First Reaction: Joni Mitchell - Blue

[@cynthianavarro4316]

Thank you for listening to Joni. My first Joni album was For the Roses. It always seems to get passed over in the comments and requests but it's really great from start to finish. The thing about her voice. As she aged, her lower notes came in. By the time she did Court and Spark, her voice was more middle toned (but what a tone!). For the Roses is the last album where she was still hitting the higher notes and also had the benefit of the lower notes. Not an album to skip!

[@timothyvandenberg2905]

Yes, it's that good. The more you listen to it, the more you love it. Incredible piece of art!

[@georgegonzalez1996]

Little Green is a song she wrote about a daughter that she gave up for adoption when she was a teenager. A daughter she didn’t meet until the late 90s.

[@rjisasavage]

@@georgegonzalez1996 wow

[@alanaltimont9007]

Court and Spark, Hejira, The Hissing of Summer Lawns--Joni does jazz--LA Express, Wayne Shorter, Jaco Pastorius, Pat Metheny. She will continue to surprise you.

[@rjisasavage]

Thank you!

[@dixiedarr700]

You’re learning why Rolling Stone ranked this album #3 on their all time list. A unique talent. Enjoy!

[@rjisasavage]

Such a great listen!

[@gzucc]

Joni Mitchell writes from a deep understanding that the human experience is about living through destruction and dissolution in order to softly gather and reassemble ........ and then flashing up from a pile of ashes in a burst of flame and then swirling around, back down. She paints crystal clear, quotidian landscapes highlighting the cold flames of the minutiae that give our hum drum lives meaning.

[@thomasdempsey721]

That was delicious!

[@gzucc]

@@thomasdempsey721 You are.

[@gigatoob]

Thanks, enjoyed ur reaction. I grew up in her era. I think her album 'Hejira' is my favorite, and her song 'Don Juan's Reckless Daughter' is a lyric standout. One reviewer of Billie Eilish's recent album compares it to Joni's Blue. I don't compare them but Billie (at 22yo!) , to me, is one of the best songwriters and vocalists today. (You should check it out?!) Joni is at a level of Bob Dylan, but being a man he got all the accolades and a Pulitzer. Her impact on all songwriters will be forever.

[@rjisasavage]

Thank you for sharing this! That makes so much sense! I love that Billie album too so I love the comparison.

[@jeffmartin1026]

She sings of all the Blues in her life and ends the LP with "get my golden wings and fly away", she knows there is more to come in her life. I am a fan of her LP "For the Roses", another relatively stripped-down LP from her. Court and Spark is a lot of fun but her song Amelia is her stand-out for me.

[@rjisasavage]

Such a beautiful LP. I definitely will have to check out more of her work.

[@hopeklemann1]

🌸 little green always always makes me cry.

[@bearballin]

As a life long fan of Joni's work, I can tell you her first three studio albums (Song to a Seagull, Clouds, and Ladies of the Canyon) are this stripped down, just Joni and her guitar and piano. On LOTC Joni introduced her first composition to include percussion. "Big Yellow Taxi", a huge hit for her included bongos as the percussion accompaniment. On Blue, Joni introduced us to a new stringed instrument, the Appalachian dulcimer which is heard on All I Want, California, and A Case of You. Joni being the consummate artist, evolved her acoustic sound to incorporate electric instruments (bass guitar, pedal steel guitar, and full drums) on her fifth studio album, For The Roses. By her sixth studio album, Court and Spark, there was no turning back on her musical evolution. More pop rock oriented songs, Help Me, Free Man in Paris and Raised on Robbery. She also gave us a full blown jazz track, a 50s cover (the only song she didn't write) called Twisted. Please do more Joni, you won't be disappointed. ❤

[@gablen23]

I recommend you to listen to "Court and Spark" too, it was the first album I listened to, about thirty years ago, I haven't got tired of it since, it's fantastic! Pretty different from this one though.

[@rjisasavage]

I will!

[@alanaltimont9007]

Really nice reaction. You are right about this being an album about personal transformation--a concept album, in fact, but of the most sophisticated sort.

[@ethanobrien7504]

It's been a while and what a great pick to come back with

[@rjisasavage]

@@ethanobrien7504 I never left! But I get what you mean. Thanks for watching!

[@catherinefitzgerald7291]

@@rjisasavage I don't think Richard was her love, he was just another romantic like her. Floating from one pretty lie to the next. She knows herself so well does Joni. So proud of my fellow Canadian.

