No. 111: Court And Spark

Band: Joni Mitchell
Album: Court And Spark
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Joni Mitchell's introspective songwriting is nice and "Court and Spark" is her best record. Yielding her only top ten hit and some of her most celebrated songs, the album is filled with good songs.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: Adult comtemporary/'70s FM radio is not my favorite type of music. Mitchell basically works in that realm.
Best song: The title track is really good.
Worst song: The only non-brilliant songs on the album is "Sulk."
Is it awesome?: It's pretty good, but, not great.

Let's talk about Canada for a minute. I think of Canada in a lot of the same ways that I think of Wisconsin. Kathleen Madigan, a pretty funny St. Louis comedian, has a line in her act wherein she called Canada "like America's attic. You forget about it, but when you go up there, you realize there's a lot of cool shit there." People are more polite. They have a lot more wildlife. That sort of thing (In this example, the U.S. is to Chicago as Canada is to Wisconsin).

Joni Mitchell is Canadian, so, that's the only reason to bring up Canada. In fact, she has been ordained an "Order of Canada," whatever that means. That and the fact that she gloriously mispronounces "Champs-Élysées," which is always surprising from Canadians. A lot of them speak French, right?

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We've already gone through my general thoughts on Joni Mitchell. I'm pretty sure I've mentioned my feeling on female singers, as well (if not, I prefer female singers to male singers). Still, I find Mitchell's music mostly boring.

As someone who's not necessarily a "lyric guy," I don't find Mitchell as impressive as everyone else does. Still, "Court And Spark" is much more interesting, as the second side of the album takes a great deal from jazz in its soft intricacy. "Just This Train" is based around a nice guitar riff and an easy rhythm section. The time changes are nice change the the folk boring-ness that occupies much of the rest of the record.

"Raised on Robbery" is a strange record in that it's based on an old timey rock and roll song (honky tonk, maybe?), but it's a storytelling lyric about a man at a bar who is approached by a hooker. It's an odd choice, but a decent song and certainly, different.

Lyrically, it is a nice record, but I can't get past her voice. Mitchell has been called the "female Dylan," and she shuns that title, rightfully. "Being female creates a new category in some people's minds. No one would say that Dylan is the 'male Joni Mitchell,'" she has said and she's right.

Overall, it's a fine record, but another filed in the "good, but not great" category.

No. 30: Blue

Band: Joni Mitchell
Album: Blue
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Like "Plastic Ono Band," Joni Mitchell's landmark record is strikingly confessional and a cornerstone of '70s songwriting.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: Wow, Joni Mitchell's voice is bad.
Best song: "A Case of You" is a pretty amazing song.
Worst song: "California" doesn't float my boat.
Is it awesome?: I'd say no.

I guess I'm not getting something with "Blue." The female singer/songwriter with which I'm the most familiar is entirely different from this record. There are the indie songstresses who whisper (Tara Jane O'Neil, Julie Doiron, etc.), the angrier punkish women (Liz Phair), the middle of the road nonsense/Lilith Fair types (Sarah McLachlan, Natalie Merchant, Lisa Loeb, etc.) or the damaged women who sand confessionals about things that make men extremely uncomfortable (Fiona Apple and Tori Amos come to mind). Mitchell is somewhere between the Lilith Fair types and the damaged, and her voice is so high-pitched and whiny, it's tough to get into the songs.

I tend to love female singers. I'd sign up to listen to Chan Marshall read the phone book. But, Mitchell's voice just isn't attractive to me on the more passionate vocal performances on the record. The "When are you gonna realize they're only pretty lies" portion of "The Last Time I Saw Richard" sound like Mitchell is trying to scare small animals. Similarly, I would love the references to Canada (I like Canada) in "A Case of You" are so high pitched, I needed to turn down the volume in my headphones while listening, out of fear of busting my eardrums.

But, again, the writing is interesting, if not fantastic. The overarching themes of loneliness and damage are thoughtful and honest. "Little Green" is written about a child Mitchell gave up for adoption, while the title track is one of hope and advice given to a friend (in this case, musician James Taylor).

Is it my favorite thing ever to come out? Surely not. I imagine it had some level of influence. I just don't love it. I'm clearly missing something.

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One final note, from Mitchell herself. She said the following in a 1979 Rolling Stone interview:

"At that period of my life, I had no personal defenses. I felt like a cellophane wrapper on a pack of cigarettes. I felt like I had absolutely no secrets from the world, and I couldn't pretend in my life to be strong. Or to be happy."

Again, I respect that honesty, but that doesn't mean it's the 30th best album ever.