Blue
Joni Mitchell
Warner Bros, 1971
Wait, so he's only been back for two days and so far he's only written about records from the seventies! Is he going soft in his old age?
Well, maybe so, but this record was such a constant companion to me on my travels that I can't see myself moving forward before I address it here.
Blue was Joni Mitchell's fourth album, and she already had some absolute classic songs - "Big Yellow Taxi," "Both Sides Now," "Woodstock," and "The Circle Game"- under her belt. But it was here that she really hit her stride, composing a set of ten songs consistent in theme and style, and every damn one of them a highlight.
The instrumental palate of
Blue is very simple, led by either acoustic guitar or piano and occasionally augmented by upright bass and some light percussion. But the key instrument throughout is clearly Mitchell's voice, and she wields it with stunning expressiveness. At turns playful and sorrowful, she uses her full range, flipping into her upper register or swooping into her sonorous lows. And then there's her unique phrasing - she will often tack on another word after you think she has finished a phrase, which keeps the melodies rhythmically varied and leaves you hanging on her every word.
Of course, the vocal performance would be merely impressive if there weren't some solid songs to hang it on. And thankfully there are; in fact the material is so consistent it's hard to even know where to start. Opener "All I Really Want" sets the scene perfectly. One of the album's more upbeat tunes, it's light-footed yearning is deftly shaded with the deep melancholy that permeates even the album's happier moments. "Carey" and "
California" both capture the intoxicating freedom of traveling, but also betray a deep-seated longing for home. "River" is an unquestionable classic, and has the added value of doubling as a Christmas song. But "Case Of You" is perhaps the album's
high point. The chorus is that of a devotional love song, but the opening lines are a wry portrait of love lost:
Just before our love got lost you said
"I am as constant as the Northern Star."
And I said, "Constantly in the darkness; where's that at?
If you want me I'll be in the bar.
It's the perfect ode to the complexities and contradictions of love, which just so happens to be the primary focus of the album.
"The Last Time I Saw Richard" closes the album on an unquestionably melancholy note, with Richard observing that all romantics end up "cynical and drunk and boring someone in some dark cafe." Mitchell still manages to insert some hope into the song, though, like a dusty streak of light cutting through a dark room:
Only a dark cocoon before I get my gorgeous wings
And fly away
Only a phase, these dark cafe days
But the somberness of the music shows no sign of letting up as the piano brings us to the end of the album alone.
A songwriter with this kind of talent is a small marvel in and of itself, but to find her creating such an unflinching and detailed portrait of herself is something to be cherished - the greatest confessional singer-songwriter album ever released.
The Flaming Lips
Today I am very pleased to unveil a new feature on my blog - Perfect Sound Forever, a weekly blogcast! It's very much like a podcast, only it's on my blog. I guess I've started missing my college radio show. Anyway, here it is - an hour of exciting tunes lovingly commentated upon by yours truly. Enjoy!
"Sail Away"