Joni Mitchell - Hejira

[riverrat]

At some point I need to go back to the Geffen stuff. At the time, I remember thinking "good songs, not good production", which was more of a swing factor for me then than it's likely to be now. I was wanting more of the "loose" Joni, and this seemed more...sheeny or something. Again, likely to not matter so much to me now. But it might?

Anybody here really check that stuff out, like, in-depth?

We listen to Night Ride Home pretty often around here..

[mjzee]

I just listened to something I taped off the radio in 1995. Joni did a solo concert from the Gene Autry Museum in L.A., and it was broadcast live. It was like the old Joni from the '60's: lots of chatter between songs, lots of giggling. It was sponsored by her record label, and I think was done to promote her then-new album, Turbulent Indigo. Songs were: Refuge Of The Road, Sex Kills, Moon At The Window, Night Drive Home, Love's Cries, Yvette In English, Cherokee Louise (Broadway Bridge), Sunny Sunday, Hejira, Just Like This Train, Happiness Is The Best Facelift, and Song For Sharon.

[skeith]

I just picked up the cd version of Shadows and Light. It omits 3 tracks "Don's Solo" "Free Man in Paris" and another track.

Does anyone have a cd version that does not omit 3 tracks? Were these tracks considered the weakest on the album?

[jazzbo]

Newer releases of the title are complete on two discs.

Those they removed. .. they are probably the most removable (I think it's "Don's Solo"). I really never warmed to this release in it's lp format on release, and I have the early one cd release and probably haven't listened to it in 15 years or more.

[skeith]

Newer releases of the title are complete on two discs.

Those they removed. .. they are probably the most removable (I think it's "Don's Solo"). I really never warmed to this release in it's lp format on release, and I have the early one cd release and probably haven't listened to it in 15 years or more.

Thanks Lon.

When I ordered it on Amazon from a marketplace seller the description said 2 cds... but it showed up as one. Maybe if the performances aren't that great I will not return it or attempt to get the 2 cd set.

[skeith]

Does anyone know if the 2cd version of Shadows and Light actually exists now? I have ordered from 2 different sellers on Amazon who assured me I was getting the 2 disc version and then only 1 disc shows up

[ejp626]

Newer releases of the title are complete on two discs.

Those they removed. .. they are probably the most removable (I think it's "Don's Solo"). I really never warmed to this release in it's lp format on release, and I have the early one cd release and probably haven't listened to it in 15 years or more.

Thanks Lon.

When I ordered it on Amazon from a marketplace seller the description said 2 cds... but it showed up as one. Maybe if the performances aren't that great I will not return it or attempt to get the 2 cd set.

Well, I enjoy "Free Man in Paris," but I don't know how much bother it is worth to obtain it. I do think it is really odd they would be removing previously issued material.

Sorry, ignore what I wrote. I was thinking of the original Court and Spark CD and not Shadows and Light. No idea how that sounds.

Edited January 6, 2014 by ejp626

[fent99]

Does anyone know if the 2cd version of Shadows and Light actually exists now? I have ordered from 2 different sellers on Amazon who assured me I was getting the 2 disc version and then only 1 disc shows up

Definitely. Saw it a UK store Fopp last week, £5 only!

[JSngry]

All I have of Shadows & Light is the the VHS. Is there anything on the tape not on the album, or vice-versa?

It makes for a good performance documentary, at least.

[skeith]

Anyone want to sell me a copy of the 2disc version of the Shadows and Light cd?

[mjzee]

http://youtu.be/3qkxo6WIWuM

[Head Man]

http://youtu.be/3qkxo6WIWuM

I believe this song was written after Joni had seen Lol Coxhill playing on the Hungerford Bridge outside the Festival Hall on London's Southbank when she was visiting the city in the late '60s. It's always been a favourite of mine.

[skeith]

Finally got Shadows and Light - the 2 disc version. I am enjoying it very much and would think anyone who likes Hejira would like this one (although I like Miles of Aisles just as much) with the exception of the title track (Shadow and Light) a rare misfire for Joni that doesn't do much for me.

[jazzbo]

Glad you got your 2 cd copy!

I need to revisit this material at some point, but I bought this one and Miles of Aisles way back when they were first released on vinyl and they have never quite grabbed me the way that Hejira, Don Juan's Reckless Daughter and Mingus have. Those are the three that I grab for when I think of Joni. A lot may have to do with me and my life at that time, these really grabbed me then, and still do now.

[skeith]

Glad you got your 2 cd copy!

