I had a crush on a 17-year-old Sharon in the 80s and put this first on a C90 for her. I don't think she got it.

One of the greatest songs ever. From the greatest album ever. With, for that matter, one of the greatest covers ever.

it is a thing of great beauty.

'Tis currently downloading. like the other 5 Joni albums I've bought, I know it won't get me straight off, but will prove to be a life-long friend..

there are folks out there in 'truisms' land who think that Joni is lacking talent and can't carry a tune. Dolts. My favourite from Hejira is 'Refuge of the Roads'. Jaco Pastorius plays a blinder.

I remember reading a Pet Shop Boys interview in Smash Hits. Neil Tennant was recounting some anecdote that began with him emerging from a record store having just purchased Anarchy In The UK and Hejira. At that point in my life, I felt that if Neil Tennant endorsed something, it was quite probably worth checking out. How true.

Hejira is one of those few, rare, precious albums that exists entirely within a universe of its own making. I have never heard a band playing together like that before or since, the shimmering, plangent guitars, that pulsing, snaking bass and above all that voice, which is transcendental in this case, especially as mentioned above, Song For Sharon, and my personal favourite, 'Amelia', ghostly and as wide as the prairie skies.

I think it's the fundamental thread throughout of yearning and searching that gives it such quiet, controlled power. Now reined in, precise and ordered, now breaking out into keening vocal swoops and falls, unfettered and primal. How amazing is that voice! How expressive and rich, aloof, yet intimate.

Given the sense of glorious escape on the chilly Canadian morning breeze of 'Coyote', to that confessional, keep-on-keepin'-on vibe of 'Refuge Of The Roads', the idea that there is something out there, just beyond Michaelangelo clouds, waiting for you to find it, if you care enough to keep looking!

(By the way, I really do love this album a lot, please excuse the rather flowery encomium here)

excuse me if I let myself go a bit... FUCK it's good!

Edit: the clarinet is a bit honky at times, but she is wonderful.

Music from somewhere between the 49th Parallel and the nearest faraway place

I don't know how I was ever unaware of this album! After 1 listen, I am so so smitten! no 'grower' stuff required... I'm almost looking forward to tomorrow's commute! Thank you Sheev for starting the thread, thank you Patrick for such a ringing endorsement and thank you slot badger for going some way towards explaining why this album jyst ....GRABBED me!

...and to say that Coyote is an all-too-rare example of a song whose lyrics could stand alone as a piece of literary art even without the music.

Bob on.

"...He's too far from the Bay of Fundy; from appaloosas and eagles and tides".

Damn.

1994, I think. Listened to "Song for Sharon" on a walkman on the Staten Island Ferry.

Beautiful.

Mandolin, regrettably not purchased.

...poured a load of creamy bass over this album also.

Awesome, in the truest sense.

...is Shadows and Light, particularly On France They Kiss on Main Street, played at least once-a-week in my house for the past 25 years. I swear time stands still when his bass sings those twin harmonics twice in the song.

That album really illustrates Joni's muso-pulling power in the late-70s. I mean, how aBout that band?! Metheny, Pastorius, Brecker, Alias, Mays and THE PERSUASIONS!

I'd had the album for years before I ever got to see the video and always imagined the show taking place in a club or theatre. Bit of a shock to see the outdoor, daytime setting.

I've always loved that line.

...the first Joni album I ever heard and I was impressed but didn't really get her until years later when I was subjected to Hissing of Summer Lawns while on holiday with friends on a quiet Greek Island. And Hissing has indeed become probably my favourite album of all time. Its subtle melody, exquisite instrumentation and beautifully poetic lyrics make it an album that I never tire of. It has always puzzled me that Blue and Court and Spark often receive more attention as Hissing is in another class altogether. And if Hissing is a summer album, Hejira is its wintry sister. Jaco's bass playing is sublime as ever and Song for Sharon, Amelia and Coyote are masterful.. but I love Edith and the Kingpin, Shades of Scarlet, In France They Kiss and Harrys House so much that Hissing will always remain the favourite..

.. I would also like to drop Rainy Night House from Ladies of The Canyon into the mix... this is one of the most beautiful songs ever written... spellbinding....

...Joni is one of the few artists who, once discovered, makes the listener acutely aware of the clumsiness and imperfection of artists they once held in high esteem. Even The Beatles and Nick Drake haven't sounded as good since I discovered Joni...

