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Joni Mitchell Strut

fishmongerfunkfishmongerfunk 4,154 Posts
edited December 2011 in Strut Central
not sure we have ever talked about her per se but i think she is one of the GOAT's. Shadows and Light has been getting so much play around here.

what is the strut's take on joni?



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  • RockadelicRockadelic Out Digging 13,993 Posts
    crabmongerfunk said:

    what is the strut's take on joni?


    Can not listen...and I've tried way too many times
  • HorseleechHorseleech 3,830 Posts
    Super talented and beautiful.

    Makes music that I don't enjoy listening to.
  • DocMcCoyDocMcCoy "Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,917 Posts
    Would routinely be declared a genius almost without peer if she were a man. Consider some of the lightweights to whom that epithet is frequently applied, people who probably couldn't even tune her guitar. Next time you get a chance, take a look at her feature in The Last Waltz, particularly Coyote, and see how The Band (no mugs) struggle to keep up with her - harder than they had to work all night, I'll bet. She was light years ahead.

    Every now and again, I'll go on a Laura Nyro binge and tell myself she was better than Joni, and sometimes I'll even believe it. But by the time Laura had peaked, Joni was in the ascendant, and there were few shadows cast during the 70s that have lingered as long as hers.
  • gazgaz 232 Posts
    love her, my personal favourite court an spark , but formative in my musical taste
  • strataspherestratasphere Blastin' the Nasty 1,035 Posts
    I ride for The Hissing Of Summer Lawns.
  • dayday 9,611 Posts
    gaz said:
    love her, my personal favourite court an spark , but formative in my musical taste

    "Help Me" is probably my favorite song from her. I really got into that record right around the whole CTI/Blue Thumb/Crusaders era and I'm pretty sure they (or Joe Sample) had a hand in that album. Cosign on Hissing of Summer Lawns.

    I can understand why folks wouldn't like her. Same thing with Neil Young, but I love both of em. This shit blows my mind every time.
  • gazgaz 232 Posts
    Is this the best song of all time or what

  • ReynaldoReynaldo 6,054 Posts
    Blue album is great.
  • DrWuDrWu 4,021 Posts
    The live BBC show with James Taylor shreds. I do have trouble with her high pitched deliver sometimes but the song writing is impeccable. Without the shitty SSW production a lot of her studio recordings suffered from, she really shines. Day the California from this set is even better than the one you posted. How do I embed divshare? I can post a couple of tracks.







  • JimsterJimster Cruffiton.etsy.com 6,955 Posts
    Hejira is fantastic. Top 10 album for life. Sum is more than the total of the parts. Jaco all over it.

    I've got all the other stuff too but nothing else that good.

    Any other folky artists, I can not ride.
  • RockadelicRockadelic Out Digging 13,993 Posts
    DrWu said:
    I do have trouble with her high pitched delivery

    Too much Joan Baez and not enough Laura Nyro for my ears.
  • HumanacatHumanacat 177 Posts
    stratasphere said:
    I ride for The Hissing Of Summer Lawns.

    yes that track the jungle line is sick!
  • esskayesskay 221 Posts
    = friend of my Dads when he was growing up here:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Guerin
  • dirtydirty 93 Posts
    stratasphere said:
    I ride for The Hissing Of Summer Lawns.

    Edith and the kingpin is such an amazing song.
  • neil_somethingneil_something 993 Posts
    Joni Mitchell > Bob Dylan
  • upskibooupskiboo 2,396 Posts
    dirty said:
    stratasphere said:
    I ride for The Hissing Of Summer Lawns.

    Edith and the kingpin is such an amazing song.




  • white_teawhite_tea 3,262 Posts
    Love her. Don't really listen to any of her records all the way through but the songs that hit are so good. I feel lucky in a way that I hadn't sought out Joni or really been exposed to her until I saw The Last Waltz and that performance of "Coyote" just slayed me -- she just seemed so wise and held her own and more around all those dudes. I still prefer its fast tempo over the studio version from Hejira.

    Another favorite jam from The Hissing of Summer Lawns:

  • HorseleechHorseleech 3,830 Posts
    DocMcCoy said:
    Would routinely be declared a genius almost without peer if she were a man.

    She has been routinely declared a genius, from her first album up through today.
  • DrWuDrWu 4,021 Posts
    neil_something said:
    Joni Mitchell > Bob Dylan

    I bet Ms Mitchell would dispute this with every breathe in her body.
  • HarveyCanalHarveyCanal "a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
    Always took her and Neil Young for granted, on some Dead Milkmen I hate hippies ish, but one afternoon in a podunk diner on the way back from Tahoe, both played from the speakers, and it worked to the point that appreciation had finally been achieved.
  • DocMcCoyDocMcCoy "Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,917 Posts
    Horseleech said:
    DocMcCoy said:
    Would routinely be declared a genius almost without peer if she were a man.

    She has been routinely declared a genius, from her first album up through today.

    Nah. She was definitely dismissed by many as a busted flush around the time of Dog Eat Dog and Chalk Marks In A Rainstorm, and I don't know too many people beyond hardcore Joni heads that ride for Don Juan's Reckless Daughter, massively cover art or not. She used to complain bitterly (and not without justification) of the hard time she received at the hands of labels who saw her as "difficult", even though her male peers would be praised for exhibiting the same qualities. Relatively speaking, I feel she's even a little underrated.

