Joni Mitchell Retrospective - Part II

Next up on my look at the Joni Mitchell albums in my collection is her fourth album, and arguably her masterpiece, Blue, which was released in June, 1971. 

Blue, 1971

Blue is one of the most raw and revealing albums ever made, as Joni pours out her sorrow over lost love in the album's 10 songs. You can read the backstory on the internet, but the short version is that after breaking up with Graham Nash, Joni began a brief affair with James Taylor. After they broke up, Joni went to Europe to get away from it all. She fetched up on the Spanish island of Formentera, which in the 60s had become a hippy hangout. (There is an ongoing debate about whether Bob Dylan lived there for a time in a lighthouse (or maybe a windmill), occasionally showing up to play guitar in local bars.) Anyhoo, alone on the island with her guitar and a broken heart, Joni wrote most of the soul-baring songs that make up Blue. 

Blue, 1971 original pressing

Blue, 2009 remaster

Although it is clearly a brilliant album, every time I listen to it I feel like I'm eavesdropping on a painful conversation or reading a private entry in a diary. The music and lyrics are incredible, but it also makes me cringe a little. And the only song on the album that isn't about lost love is "Little Green," which Joni wrote several years earlier and is about the pain of giving up her daughter for adoption when she was a 21-year-old unwed mother in Canada. Oddly, "Little Green" has somehow become a modern Christmas classic, even though it is anything but uplifting. But I digress.


I own two copies of Blue. The first is an original 1971 release, which is still in VG++ condition, which is remarkable considering the state of my equipment back then. I suspect that my not playing it all that often is what saved it. My copy has the initials BG on the deadwax, indicating that the lacquer was cut by the great Bernie Grundman. Needless to say, the sound is fabulous. 

My second copy of Blue is the 2009 Rhino Vinyl remaster. Like the Rhino remaster of Ladies of the Canyon, they did a wonderful job. It is pressed on dead flat 180-gram vinyl with a heavyweight replica jacket and blue dust sleeve. The Rhino reissue was remastered by Kevin Gray and Steve Hoffman, two more audio legends, so once again the sound is fantastic. 

Here are the matrix numbers on the two releases:

-Original 1971 release:

Side 1: MS-2038 31218 (RE-2) - 2 BG A5 P
Side 2: MS-2038 31219 (RE-2) BG C P

Mastered by Bernie Grundman
Pressed by Columbia Records, Pittman, NJ

-2009 Rhino Vinyl remaster:

Side 1: MS-2038-A KPG&SH@ATM 14569.1(3)
Side 2: RHI-1-74842B KPG&SH@ATM 14569.2(3)

Remastered by Kevin Gray and Steve Hoffman at AcousTech Mastering
Pressed by Record Technology Incorporated, Camarillo, CA

Blue is the last of Joni's naval-gazing, confessional albums. And even though there is still plenty of soul searching on For The Roses, she also begins to turn her attention more to social and political issues. The shift is evident on the opening song on the album, "Banquet," which looks at the alienation of young people and the problem of poverty and income inequality. She poignantly writes: "Some get the gravy, and some get the gristle, some get the marrow bone, and some get nothing, though there's plenty to spare."

For the Roses, 1972

For The Roses, which was released in October, 1972, also marks a shift from the lean sound of Joni's solo guitar, dulcimer, or piano, toward fuller arrangements with more bass, drums, and supporting musicians. I still get a little thrill when I hear the tom-tom intro to the break in "Blonde In The Bleachers," and Joni sings: "You can't hold the hand of a rock 'n' roll man, very long, or count on your plans with a rock 'n' roll man, very long . . . "  Wow, Joni Mitchell rocking out!

For The Roses also marked one more change in Joni's career: She left Reprise and signed with Asylum Records, a label founded by her friend David Geffen in 1971. [Just an aside, "Free Man In Paris" from Court And Spark is about the workaholic Geffen and refers to a trip the two of them made to Paris along with Robbie Robertson and his wife. A Platonic trip presumably, since Geffen is gay.] 

I have three copies of For the Roses. Two are original 1972 releases, one of which I bought when it came out, and one that I picked up at a used record store about ten years ago, which is to say 35 years after I bought my first copy. Both are in VG++ condition. And the really weird thing is that both of them have the exact same matrix information. What are the odds? The third copy I have is a 1976 repressing, which I grade at VG+. The white Asylum label was only used for about a year, so it makes it easy to to date the release. The blue sky label was used from 1973 - 1984. 

1972 original pressing

1976 repressing

Here is the deadwax information:

-1972 original pressing #1:

Side 1: ST-AS-722647A  11T  PR
Side 2: ST-AS-722648A PR

Pressed by Presswell Records, Ancora, NJ

-1972 original pressing #2:

Side 1: ST-AS-722647A 11T  PR
Side 2: ST-AS-722648A PR

Pressed by Presswell Records, Ancora, NJ

-1976 repressing:

Side 1: SD 5057-A 0-1
Side 2: SD 5057-B 0-1

There is no indication in the matrix of who pressed the record, but from the size of the pressing rings on the label, I'm almost certain it was Specialty Records Company, Olyphant, PA


Which brings us to Joni's most commercially successful album, Court And Spark, which peaked at #2 on the Billboard chart. It's easily Joni's most upbeat album. And even if it's not all sunshine, there is at least a nice balance of hopefulness and angst. After five albums of introspection, unrequited love and melancholy, Court And Spark had a hopeful spirit and a welcome touch of whimsy.

Court And Spark, 1974

It's also a more mature, sophisticated album, both musically and lyrically. Engineer Henry Lewy recruited some of L.A.'s best session musicians to play on the disk, including Tom Scott's L.A. Express, The Jazz Crusaders, as well as old friends like Robbie Robertson, David Crosby and Graham Nash. There is even a cameo appearance by Cheech and Chong, for goodness sakes. 

I have two copies of Court And Spark. The first is an original 1974 copy, bought when it came out.  I played the heck out of it for years, so it's not in great shape, probably a VG at best. Interestingly, the labels on the first pressings all say 1973, though the official release date was January, 1974.  My second copy is the 2009 Rhino Vinyl remaster. And once again its a terrific reissue, with mastering by Chris Bellman. It is a beautiful sounding disk with warmth and amazing detail.

1974 Original pressing

2009 Rhino Vinyl reissue

-1974 original pressing:

Side 1: 7E 1001 A2  B  2
Side 2: 7E 1001 B  SX  0-1 S-M 1-2  A

Pressed by Columbia Records, Santa Maria, CA.

-2009 Rhino Vinyl reissue:

Side 1: R1-1001-A 18364.1(3) CB
Side 2: R1-1001-B 18364.2(3) CB

Remastered by Chris Bellman
Pressed by Record Technology Incorporated, Carmarillo, CA


Enjoy the music!