Shadows and Light
| Shadows and Light | ||||
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| Live album by Joni Mitchell | ||||
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Publication |
1980 |
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| Label (s) | Asylum Records | |||
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Format (s) |
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running time |
83:54 |
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| occupation | ||||
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Location (s) |
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Shadows and Light is a live double album by Joni Mitchell released in 1980 . It was recorded in September 1979 on Mitchell's Mingus tour at the Santa Barbara Bowl . A film of the concert was also released.
Record cover
The cover shows Joni Mitchell, whose face is overlaid with a drum cymbal (perhaps a nod to her relationship with drummer Don Alias at the time ). The interior contains one version of black and white photographs of the tour. The pictures look like photographed television pictures, they are reduced in quality, have stripes and rounded corners.
Track list
The songs are by Joni Mitchell, unless otherwise stated.
Page 1:
- Introduction - 1:51
- In France They Kiss on Main Street - 4:14 am
- Edith and the Kingpin - 4:10
- Coyote - 4:58
- Goodbye Pork Pie Hat - (Music: Charles Mingus , Text: Joni Mitchell) 6:02
Page 2:
- Jaco's Solo - (only in the film) (Jaco Pastorius)
- The Dry Cleaner from Des Moines - (Joni Mitchell, Charles Mingus) 4:37
- Amelia - 6:40
- Pat's Solo - (Pat Metheny) 3:09
- Hejira - 7:42
Page 3:
- Black Crow - (omitted from CD) 3:52
- Don's Solo - (omitted on VHS / DVD and CD), (Don Alias) 4:04
- Dreamland - (omitted on VHS / DVD) 4:40
- Free Man in Paris - (omitted from CD) 3:23
- Volume Introduction - 0:52
- Furry Sings the Blues - (DVD version and CD version were recorded on separate dates) 5:14
Page 4:
- Raised on Robbery - (only on VHS / DVD) 0:00
- Why Do Fools Fall in Love - (Frankie Lymon, Herman Santiago, Jimmy Merchant) 2:53
- Shadows and Light - 5:23
- God Must be a Boogie Man - (omitted on VHS / DVD) 5:02
- Woodstock - (omitted on VHS / DVD) 5:08
reception
Commented Rad Bennet of Sound Stage : “This exciting concert album was recorded during a historic 1979 tour. Joni Mitchell was at the height of her strength. "
Vik Iyengar from Allmusic gives the album three out of five stars:
“Shadows and Light is Joni Mitchell's second live album and a good retrospective of her jazzy period from 1975 to 1979. As expected, it gathered a group of all-star musicians ... Although this album is enjoyable, the live arrangements are different not enough of the studio versions to earn better grades. In fact, Mitchell has always been an album artist who recorded studio albums that had their own sound and feel. "
In contrast, Stephen Holden rated the album in Rolling Stone in 1980 as "a surprise and a triumph". The versions on the album are almost consistently better than the originals. For example, The Dry Cleaner from Des Moines sails forward with an economical brass arrangement "with manic ease". Most astonishing are the two titles that are known from The Hissing of Summer Lawns . In both Edith and the Kingpin and Shadows and Light , Mitchell switched “from denominational mode to a semi-abstract, archetypal poetic style”. While the original interpretation of Edith and the Kingpin suggested “a vague and cloudy urban tableau, the Spartan live environment reveals a mythical thread of seduction and corruption”.