Joni Mitchell at the New Orleans Jazz Festival, 1995— Mitchell underwent a musical renaissance in the 1990s.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Canada’s Joni Mitchell did much to bring the torch song into the rock era. Her albums Ladies of the Canyon (1970), Blue (1971), and Court and Spark (1974) are classics of an era when singer-songwriters achieved prominence. Few have matched her ability to compose musical short stories of such vivid clarity.
Joni Mitchell at the New Orleans Jazz Festival, 1995— Mitchell underwent a musical renaissance in the 1990s.
Guitarist, vocalist, and keyboards player, Mitchell (who was born Roberta Joan Anderson, on November 7, 1943) first began writing and performing on the Canadian folk scene in the mid-1960s, before moving to New York, and then to Los Angeles. In 1967, folksinger Judy Collins recorded two Mitchell compositions—“Both Sides Now,” and “Michael from the Mountains”—and the following year, Mitchell recorded her debut album Songs to a Seagull The songs on her second album, Clouds (1969), such as “Chelsea Morning,” reflected the optimism of the hippie era, as did “Woodstock” on Ladies of the Canyon. Mitchell had famously pulled out of performing at the Woodstock Festival the previous year to appear on a talk show, but the song captures the feeling of togetherness among those who had attended the event. With “Big Yellow Taxi,” from Ladies of the Canyon, Mitchell became one of the first rock musicians to deal with conservationist issues. In 1971, she arrived at No. 1 in the U.S. charts when she sang backing vocals on the James Taylor version of Carole King’s “You’ve Got a Friend.”
Blue was the crowning achievement of her early, strongly acoustic period. Songs such as “Carey,” and “California” emphasised her crystal-clear voice and ability to create impressionistic glimpses of a certain time and place. Blue made No. 3 in the U.K. album chart and 15 in the American chart. In 1974, Mitchell adopted a fully electrified sound on the superb album Court and Spark. The spiritual element often present in her songs was still there in the gliding, swooping “Help Me,” but not in the pounding pace of “Raised on Robbery,” which would have graced the ROLLING STONES’ hard-hitting album Exile on Main Street. The album made No. 2 in the U.S., but in The Hissing of Summer Lawns, the following year, and in Hejira (1976) and Mingus (1979), she moved away from rock toward experiments in jazz.
Financial and health problems made her feel like a “prisoner of war” during the 1980s, but Turbulent Lndigo, in 1994, was her best album in two decades. The cover of the CD was a Mitchell interpretation of a Vincent van Gogh self-portrait, with Mitchell herself taking the place of the artist. Her own paintings have often graced her album covers.
Joni Mitchell epitomised the best of the hippie movement. Her emotive vocals, brimming with a love of life even when dealing with bad times, created some of the most magical moments in rock music.
Graham McColl
SEE ALSO:
FOLK ROCK; JAZZ; ROCK FESTIVALS; SINGER-SONGWRITERS.
Hinton, Brian. Joni Mitchell: Both Sides Now (London: Sanctuary, 1996).
Blue; Court and Spark; Hejira; The Hissing of Summer Lawns; Hits; Ladies of the Canyon; Mingus; Misses; Turbulent Indigo.