Muscular with gods and sungold" ... no-one else could write that.

When, oh when will they ever release those 2 CD remasters?

"Everything comes and goes, marked by lovers and styles of clothes."

Just following up on the comments above about Don Juan's Reckless Daughter. I agree that it contains some of her finest moments and, in the spirit of all the best double albums, allows Joni to stretch out and explore not just her jazz leanings but the world music she introduced first on Hissing.

Sonically, Don Juan is the best record she made in the 70s. The production shimmers and the ensemble playing is inspired. Joni had reached a point where she felt fully in control in the studio. From the opening overture, she seems intent on creating waves of sound with her voice and guitar. Wayne Shorter and Jaco Pastorius were once again present to help Joni produce some of her most complex yet engaging arrangements.

Joni’s voice never sounded better either. Listen closely to the sensuous syncopation as she sings over her guitar on Otis and Marlena. And Paprika Plains is sophisticated music; a large canvas for Joni to use her broad brush strokes on.

At the time, I think many people were perhaps intimidated by Joni’s reach on this album. There were few other artists stretching themselves across such a range of different music, and with such emotional honesty.

Much as I love her other albums, it’s this one I keep coming back to. It's the missing link between the Hissing/Hejira era and the Mingus record. This, for me, is where she struck the perfect balance between the singer/songwriter and the jazz musician.

What a song.

... Used to listen to it every day on my Walkman while walking our late dog. Twelve verses or something – so it would last an entire 23-acre field!

Scariest line: "in this vigorous anonymity, the blank face at the window stares and stares and stares and stares..."

...'the sweet loneliness of solitary travel'. All the songs on Hejira seem to carry that mood of self-discovery through a mixture of exploration and isolation (..sing for your friends and your family, I'll walk green pastures by and by..). Lyrically, this album is probably her high point.

In the early 80s this album was often listened to by yours truly (along with Hissing of Summer Lawns and Don Juan's Reckless Daughter). I think those mid to late 1970s albums were Joni's best. Somehow I stopped listening to her in the late 80s.

After looking through my iTunes, I found I hadn't ripped the CD so it is now on iTunes and my iPod. Next I need to re-aquaint myself with Summer Lawns and Don Juan which I don't have in digital format.

who missed it last time, here's a link to the 'Hissing' demo's.
http://waxy.org/2008/02/joni_mitchells/

I agree with Sheev - brilliant song - although I do prefer Hejira to Hissing - and I think I like Don Juan more too. Hejira is my favourite album and Amelia my favourite song

I've tried to explain what's so great about Hejira and I can't. Somehow it sounds like it's all one song but - somewhat perversely - that's also the best thing about it.

I own that marvellous run of LPs from Court and Spark in 1974 to Mingus in 1979. Let me add to this fantastic thread.

Court and Hissing have always been a pair for me, Joni continuing to move away from her previous role of straight singer-songwriter, now embracing nuance, learning exotic guitar tunings, experimenting, being playful, testing the boundries of her genre. Her sidemen were otherwise known as the hotshot session guys off Steely Dan albums. More jazzy than folky then.

Then came Don Juan, a double. In typical double album fashion, it was a few tracks too long, Joni even took an LP side for an orchestral project. Crucially, this album also meant enter Pastorius. Jaco and Joni formed a remarkable symbiosis from the off, they seemed to thrive on each other and both undoubtedly did some of their greatest work together.

The next album, Hejira, was so wonderful for the same reasons the previous three had been, only more so: Joni and Jaco at the height of their powers, no double album complacency, and now Joni kmew exactly what she wanted and what she could do, so experimentation and playfulness were also out (which presumably explains the slightly chill atmosphere of the album). The songs, as usual, top notch.

I think all four albums are essential, so if you like what's on Hejira (hi Vorgongod) you'll like what the others have to offer.
Difficult to know why Mingus from 1979 breaks the mould. Jaco is still there but the album is patchy. Maybe Joni simply misjudged how "jazz" she was: her soprano folksinger voice is suddenly exposed, and you realize, she never was jazz, she was always a folksinger who took it as far as one possibly can. One track though, The Wolf That Lives In Lindsey, is her own personal jazz moment from her whole career: here she hammers her acoustic guitar until the strings ring and vibrate and distort. So let the A&R guy at Asylum say, "We think this is too weird for th'public, Joni", she did it anyway.

