavey:

[rbs3676]

"Refuge of the Roads" !!! One of my favorite songs, ever.


Don't even get me started about "Passion Play" and "Two Grey Rooms"- and, of course, the title track... JOY!!:blob2:

"Two Grey Rooms" breaks my heart...absolutely gorgeous. One of my favs.

rbs

[BlackWidow]

oh possumsquat! Stevie didn't even write Seven Wonders you dildo. :wavey:

She added the "additional" lyrics beeyotch.
sara..tara...farrah..mascara...

[ragandbone]

Here's an outtake of "Sweet Bird" from a set of Hissing Of Summer Lawns outtakes.
http://download.yousendit.com/5EEC1D1048B22C1F I think this is the same on I gave you, Sparky. The sound quality is not fantastic, but it is a pared down version of the song, and worth a listen. I wish i had some demos or outtakes from Hejira!

I did get to see Joni once, but not a full concert. I stood between her and Robbie Robertson in the backstage club, but she was chatting, and it was so casual, I couldn't bear to say anything to her. I would have blathered on about her genius and I would have felt like a dork.

[rbs3676]

Thank you for posting SWEET BIRD!! :xoxo:
Love the piano....just gorgeous!

I think I'm gonna go home tonight and have a mini-Jonifest...

rbs

[sparky]

Here's an outtake of "Sweet Bird" from a set of Hissing Of Summer Lawns outtakes.
http://download.yousendit.com/5EEC1D1048B22C1F I think this is the same on I gave you, Sparky. The sound quality is not fantastic, but it is a pared down version of the song, and worth a listen. I wish i had some demos or outtakes from Hejira!

Fantastic. A perfect excuse to listen to the song. I swear I feel like I have been on a week long vaction after closing my eyes and listening to this song.
The only way to explain this is that this music and her beautiful voice make me feel like I am in love. Can't imagine such a thing otherwise.

[BlackWidow]

Fantastic. A perfect excuse to listen to the song. I swear I feel like I have been on a week long vaction after closing my eyes and listening to this song.
The only way to explain this is that this music and her beautiful voice make me feel like I am in love. Can't imagine such a thing otherwise.

now..there's the Sparky we all know and love.
soft..and gushy and full of real feelings...:o

[HejiraNYC]

One the greatest regrets of my entire life is not seeing her on the "Both Sides Now" tour with the orchestra. I only have ever seen her at the Stormy Weather shows.

Alas, I was not a full convert yet. What a fool I was. If I ever get to see a full length show, I will weep. I will weep with joy and relief.

By some miracle of chance I was able to see Joni on the "Both Sides Now" tour in the front row, right under her mic stand (even Meryl Streep was sitting somewhere behind me). It was a pretty intense show... not just because of the orchestra and my proximity, but because of the fact that she was visibly uncomfortable. Since she was not playing the guitar or the piano, she kept rocking and forth and doing these nervous air-guitar-like gestures all night, and I don't recall her smiling at all. But I do remember that "Judgment of the Moon and Stars" was simply sublime with the orchestra arrangement... but it was painful to hear Joni trying to belt/scream out the "Heh heh heh heh heyyyy" at the crescendo... let's just say she didn't quite have the voice for it anymore. "Hejira" and "Be Cool" were the other highlights...

Anyway... I am absolutely thrilled :blob1: about the new recordings, and I hope they are even angrier and bilious than the last couple of albums. Heaven knows she has a lot more fodder to eviscerate this time around. In a way, we need a new Joni album now more than EVER. I just wonder how her voice has held up, since I don't think she has given up the smokes. I suspect that it's going to be more of a piano-driven album (like her first few) since she had been complaining for years about what a pain-in-the-ass it was to play the guitar with all of the different tunings. And personally I think that guitar synthesizer thingamajig she used on "Taming the Tiger" sounded horrendous.

[markolas]

Anyway... I am absolutely thrilled :blob1: about the new recordings, and I hope they are even angrier and bilious than the last couple of albums. Heaven knows she has a lot more fodder to eviscerate this time around. In a way, we need a new Joni album now more than EVER. I just wonder how her voice has held up, since I don't think she has given up the smokes. I suspect that it's going to be more of a piano-driven album (like her first few) since she had been complaining for years about what a pain-in-the-ass it was to play the guitar with all of the different tunings. And personally I think that guitar synthesizer thingamajig she used on "Taming the Tiger" sounded horrendous.

