ONCE UPON A TIME.....Ladies Of The Canyon

 

JONI MITCHELL  Ladies Of The Canyon  (A&M,1970) - Folk rock


     Joni Mitchell writes some of the finest tunes around and matches their flowing hesitancy with her enduring epiphanies and modern parables. Her clever inner rhymes and stylized satire have been around for years—recall Tom Rush's "Circle Game" and Judy Collins' "Both Sides Now"? Ably matched here by "For Free," "Conversation" and the already CSNYed "Woodstock," not to mention the elusive "The Priest" or the incisive "Ladies of the Canyon" and seven other enigmatic, poetic word-journeys that move from taxis to windows to whiskey bars to boots of leather and racing cars. Plus the fact that Joni has now mastered the piano to the point where she employs it rather than guitar on nearly half the cuts—she plays it shrilly with a lot of echo and lingering notes, giving certain songs even more dimension and wideness. Other innovations this time out are a mild use of horns and even vocal choruses on some cuts. The choruses don't work for me—I think they ruin her long-awaited version of "Circle Game"—but the point is debatable. The use of horns is excellent—in particular the minor riff at the close of the stunning. "For Free."
     And "Woodstock" must be mentioned. Forget the hyper-active CSNY version and listen to this one. Joni uses a heavily-amped electric guitar and sings the hell out of each phrase, each syllable of this soon-to-be anthem of the Seventies. She takes her time and the song has its mellowing, quicksilver effect: "We are stardust/Million year old carbon/We are golden/Caught in the devil's bargain/And we got to get ourselves/Back to the garden." An album of departures, overheard conversations and unquiet triumphs for this hymnal lady who mingles the random with the particular so effectively. Now that she has stopped touring to concentrate on writing, successive albums ought to get better and better.

TRACKLIST : Morning Morgantown
                   For Free
                   Conversation
                   Ladies Of The Canyon
                   Willy
                   The Arrangement
                   Rainy Night House
                   The Priest
                   Blue Boy
                   Big Yellow Taxi
                   Woodstock
                   The Circle Game

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