[@nikolanikolic1366]

Great video! I really enjoyed your takes on all these wonderful songs. This is one of her last album to be this stripped down. She has a full band on the album Court and Spark. Hope you do more Joni :D. My personal fave is her 1975 album The Hissing Of Summer Lawns.

[@aldo34]

Same - Blue is amazing, but Hissing is my absolute favourite.

[@rjisasavage]

@@nikolanikolic1366 thank you so much. I definitely think there will be more

[@gzucc]

She really does have a 'disney voice'. It's the voice of every character.

[@maruad7577]

This album is so honest and revealing. AFAIK all the people in these songs existed. One of the greatest albums of time. My personal favourite album of hers is "The Hissing Of Summer Lawns". A sentiment shared by Price.

[@loverofsong9830]

Prince. 💜

[@heidih2887]

Joni paved the way for so many things, doing essentially EVERYTHING herself, not only writing the music and lyrics and her amazing guitar playing (including use of over 50 unique alternate tunings) and dulcimer playing and piano playing (and the compositions for each instrument) PRODUCING her own albums starting with her 2nd album, and for most albums, she painted the pictures used for the front and back of the album covers, and so on. As others noted, her 5th album Court and Spark was the first to use a band, and her first time ever touring/performing with a band (not including the times she performed live with her friends Crosby Stills Nash and Young a number of times) Creativity and pushing herself into new ideas and new flavors of music and her visual arts strongly influenced the music and art she created throughout her career. Her lyrics have always been very "observational".. including topics/influences like music history, social history, current events, society's pressures, music/entertainment business pressures etc as well as the songs based on relationships and experiences with and of friends, family and romantic interests, She never bowed to the "hitmaking machine" pressures, and intentionally wrote songs/music to be somewhat "timeless", and to provide many songs with something of "substance and nourishment" to be thought-provoking or helpful to the listeners. By the way, Joni would be THRILLED that you couldn't easily put her music into a musical genre-box! :D She grew frustrated by "critics" always trying to label her, and in the process, cut her off from many potential listeners. You'll find flavors of folk, "country/blues", jazz, world music, pop and rock and even classical throughout her decades-long career.

[@rjisasavage]

I love this! Thank you for informing me. I want to dive more into her

[@gzucc]

"The Last Time I Saw Richard" is covered thematically by Bruce Springsteen the most. I would posit that everyone of Springsteen's songs is directly influenced and related to this song of Joni MItchell's. So many artists draw influence, abstractly and directly, from Joni Mitchell.

[@Yoshi-lu3vv]

Lovely reaction ❤

[@rjisasavage]

@@Yoshi-lu3vv thank you

[@hopeklemann1]

🌸 welcome to folk music , my friend.

[@catherinefitzgerald7291]

I don't think Richard was her love, he was just another romantic like her. Floating from one pretty lie to the next. She knows herself so well does Joni. So proud of my fellow Canadian.

[@gerhardlegeland4523]

Richard was actually her first husband Chuck Mitchell.

[@timothyvandenberg2905]

As great as this entire album is, "A Case of You" is *utterly* profoundly moving. Keep listening to it over & over. It speaks soul-truth more than just about any other song....ever.

[@rjisasavage]

Very beautiful

[@margiesummers1303]

How do I request a song review from you? I would love to hear your reaction to"Don't Interrupt the Sorrow" from the album "The Hissing of Summer Lawns."

[@rjisasavage]

@@margiesummers1303 you just did and I’ll do it later today! ❤️

[@margiesummers1303]

@@rjisasavage omg! I can't wait!!!

[@margiesummers1303]

Please oh please notify me when you post it, if you can. I would so love to see your reaction.

[@rjisasavage]

@@margiesummers1303 you’ll be first to know

[@hopeklemann1]

maybe if you want to dive more into Joni's work , try reacting to Big yellow taxi

[@rjisasavage]

Album or song?

[@hopeklemann1]

@@rjisasavage song, to begin with?

[@rjisasavage]

@@hopeklemann1 amazing. Thank you!

[@hopeklemann1]

@@rjisasavage my favorite Joni album is called Blue. I think it would blow you away

[@colleenmahony8803]

I love your reaction. But i disagree with your description of the music being "simple." While the arrangements are "stripped down," the arrangements and chord structures are very complex. Joni famously used multiple odd tunings and the chord structures are so (for lack of a better description) jazzy. She is without a doubt one of the greatest songwriters of the modern era. (Side note: it is definitely in my "musical comfort food" regular playlist)

[@richardmunger6553]

Joni is a Canadian treasure!!!!!!! one of greatest greatest singer songwriters and musician ever!!!!!

[@rjisasavage]

@@richardmunger6553 she’s amazing