I prefer her voice post-1980 to the earlier stuff. With the exception of Blue and parts of For the Roses, I can barely stand to listen to her pre-Court & Spark material.

I liked the guitar synthesizer (or whatever it's called) on Taming the Tiger (which I've been listening to a lot of over the past couple of days). I also don't agree that her '80s albums were bad. I purposely stayed away from them for years because of all the negative things people had to say about them, but I must say that Wild Things was the album that really made me see what a genius she is, and how she cannot in any sense be described as a "folk singer."

[markolas]

She talks more about the new album here (why won't it let me do html??): http://www.jonimitchell.com/library/view.cfm?id=1460

[markolas]

Wow, looks like I really killed this thread. :shocked:

[BlackWidow]

Wow, looks like I really killed this thread. :shocked:

...pretty much.:laugh:

[sparky]

She talks more about the new album here (why won't it let me do html??): http://www.jonimitchell.com/library/view.cfm?id=1460

You hardly killed it. I have just been too busy to respond.

Thanks you so much for this link, and more of the interview. I am super friggin excited about the entire thing.

[BlackWidow]

"out of the fire..like catholic saints,
comes Scarlett in her deep complaint"

[ragandbone]

Here she is, just voice and dulcimer.
beauty

A Case Of You (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1maMi4FcRs)
Sorry, but I can't embed the video, by request of the poster.

[sparky]

Here she is, just voice and dulcimer.
beauty

A Case Of You (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1maMi4FcRs)
Sorry, but I can't embed the video, by request of the poster.

Oh wow. Thanks. There is a ****load of Joni up at youtube right now. Almost the entire Wembely show. I about blew a blood vessel.

[ragandbone]

Oh wow. Thanks. There is a ****load of Joni up at youtube right now. Almost the entire Wembely show. I about blew a blood vessel.
I know—I was really excited to find Carey, and Case of You, because I had rarely* seen her playing the dulcimer, except in a still photo.
If you have never seen The Last Waltz, you should check out Joni and the Band doing Coyote
*edit. I remember now that I saw some amazing footage of her playing All I Want and California with dulcimer. Now, where did I see that? I think it was on YouTube, and now they are gone! I should have grabbed them and saved them.

[rbs3676]

THE LAST WALTZ was the first time I had "seen" Joni perform.
It was shortly after that (right?) when HBO started airing SHADOWS AND LIGHT...and I was hooked.
This Monday evening, I pulled all my Joni CD's out and created a fabulous mix CD that made my drive to and from work yesterday wonderful. :nod:

rbs

[BlackWidow]

Here she is, just voice and dulcimer.
beauty

A Case Of You (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1maMi4FcRs)
Sorry, but I can't embed the video, by request of the poster.

Thanks for the post!!!:thumbsup:

[Nicks Fan]

Can't wait for a new album and hopefully a tour :blob2:

PS
Does anyone know when she last toured and or where to find old tour dates of hers?

Matt

[gldstwmn]

THE LAST WALTZ was the first time I had "seen" Joni perform.


Her performance of Coyote was just great and true Joni. Plus she had The Band backing her! Talk about one of your dream performances. Robbie Robertson was pretty easy on the eyes in that film too. :laugh:

[markolas]

Can't wait for a new album and hopefully a tour :blob2:

PS
Does anyone know when she last toured and or where to find old tour dates of hers?

Her last tour was in 2000. Before that, she toured with Bob Dylan and Van Morrison in '98, which I would have loved to have seen. That was her first tour since 1983, I believe.

Her website http://www.jonimitchell.com is a pretty good resource for stuff like that. I've spent hours reading some of the interviews they have posted. :laugh:

[ragandbone]

Her performance of Coyote was just great and true Joni. Plus she had The Band backing her! Talk about one of your dream performances. Robbie Robertson was pretty easy on the eyes in that film too. :laugh:
Oh yes, let's review:
<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/LNX4VJFysls"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/LNX4VJFysls" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>

I saw the movie on a rainy night, with my mother, at a theater long since torn down. Robbie Robertson is one of my first Rock and Roll crushes (the tall, dark & addicted look) and certainly the only crush my mother and I have shared.

