Court and Spark

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Court and Spark
Studio album by Joni Mitchell

Publication
(s)

January 1974

admission

1973

Label (s) Asylum Records

Format (s)

LP, CD

Genre (s)

Folk , jazz

Title (number)

11

running time

36:58

occupation

production

Joni Mitchell

Studio (s)

A&M Studios

Location (s)

Hollywood

chronology
For the Roses
(1972) 		Court and Spark Miles of Aisles
(1974)
Single releases
March 1974 Help Me
July 1974 Free Man in Paris
Joni Mitchell, 1974

Court and Spark is Joni Mitchell's sixth studio album . It was an instant hit with audiences and critics and is their most successful album. It was released in January 1974 and combined the folk-rock of the first albums with jazz influences.

It reached # 2 in the US and # 1 in Canada, and was eventually awarded Double Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America . It also reached the Top 20 in the UK and was voted Best Album of the Year for 1974 in The Village Voice Pazz & Jop Critics Poll. In 2003 Rolling Stone magazine listed it at number 113 of the 500 best albums of all time.

history

1973 was the first year of her career that Mitchell did not release a new album. For the Roses was released in November 1972 and had commercial success. Mitchell decided to spend the next year writing and recording a new album that showed her growing interest in new sounds - especially jazz. In 1973 she had fewer stage appearances than in previous years. She performed in a benefit concert in April and then twice in August at The Corral Club , where she was accompanied by Neil Young .

Mitchell spent most of 1973 in the recording studio recording Court and Spark . Mitchell and producer and engineer Henry Lewy invited several top Los Angeles musicians, including members of The Crusaders , Tom Scotts LA Express, Robbie Robertson , David Crosby and Graham Nash .

In December, Asylum Records released their first single in over a year, Raised on Robbery . The single peaked at number 65 on the Billboard Singles Chart.

reception

Court and Spark was published in January 1974. Critics and audiences alike loved the album. The success was confirmed when the follow-up single "Help Me" was released in March. It received a lot of radio coverage and became Mitchell's first and only top 10 single on the Billboard charts.

In a July 1979 interview with Cameron Crowe for Rolling Stone , Mitchell told the anecdote that she played the finished album to Bob Dylan and Dylan fell asleep.

Track list

All titles are by Joni Mitchell unless otherwise noted.

page 1

  1. Court and Spark - 2:46
  2. Help Me - 3:22
  3. Free Man in Paris - 3:02
  4. People's Parties - 2:15
  5. The Same Situation - 2:57

Page 2

  1. Car on a Hill - 3:02
  2. Down to You - 5:38
  3. Just Like This Train - 4:24
  4. Raised on Robbery - 3:06
  5. Trouble Child - 4:00
  6. Twisted ( Annie Ross , Wardell Gray ) - 2:21

Musician

  • Joni Mitchell - vocals, guitar, piano

Backing band LA Express

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Robert Christgau: Pazz & Jop 1974: Critics Poll. Retrieved June 14, 2020 .
  2. ^ Rolling Stone, Rolling Stone: 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. In: Rolling Stone. May 31, 2012, Retrieved June 14, 2020 (American English).
  3. ^ Court and Spark - Joni Mitchell | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic. Retrieved June 14, 2020 (American English).
  4. ↑ Rolling Stone Article: The Rolling Stone Joni Mitchell Interview with Cameron Crowe, July 26, 1979.