noWax

When David Crosby first heard Joni Mitchell sing he famously stated that he was routed to the spot. I wonder how much this was related to what he had ingested that day, although he did offer to produce her debut straight off the bat. That was in 1967. Mitchell released a few albums but it was the uncompromising fourth album ‘Blue’ that thrust her to centre stage.

Blue is probably one of the most revealing albums about anyone to ever be released. This autobiographical album describes her emotional state and the results of her various loves and experiences over the years.

‘Blue’ the title cut is alleged to be about her relationship with James Taylor, another serious heavyweight in the early seventies singer song-writer scene. But then it’s also said to be about David Blue, a singer Mitchell might have been seeing in the early seventies.

The songs here virtually grant the listener direct access to her soul. Echoing piano, fraught powerful vocals bellowing out one minute and fading into nothingness the next, highlighting the up and down nature of love. The album was written while she was on a European break and many of the tracks retell her positive and negative experiences in Greece and France. Even the upbeat numbers like ‘Carey’ and ‘California’ have predominant themes of loneliness or homesickness. The sparse production, usually simply acoustic guitar or piano, highlight the range and power of Mitchell’s voice, which is quite exceptional.

Ten tracks in length with no padding Blue represented somewhat of a watershed for bravely laying your heart open for all to see. Few albums since have been so telling about someone’s innermost feelings. The album stands up as one of the best albums of the seventies. In those ‘best album ever’ polls it frequently makes it into the top 50 and is usually the highest album by a female performer. It’s quite stunning.