[gldstwmn]

She gives Robbie a little kiss and touches his face at the begining. ;) My cable company was running The Last Waltz on demand recently so I got to watch it a bunch of times. So fabulous to watch on a Sunday morning. Thank you for that.

[Nixxxed]

Late '60s Joni boots, anyone?

http://www.knkmusic.net/2007/01/rare-joni-mitchell-live-tracks.html

The tracks are streaming - haven't figured out a way to dl or capture them (yet ... haha). If they don't work for you, go here:

http://hype.non-standard.net/search/joni%20mitchell/1/

Scroll down to the Jan. 13 entries, and click "listen" next to the song title. A little player pops up and you can scroll through the songs (all on the search page, not just the first blog I linked above).

:wavey:

[markolas]

What I would really be interested in hearing are boots from the mid to late '70s, '80s, and '90s...particularly live performances (of which she didn't do many after 1983 or so). I'm not sure if any even exist, or are in circulation among fans.

[ragandbone]

Late '60s Joni boots, anyone?

http://www.knkmusic.net/2007/01/rare-joni-mitchell-live-tracks.html

The tracks are streaming - haven't figured out a way to dl or capture them (yet ... haha). If they don't work for you, go here:

http://hype.non-standard.net/search/joni%20mitchell/1/

Scroll down to the Jan. 13 entries, and click "listen" next to the song title. A little player pops up and you can scroll through the songs (all on the search page, not just the first blog I linked above).

:wavey:
Yay! Oh, drat, the files are duds.
That's interesting that they will play from the Hype machine player. They must be cached in some way. If you leave a comment on that blog, he may repost, or fix the links.
I can capture them, but I can't do it until later tonight. Of course, I would rather download them ;^)
I often run inot links that have expired on music blogs, but I rarely use the Hype machine player, and now I want to see if it keeps other expired or pulled files in its memory!

[foxyluva]

Im hoping that this Joni album is as good as all the hype. I don't think she has released a half-decent album since "Night Ride Home" :shrug:

[markolas]

Im hoping that this Joni album is as good as all the hype. I don't think she has released a half-decent album since "Night Ride Home" :shrug:

I loved Turbulent Indigo, and think that was her last masterpiece. Taming the Tiger was interesting, but her voice was starting to go on that one. Both Sides Now was great, as was Travelogue, for the most part. A lot of her songs screamed for orchestral arrangements.

[foxyluva]

I loved Turbulent Indigo, and think that was her last masterpiece. Taming the Tiger was interesting, but her voice was starting to go on that one. Both Sides Now was great, as was Travelogue, for the most part. A lot of her songs screamed for orchestral arrangements.

I didn't like "Taming the Tiger" at all. In fact I hated it. I like "Turbulent Indigo" somewhat, but I can take or leave it. I don't like either "Travelogue" or "BSN" from what I can remember...

She needs to get away from the pop sheen and go back to making acoustic albums with orchestral arrangements - thats when she is at her best :shrug:

[markolas]

She needs to get away from the pop sheen and go back to making acoustic albums with orchestral arrangements - thats when she is at her best :shrug:

I think she generally knows what she's doing. She's never really done what people have expected of her, and I've always admired her for that. There's not an album of hers that I can honestly say I dislike, although the first two or three don't totally do it for me. I prefer the more jazz-oriented stuff from the late '70s; I also think people aren't fair to her '80s work.

I don't think she can physically play acoustic guitar anymore, hence the VG8 heard on Taming the Tiger, so I'd be surprised if the new album (should it come to pass...I haven't heard anymore about it) had much of it on there.

[foxyluva]

I think she generally knows what she's doing. She's never really done what people have expected of her, and I've always admired her for that. There's not an album of hers that I can honestly say I dislike, although the first two or three don't totally do it for me. I prefer the more jazz-oriented stuff from the late '70s; I also think people aren't fair to her '80s work.

I don't think she can physically play acoustic guitar anymore, hence the VG8 heard on Taming the Tiger, so I'd be surprised if the new album (should it come to pass...I haven't heard anymore about it) had much of it on there.

Yeah, I don't like her jazz stuff at all. "Mingus" was just to weird for me, and "Taming the Tiger" was, well, I wont go there.

Either way, I hope this album is good, otherwise It will be one I will skip for sure...