I need to revisit this material at some point, but I bought this one and Miles of Aisles way back when they were first released on vinyl and they have never quite grabbed me the way that Hejira, Don Juan's Reckless Daughter and Mingus have. Those are the three that I grab for when I think of Joni. A lot may have to do with me and my life at that time, these really grabbed me then, and still do now.

well i get that and the 3 albums you mentioned are obviously super... my initial impression of the Shadows and Light (double cd version) was not so positive but on repeated listenings it has grown on me considerably.

[jazzbo]

That's cool. I've listened dozens of times over the decades. May still grow on me, stranger things have happened.

[skeith]

That's cool. I've listened dozens of times over the decades. May still grow on me, stranger things have happened.

Well Lon .. it may or may not grow on you... since you have listened for decades perhaps not.

Most of the songs on it are from those 3 albums you mentioned as liking... so I guess your mileage for Shadows and Light might depend on whether you like the studio versions better than these live versions or how much you like Pat Metheny, Lyle Mays and Michael Brecker.

All the best.

[jazzbo]

It's the latter, the personnel doesn't thrill me as much on these live recordings, nor the way they've stretched the material. It's not bad at all, but I don't prefer it. And there is so much to listen to!

[skeith]

It's the latter, the personnel doesn't thrill me as much on these live recordings, nor the way they've stretched the material. It's not bad at all, but I don't prefer it. And there is so much to listen to!

I see your point...but want to say that I prefer the guys on Shadows and Light (which includes Jaco and Don Alias) to Tom Scott and the LA Express which is the group on Miles of Aisles.

[jazzbo]

Well me too. But I prefer the material on Shadows and Light, and prefer to hear that material in studio form with those cats and arrangements.

I'll pull these out one of these days and revisit them. Right now I'm on an Ed Motta kick!

[JSngry]

I started really paying attention (as in, hello, what is this?) with The Hissing Of Summer Lawns. That's the one where I wondered where she was going. Then Hejira came out and yeah, that explains everything.

[skeith]

I started really paying attention (as in, hello, what is this?) with The Hissing Of Summer Lawns. That's the one where I wondered where she was going. Then Hejira came out and yeah, that explains everything.

I can see what you are saying now... but for some reason it took me a very long time to get from Hissing to Hejira....a very long time.

[JSngry]

Hissing wasn't a transition nearly as much as it was a wholesale destruction. Deep, dark, meaty music but...so long commercial success, right? It left a big pile of ashes for something to rise up from. Thankfully, What arose was Hejira, and not some commercial begging sorry, I'll not do that again, I promise, mea culpa. Too many pop people get a smackdown like that and are cowed forevermore. Not Joni. Oh HELL no not Joni.

[danasgoodstuff]

Hissing wasn't a transition nearly as much as it was a wholesale destruction. Deep, dark, meaty music but...so long commercial success, right? It left a big pile of ashes for something to rise up from. Thankfully, What arose was Hejira, and not some commercial begging sorry, I'll not do that again, I promise, mea culpa. Too many pop people get a smackdown like that and are cowed forevermore. Not Joni. Oh HELL no not Joni.

-40+F makes people tough, and it's a long way from S'toon to Toronto, and stilll longer from there to LA.

[A Lark Ascending]

Hissing wasn't a transition nearly as much as it was a wholesale destruction. Deep, dark, meaty music but...so long commercial success, right? It left a big pile of ashes for something to rise up from. Thankfully, What arose was Hejira, and not some commercial begging sorry, I'll not do that again, I promise, mea culpa. Too many pop people get a smackdown like that and are cowed forevermore. Not Joni. Oh HELL no not Joni.

Not until the 80s, at least!

'Hissing' was heralded as virtually the Second Coming when it came out in 1975 in the British rock press. I can remember reading the reviews in the late summer and being really anxious to hear the record that was being trumpeted as some sort of radical departure for rock music. For once the claims were born out by the listening. My favourite moment is the guiar playing and Joni's vocal phrasing on 'Don't Interrupt the Sorrow'.

The miracle of Hejira is that it goes somewhere else again - where Hissing seems to be Joni looking at the world around her, Hejira seems to return to her looking within herself, but with greater maturity. Hissing adopts different instrumental approaches from track to track; Hejira seems much more unified in sound.

I really like ' Miles of Aisles' - it has the feel of a real concert. The LA Express may not be groundbreaking musicians but I like the alternative arrangements of songs that were mainly quite spare on the original records. 'Clouds' has a lovely arrangement.

I really enjoy the run of Joni's records from the first to Mingus. I've never connected to any of the 80s/90s things but I did like the two heavily orchestrated things she did in the noughties (or was it earlier?). Haven't heard the last one.

Edited January 16, 2014 by A Lark Ascending