And it was all downhill after that (he said tentatively).

Unfortunately it is very crackly - I'd forgotten just how bad (hadn't been on my turntable for possibly 20 years!), so have just downloaded from iTunes (£4.99!) and suddenly I can hear what a brilliant and vibrant production job was done - in 1977! Currently listening to the Tenth World - great percussion and an African and Latin vibe. Why I lost touch with this album is a mystery to me now.

that were Joni a man she would be held in the same regard as Bob Dylan.

Y'see Massive, I really thought I'd become jaded. Like others on the blog, I turn forty this year (October) and it had got to the stage where I felt I'd discovered all the music that would move me, shake me and bend me to its will, like so much music had done over the years..
How ignorant wrong and stuffy was I!
Since downloading this album, I've been listening to nothing else, literally nothing else. I got out of bed this morning at 5.15 (instead of my usual 6.15) so I could listen to the entire album looking out the window at the trees, waiting for dawn to crack the sky - and yes, it was a brilliant experience - on a workaday Thursday morning!
I then listened to it on the tube and none of the lustre was gone. Business takes me to Spain in a fortnight and I'm already giddy with excitement about walking round the Retiro very early on Sunday morning with my coat wrapped around me and a Marlboro in my mouth and that moment at 4.40 in refuge of the Roads where Jaco does this little bass run that has as beautiful an air of melodic finality to it as the last 20 seconds of Abbey Road (pre - Her Majesty, I mean!)playing on t'Pod.
The thing is that Hejira has *hundreds* of plays left in it that will leave me wide-eyed in wonder. many of the comments above are bang on the money, such as the feeling that it's like one song, that it's the wintry counterpoint to Hissing(an album I'd always liked, but never adored as much as the other Joni albums in my collection,: in order of purchase, Court and Spark, Blue Clouds and Ladies of the Canyon)- maybe it's time for me to reappraise it.

However, inspired as i am, I wanted this thread to reappear because I was hoping one of you effin geniuses could recommend where to go next. Well, Declan, you were way ahead of me: 'tis straight to the laptop tonight to buy Don Juan!
Who knows, maybe one day I'll be ready for Mingus....

...Don Juan, yes. Hissing of Summer Lawns, definitely. Don't forget Court and Spark, the album in which you can sense Joni's stylistic shift from folk to pop-jazz and the one that helped me woo my wife 'Help me, I think I'm falling in love again. When I get that crazy feeling I know I'm in trouble again...'

I have often thought that Hissing of... and Court and Spark were her best albums. Certainly Shades of Scarlet is my favourite ever Joni song and strikes a personally emotional chord from my teenage years. I probably still concur with that view but have also fell in love again with 'For the Roses' which is less frequently mentioned in any appraisals of her work. Hejira whilst a cd of undeniable beauty didnt resonate with me in the same way as Hissing and Court although Amelia is a particularly great song.
She kind of lost her way later in her career although the re-recorded orchestral versions of her songs on Travelogue were impressive. Her last studio album received critical acclaim in certain quarters - anyone have any comments on it?

although I wasn't tempted to buy it. I was merely curious as to why it was awarded a 5 star review in Mojo. Since as far as I can recollect it didn't even finish in their year end best ofs it only adds credence to the argument that the star rating system is meaningless.
Given that Court, Hissing and Hejira are widely regarded as her masterpieces and the first 2 of these being my particular favourites I am strangely being drawn back into her earlier work especially For the roses album and the songs Urge for going and Circle game. Disagree re Travelogue - it was imho a return to form for her voice and arrangements although I concede the fact that it is essentially re-hashed music is a good enough reason not to include it in the same category as her great work.

I have been following this thread, but have seen no reference to Blue.
While I absolutely agree with the majesty and sublime beauty of Court and Spark, Hissing and Hejira and the live album Shadows and Light.
It was Blue where I met Joni as a 20 year old away from home for the first time living alone in my tiny bed-sit.

River, Case of You, little Green, California and The last Time I Saw Richard - stripped down no frills just the voice, the guitar and the dulcimar and those words.
I will dig it out tonight. - the only way to listen to Joni - alone/or with a very special loved one and at night.