[gldstwmn]

My favorite song from Hejira is Coyote.:)

[sparky]

I didn't like "Taming the Tiger" at all. In fact I hated it. I like "Turbulent Indigo" somewhat, but I can take or leave it. I don't like either "Travelogue" or "BSN" from what I can remember...


Tiger is difficult, but I do like 5 or 6 songs a lot.

TI is great - with about 3 songs I am not totally nuts about.

Dog Eat Dog is the one I struggle with the most.

I think both Travelogue and BSN on the other hand, are masterpieces.
I could listen to them till the cows come home.

[markolas]

Tiger is difficult, but I do like 5 or 6 songs a lot.

TI is great - with about 3 songs I am not totally nuts about.

Dog Eat Dog is the one I struggle with the most.

I think both Travelogue and BSN on the other hand, are masterpieces.
I could listen to them till the cows come home.

I've been a Joni fan for over 10 years, but stayed away from her '80s albums until just a year or two ago, because of how much everyone said they sucked. In the future, I'll be making my own decisions when it comes to these things, because as it turns out, they don't suck at all. Some people just have it in their heads that her music should sound a certain way, and when it doesn't, they can't stand it.

A couple of songs on Wild Things (Ladies' Man especially) were revelations. Everyone tries to pigeon-hole her as a folk singer, but she's really delving into blue-eyed soul territory on that song. After that, nothing she did was difficult for me to listen to, although I still have my favorites.

[ragandbone]

What I would really be interested in hearing are boots from the mid to late '70s, '80s, and '90s...particularly live performances (of which she didn't do many after 1983 or so). I'm not sure if any even exist, or are in circulation among fans.
I have some demos from Hissing of Summer Lawns, and Blue(PM if you want them) that I got from Dime a Dozen, back when I had an account. I looked around at that time, and there were a couple of other boots on there, though I don't recall if any were live.

[ragandbone]

My favorite song from Hejira is Coyote.:)
And I love Coyote on The Last Waltz! Did we talk about this already?

[bikerchic]

http://www.chartattack.com/damn/2007/01/2907.cfm


Joni Mitchell Returns To Spotlight For Canadian Songwriters Hall Of Fame Induction Monday January 29, 2007 @ 06:00 PM
By: ChartAttack.com Staff


Joni Mitchell (photo by Steve McLean)

An impressive assortment of artists contributed to the Joni Mitchell tribute album coming this spring from Nonesuch, but there was just as much star power on stage at Toronto's John Bassett Theatre on Sunday night to pay respect to the newest inductee into the Canadian Songwriters Hall Of Fame.

The 63-year-old native of Fort MacLeod, Alta. was honoured for her overall contributions to music, with the hits "Big Yellow Taxi," "Both Sides Now," "Help Me," "Woodstock" and "You Turn Me On, I'm A Radio" being singled out for induction. While the reclusive Mitchell tuned and strummed a few chords on a custom-made acoustic guitar presented to her by Robin and Claude Boucher backstage before the show, she didn't actually perform as part of the gala event.

That was left to the audience — comprised largely of songwriters, artists and music industry representatives — which was asked by show co-host Andrew Craig to sing along with him to "Big Yellow Taxi." Almost everyone in the theatre obliged, and seemed to know all the words, which brought a big smile to Mitchell's face as she sat beside manager Sam Feldman in the front row.

More polished tributes came from Herbie Hancock (piano) and Chaka Khan (big vocals and hair) on "Help Me," and James Taylor, who received a standing ovation for his rendition of "Woodstock." Rising Canadian opera star Measha Brueggergosman closed the show with a unique operatic arrangement of "Both Sides Now," and also earned a standing O.

After a video presentation and Hancock and author Margaret Atwood waxing poetic about Mitchell and her eclectic talents, the artist took the stage for a brief acceptance speech. She said that she wrote her first song when she was 21 and has completed "a lot of them" since then. "I need to explore and discover and so that has given me, really, to some what seems like courage, but really it's just in my stars, there's nothing I can do about it."

Mitchell said that she had friends dating back to fourth grade in attendance and that it was a huge honour to be recognized as a key element in Canada's rich songwriting history. She concluded by saying, "I guess I'll just take my award and run now," before leaving the stage to more rousing applause.