    Also, The Hissing Of Summer Lawns definitely makes my GOAT list.
  • HorseleechHorseleech 3,830 Posts
    DocMcCoy said:
    Horseleech said:
    DocMcCoy said:
    Would routinely be declared a genius almost without peer if she were a man.

    She has been routinely declared a genius, from her first album up through today.

    Nah. She was definitely dismissed by many as a busted flush around the time of Dog Eat Dog and Chalk Marks In A Rainstorm, and I don't know too many people beyond hardcore Joni heads that ride for Don Juan's Reckless Daughter, massively cover art or not. She used to complain bitterly (and not without justification) of the hard time she received at the hands of labels who saw her as "difficult", even though her male peers would be praised for exhibiting the same qualities. Relatively speaking, I feel she's even a little underrated.

    Also, The Hissing Of Summer Lawns definitely makes my GOAT list.

    Sorry, this doesn't make any sense.

    Did everyone decide those 60'S/70's records were a scam because she made some bad albums in the 80's? And some people must have liked Don Juan because it went gold in three months. Just because she made some dubious albums doesn't undo the impact of her good ones, and the idea that she was denied critical acclaim is a joke.

    Her career has had a very similar trajectory to Neil Young's. In the long run, both are revered as geniuses despite some shaky steps along the way.
  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    DocMcCoy said:


    Every now and again, I'll go on a Laura Nyro binge and tell myself she was better than Joni, and sometimes I'll even believe it. But by the time Laura had peaked, Joni was in the ascendant, and there were few shadows cast during the 70s that have lingered as long as hers.

    One way to look at it is that Mitchell was most concerned with art, and Nyro craft.

    Both made deeply personal music, but Nyro made better pop songs because her goal was to make good pop songs.
    (Pop might not be the right word.)
    Mitchell's goal was to make art that she liked.

    To that end she made lots of music her fans didn't like. Her first lp was a straight folk ssw.

    I saw her about '74 with LA Express (and esskay's dad?). The audience booed the LA Express, they wanted her with the acoustic guitar and dulcimer. She paid no attention to what her audience wanted. Folk/rock musicians couldn't keep up with what she was writing, she needed jazz musicians to realize her music. Yet she kept writing tunes her folky/rock fans could listen to like Coyote. I heard her tell npr a few years back that she wouldn't play any acoustic music until her fans admitted that her electric stuff was good. But then she did a big band lp of her hits. What was that about?

    She was lucky she was able to find a niche in the wide open folk/rock world of the late 60s early 70s.
    A little earlier, or a little later I think she would have had a hard time getting heard.
  • m_dejeanm_dejean Quadratisch. Praktisch. Gut. 2,946 Posts
    esskay said:
    = friend of my Dads when he was growing up here:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Guerin

    Whoa, John Guerin was your dad?
    He is my favorite of those 60s/70s L.A. session drummers.
    Love his style.
  • DocMcCoyDocMcCoy "Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,917 Posts
    Horseleech said:
    DocMcCoy said:
    Horseleech said:
    DocMcCoy said:
    Would routinely be declared a genius almost without peer if she were a man.

    She has been routinely declared a genius, from her first album up through today.

    Nah. She was definitely dismissed by many as a busted flush around the time of Dog Eat Dog and Chalk Marks In A Rainstorm, and I don't know too many people beyond hardcore Joni heads that ride for Don Juan's Reckless Daughter, massively cover art or not. She used to complain bitterly (and not without justification) of the hard time she received at the hands of labels who saw her as "difficult", even though her male peers would be praised for exhibiting the same qualities. Relatively speaking, I feel she's even a little underrated.

    Also, The Hissing Of Summer Lawns definitely makes my GOAT list.

    Sorry, this doesn't make any sense.

    Did everyone decide those 60'S/70's records were a scam because she made some bad albums in the 80's? And some people must have liked Don Juan because it went gold in three months. Just because she made some dubious albums doesn't undo the impact of her good ones, and the idea that she was denied critical acclaim is a joke.

    Her career has had a very similar trajectory to Neil Young's. In the long run, both are revered as geniuses despite some shaky steps along the way.

    I agree with your last point, certainly, but as for your first, I wasn't suggesting any such thing. Perhaps I wasn't clear enough. For example, there's no doubt that, as time's gone on, the Stones and David Bowie have struggled to match the impact and quality of their earlier output and there's an argument that, for much of the 80s and beyond, they've been irrelevant as recording artists. I think that's a common perception of Joni, too. There's an expectation that innovative artists will continue to reinvent the wheel with every new record and when they don't, some people - not everyone - will often be less generous, critically speaking, than they might be towards someone who's less spectacular artistically but more consistent.
  • DrWuDrWu 4,021 Posts
    I dig this cover by Lauper. Highlights the fundamental problem with much of Joni's recordings the music just sucks.

  • batmonbatmon 27,574 Posts
    I never listen to my blue cd.
  • fishmongerfunkfishmongerfunk 4,154 Posts
    does anyone have a link for greg tate's piece "how black is oni mitchell?"
  • Big_StacksBig_Stacks "I don't worry about hittin' power, cause I don't give 'em nuttin' to hit." 4,670 Posts
    stratasphere said:
    I ride for The Hissing Of Summer Lawns.

    "Edith and the Kingpin" from that LP is simply :face_melt:. Joni is brilliant, nuff said!!!

    Peace,

    Big Stacks from Kakalak
  • smoking_robotsmoking_robot 346 Posts
    DocMcCoy said:


    Also, The Hissing Of Summer Lawns definitely makes my GOAT list.

    one of my fav album covers actually.
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