Blue (album)

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Blue
Studio album by Joni Mitchell

Publication
(s)

June 22, 1971

Label (s) Reprise Records

Format (s)

LP , CD , MC , HDCD

Genre (s)

Folk , folk rock

Title (number)

10

running time

35:41

occupation

production

Joni Mitchell

Studio (s)

A&M Studios , Hollywood

chronology
Ladies of the Canyon
(1970) 		Blue For the Roses
(1972)

Blue is the fourth studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell . It was released in June 1971 on the Reprise Records label . Blue reached number 15 on the US Billboard charts and number 3 in Great Britain . The album received critical acclaim and is now considered not only Mitchell's most important album, but also a widely recognized classic of pop music.

background

When Mitchell wrote the material that she released on the album Blue in 1970/1971 , her relationship with Graham Nash ended ; for a short time he was followed by James Taylor. Joni Mitchell has rejected rumors that the album and title track were dedicated to David Blue . "In any case, the cover is blue, and so is the mood of your fifth studio effort."

Originally, the album's tracklist was supposed to look a little different from the one that was released. Mitchell still had three old songs that hadn't yet found their way onto one of her albums, which is why she wanted to use them for Blue first . At the last minute, however, she decided to replace two of these songs, Urge for Going and Hunter (The Good Samaritan) , with two new ones, namely All I Want and The Last Time I Saw Richard . Only the song Little Green , which Mitchell wrote in 1967, was allowed to stay. This, beginning with the line “Born with the moon in Cancer”, is about her biological daughter, whom she gave up for adoption in 1965 as a penniless art student and who she found again in 1997.

Mitchell accompanied five songs alone: ​​the piano was used four times ( My Old Man, Blue, River, The Last Time I Saw Richard ). For Little Green she accompanies herself with the acoustic guitar. At River she plays the piano with the melody of Jingle Bells , so that the Christmas atmosphere evoked in the song can also be heard musically.

Other musicians are involved in all other songs. On three songs - Carey , California and A Case of You - she accompanies herself on the 3-string Appalachian dulcimer , an instrument that was previously rarely used in pop music and that she acquired at the Big Sur Folk Festival in 1969 would have.

According to laut.de , the familiarity between Taylor and Mitchell can be seen in the way Taylor accompanies Mitchell on the guitar. This is anything but easy, as her music is characterized by open chords and unusual chord progressions.

Two tracks from the album were released as singles . In August Carey came out with the B-side This Flight Tonight . The song reached number 93 on the Billboard Hot 100. The second single, California , with B-side A Case of You , which was released in October, failed to reach the chart.

Track list

All the songs are written by Joni Mitchell and arranged by her.

page 1

  1. All I Want - 3:32
  2. My Old Man - 3:33
  3. Little Green - 3:25
  4. Carey - 3:00
  5. Blue - 3:00

Page 2

  2. California - 3:48
  3. This Flight Tonight - 2:50
  4. River - 4:00
  5. A Case of You - 4:20
  6. The Last Time I Saw Richard - 4:13

reception

source rating
Allmusic
Rolling Stone
Pitchfork Media
Laut.de

The album enjoys a reputation as a masterpiece of folk music . Laut.de says it is “timeless” and an “extraordinary album”. The music magazine Rolling Stone leads Blue at number 30 of the 500 best albums of all time . In the selection of the 500 best albums by the New Musical Express, it ranks 63rd. Pitchfork selected Blue as 86th of the 100 best albums of the 1970s. The magazine Time took Blue to the selection of the top 100 albums. The National Public Radio has named Blue for best album, which was made by a woman.

The album is one of the 1001 albums You Must Hear Before You Die . In 1999 it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame .

Trivia

The song My Old Man is a reminder of her relationship with Graham Nash . A Case of You is an imaginary dialogue with Leonard Cohen , with whom Joni Mitchell was dating around 1967. Cohen's saying "I'm as constant as the Northern Star" is again a quote from Shakespeare's drama Julius Caesar , in which the main hero says this to Brutus.

Cover versions

Film music

A Case of You has been used in several films, including the comedies How Crazy and From the Heartbeat and The Magical Sisters, and the thriller Waking the Dead starring Billy Crudup . In addition, some of these songs play a role in the film em @ il for you .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Review by Giuliano Benassi on Laut.de (accessed June 30, 2020)
  2. ^ Joni Mitchell's Secret ( English, French ) In: The Canadian Encyclopedia . Retrieved July 28, 2019.
  3. ↑ Joni Mitchell's Dulcimers. Hearts of the Dulcimer, accessed June 30, 2020 .
  4. ↑ Review by Jason Ankeny on AllMusic.com (accessed December 28, 2016)
  5. ↑ Review by Timothy Crouse on RollingStone.com (archived)
  6. ↑ Review by Jessica Hopper on Pitchfork.com (accessed December 28, 2016)
  7. ↑ 30. Joni Mitchell, Blue on Rollingstone.com (accessed December 28, 2016)
  8. ↑ The 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time: 100-1 on NME.com (accessed December 28, 2016)
  9. ↑ The 100 Best Albums of the 1970s on Pitchfork.com (accessed October 25, 2019)
  10. ↑ All-TIME 100 Albums on time.com (accessed December 28, 2016)
  11. ↑ The 150 Greatest Albums Made By Women on npr.org (accessed October 25, 2019)
  12. ↑ GRAMMY Hall Of Fame on grammy.com (accessed October 25, 2019)
  13. ↑ David Yaffe, Joni Mitchell. A portrait , Berlin 2020, p. 189
  14. ↑ David Yaffe, Joni Mitchell. A portrait , Berlin 2020, p. 97f. and 216

Web links