Quebecois singer/songwriter Jean-Pierre Ferland was also in attendance and inducted along with his songs "Je Reviens Chez Nous," "Le Petit Roi," "T'es Mon Amour, T'es Ma Maitresse," "Ton Visage" and "Un Peu Plus Haut, Un Peu Plus Loin." Marc-Andre Fortin, Laurence Jalbert, Mario Pelchat and Isabelle Boulay performed Ferland's songs, while Florence K, Veronic DiCaire and Marie-Eve Janvier sang other francophone songs that were honoured. I can now safely say that I've reached my lifetime quota of listening to French ballads.

The one exception was Karkwa's performance of Georges Langford's 1980 song, "Le Frigidaire." I've never heard the original, and just learned that Karkwa is currently one of Quebec's most popular bands, but I was impressed by the group's rock-infused rendition of the hooky pop song.

The late Wilf Carter, who was better known to American fans as Montana Slim, was honoured for his pioneering work in Canadian country music. Corb Lund performed his "There's A Love Knot In My Lariat" while George Canyon sang his "My Old Canadian Home."

Early 20th century Broadway lyricist Raymond Egan was the fourth inductee, and Emm Gryner charmed the crowd with her interpretation of one of his old nuggets, "Sleepy Time Gal."

David-Clayton Thomas opened the show by belting out "Spinning Wheel," the massive hit he wrote and sang with Blood Sweat And Tears in 1969. Crooner Michael Buble was an appropriate choice to sing "How About You?," a number written by Ralph Freed and popularized in the 1941 Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney film, Babes On Broadway.

But the most enjoyable song of the night, as far as I was concerned, was Jim Cuddy and Oh Susanna's spirited take on Sylvia Tyson's '60s gem, "You Were On My Mind," which helped unglaze my eyes after some of those aforementioned chansons d'amour.

CBC-TV will air an edited one-hour version of the show at 8 p.m. on March 5.

—Steve McLean

[gldstwmn]

And I love Coyote on The Last Waltz! Did we talk about this already?

Yes we did. I didn't realize this was an older thread. :o

[HejiraNYC]

What I would really be interested in hearing are boots from the mid to late '70s, '80s, and '90s...particularly live performances (of which she didn't do many after 1983 or so). I'm not sure if any even exist, or are in circulation among fans.

I was able to grab some of my favorite Joni recordings from DIME some time ago:

-Radio broadcast: Live at the Gene Autry Museum 1995 for NPR.
-Hissing of Summer Lawns demos
-Live at Red Rocks 1983 (soundboard)

I also grabbed the recording of Joni with James Taylor at the Royal Albert Hall in London in 1972. This has absolutely got to be my favorite live recording by any artist, period; the recording quality is just perfect. Their version of "You Can Close Your Eyes" is just dreamy. :nod:

I'll post if anyone is interested.

[HejiraNYC]

Tiger is difficult, but I do like 5 or 6 songs a lot.

TI is great - with about 3 songs I am not totally nuts about.

Dog Eat Dog is the one I struggle with the most.

I think both Travelogue and BSN on the other hand, are masterpieces.
I could listen to them till the cows come home.

I actually quite fancy Taming the Tiger, although I am not terribly thrilled about that guitar synthesizer sound. I guess I have a soft spot for "Man from Mars." I had heard in a radio interview that she wrote that song when one of her cats went missing for days and she walked around the neighborhood calling for him. "I called and called... the silence is so full of sounds..." When my own cat went missing occasionally I used to hum this song in my head. :rolleyes: :lol:

I think "Dog Eat Dog" is actually the strongest of her 80's albums (of course that's not saying a whole lot :lol: ). But it's also the most contemporary album she's ever released; it is definitely an artifact of its time- it's Joni's very own Rock a Little. And it's eerie how the lyrics from songs like "Fiction" are so relevant today.

[The Tower]

I think she generally knows what she's doing. She's never really done what people have expected of her, and I've always admired her for that. There's not an album of hers that I can honestly say I dislike, although the first two or three don't totally do it for me. I prefer the more jazz-oriented stuff from the late '70s; I also think people aren't fair to her '80s work.

I don't think she can physically play acoustic guitar anymore, hence the VG8 heard on Taming the Tiger, so I'd be surprised if the new album (should it come to pass...I haven't heard anymore about it) had much of it on there.
Oddly enough, Joni's piano based songs always seem to be favorites of mine- so, if she backs off the guitar for awhile I'm good with it.

[ragandbone]

I was able to grab some of my favorite Joni recordings from DIME some time ago:

-Radio broadcast: Live at the Gene Autry Museum 1995 for NPR.
-Hissing of Summer Lawns demos
-Live at Red Rocks 1983 (soundboard)

I also grabbed the recording of Joni with James Taylor at the Royal Albert Hall in London in 1972. This has absolutely got to be my favorite live recording by any artist, period; the recording quality is just perfect. Their version of "You Can Close Your Eyes" is just dreamy. :nod:

I'll post if anyone is interested.
I would love to hear some of those. I can post the Hissing demos as a zip on YouSendit. Coming up...

[ragandbone]

Yes we did. I didn't realize this was an older thread. :o
:o :lol: I wasn't sure either, and all I had to do was to scroll 4 or 5 posts up!

[ragandbone]

here are the Hissing of Summer Lawns demos (http://download.yousendit.com/649BE1CF50E6CAC3)

[markolas]

I was able to grab some of my favorite Joni recordings from DIME some time ago:

-Radio broadcast: Live at the Gene Autry Museum 1995 for NPR.
-Hissing of Summer Lawns demos
-Live at Red Rocks 1983 (soundboard)

I also grabbed the recording of Joni with James Taylor at the Royal Albert Hall in London in 1972. This has absolutely got to be my favorite live recording by any artist, period; the recording quality is just perfect. Their version of "You Can Close Your Eyes" is just dreamy. :nod:

I'll post if anyone is interested.

Yes, please post! Especially the live things. :D

I think "Dog Eat Dog" is actually the strongest of her 80's albums (of course that's not saying a whole lot :lol: ). But it's also the most contemporary album she's ever released; it is definitely an artifact of its time- it's Joni's very own Rock a Little. And it's eerie how the lyrics from songs like "Fiction" are so relevant today.

I dunno, I don't think any of them get a fair shake. I actually really, really like Wild Things Run Fast, and think it stands up to Court & Spark. The one I like least is Chalk Mark in a Rain Storm, though I've warmed up to that one a little, too. I'll always think "Dancin' Clown" is a piece of crap, though. :laugh:

And I agree with you about Dog Eat Dog, although I have a more positive view of her '80s work, overall.

[markolas]

here are the Hissing of Summer Lawns demos (http://download.yousendit.com/649BE1CF50E6CAC3)

Thank you! I was going to send you a PM, but here they are anyway! :blob2:

[ragandbone]

Thank you! I was going to send you a PM, but here they are anyway! :blob2:
Yeah, I realized I was being stingy, and why not post here?

[rbs3676]

I dunno, I don't think any of them get a fair shake. I actually really, really like Wild Things Run Fast, and think it stands up to Court & Spark. The one I like least is Chalk Mark in a Rain Storm, though I've warmed up to that one a little, too. I'll always think "Dancin' Clown" is a piece of crap, though. :laugh:



I liked a lot of WILD THINGS and I loved most of CHALK MARK. But my favorite was/is NIGHT RIDE HOME...I think it's just gorgeous. I'm currently at work so I can't check the CD, but now that I think about it, was that released in the early 90's?

rbs

[The Tower]

I'll always think "Dancin' Clown" is a piece of crap, though. :laugh:
Anything that's an " ing " word that ends up being an " in' " word is a piece of crap.

[markolas]

I liked a lot of WILD THINGS and I loved most of CHALK MARK. But my favorite was/is NIGHT RIDE HOME...I think it's just gorgeous. I'm currently at work so I can't check the CD, but now that I think about it, was that released in the early 90's?

rbs

Night Ride Home came out in 1991; she was still on Geffen Records at the time, though. And it certainly is an amazing album. I may even like it as well as I do Turbulent Indigo now (maybe even a little better).

[sparky]

But my favorite was/is NIGHT RIDE HOME...I think it's just gorgeous.
rbs

Fave Joni studio record. Top 5 of all time for me.

[rbs3676]

re: NIGHT RIDE HOME

Fave Joni studio record. Top 5 of all time for me.

Of course it is...:xoxo:

rbs

[HejiraNYC]

Yes, please post! Especially the live things. :D



Enjoy, kiddies. :p

Live at the Gene Autry Museum, Los Angeles, January 26, 1995
http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=DDF88B3F336A33A3

[HejiraNYC]

Oh, and another rare treat. Not sure where this came from, but it's a live video of "Borderline."

Just do a right mouse click and "Save Target As"

http://www.wadhoo.com/30959/otros/borderline.wmv

[HejiraNYC]

Also, not to go too far off topic, but can somebody please identify the source of this studio performance of "Hejira?" Was it ever released as a recording or a video? It is absolutely smoking :shocked: :thumbsup: . I'm not usually into this kind of masturbatory jazz improv/fusion stuff, but this has such a strong groove. I am guessing it was done sometime between Night Ride Home and Turbulent Indigo. :shrug:

<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/koZm2nMzqcY"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/koZm2nMzqcY" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>

[foxyluva]

I liked a lot of WILD THINGS and I loved most of CHALK MARK. But my favorite was/is NIGHT RIDE HOME...I think it's just gorgeous. I'm currently at work so I can't check the CD, but now that I think about it, was that released in the early 90's?

rbs

My favourite is "Night Ride Home" as well :)

[markolas]

Enjoy, kiddies. :p

Live at the Gene Autry Museum, Los Angeles, January 26, 1995
http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=DDF88B3F336A33A3

Thanks!! Do you still have the '83 soundboard thing, also?

[markolas]

Also, not to go too far off topic, but can somebody please identify the source of this studio performance of "Hejira?" Was it ever released as a recording or a video? It is absolutely smoking :shocked: :thumbsup: . I'm not usually into this kind of masturbatory jazz improv/fusion stuff, but this has such a strong groove. I am guessing it was done sometime between Night Ride Home and Turbulent Indigo. :shrug:

Wow, everybody's hatin' on the jazz. :distress:

I saw this on YouTube. Had never seen it before, but looks like it's from the late '80s/early'90s. No clue if it was ever released commercially or not, but I'd love to have a whole DVD of performances like this.

[ragandbone]

Wow, everybody's hatin' on the jazz. :distress:

I saw this on YouTube. Had never seen it before, but looks like it's from the late '80s/early'90s. No clue if it was ever released commercially or not, but I'd love to have a whole DVD of performances like this.
"Shadows and Light" is from the Jazz Joni era. You have probably seen that.

mid 70's to late mid 80's are not my favorite jazz era, in general.

[markolas]

"Shadows and Light" is from the Jazz Joni era. You have probably seen that.

Well, yeah, but I was talking specifically about what HejiraNYC posted.

mid 70's to late mid 80's are not my favorite jazz era, in general.

I think people were trying, but the conservatives just wanted everything to stay frozen in time, circa 1965. I love Weather Report, Pat Metheny, Jaco Pastorius, and others from that era. Pastorius, in particular, was a genius...maybe the last really great jazz innovator we've had.

[HejiraNYC]

I think people were trying, but the conservatives just wanted everything to stay frozen in time, circa 1965. I love Weather Report, Pat Metheny, Jaco Pastorius, and others from that era. Pastorius, in particular, was a genius...maybe the last really great jazz innovator we've had.

I have to admit that I absolutely love what Jaco did with Joni- really took her songs to a new, ethereal level. But unlike most other jazz/fusion artists, I think he had a true ear for music- he knew when to come in, do his thing, and step back. I don't get that sense with many other players- whose main focus is on cramming as many notes as possible within a few seconds, or just banging out discordant noises and changing keys and rhythms all over the place. Within the structure of a real song (like "Hejira"), jazz can work really well. But without that structure/discipline, jazz can get really out of control very quickly.

[HejiraNYC]

There is something about this picture that makes me very, very hopeful. :nod:

http://jmdl.com/events/images/070128_03.jpg

[gldstwmn]

There is something about this picture that makes me very, very hopeful. :nod:

http://jmdl.com/events/images/070128_03.jpg

She looks great. Where is that from?

[HejiraNYC]

She looks great. Where is that from?

This is from some kind of Canadian song writers' hall of fame award ceremony... I think it was last weekend. She didn't perform, but at least she still knows how to play guitar!

[gldstwmn]

This is from some kind of Canadian song writers' hall of fame award ceremony... I think it was last weekend. She didn't perform, but at least she still knows how to play guitar!

Yes. At least she is holding the guitar!