Joni Mitchell|The Asylum Albums (1976-1980)

The Asylum Albums (1976-1980) Joni Mitchell

Released on 6/21/24 by Rhino - Elektra
Main artists: Joni Mitchell
Genre: Pop
Distinctions: 4F de Télérama

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For the third album collection of the Joni Mitchell Archives project, The Asylum Albums (1976-1980) covers what is arguably the knottiest and most challenging period in a career known for being knotty and challenging. While there are certainly fans who have a preference for Mitchell's diaristic/post-folk sounds of the late '60s/early '70s Reprise era or the exploratory fusions of pop and jazz of her first three Asylum albums, most of those fans can find space to love all (or at least most) of the work she released between 1968 and 1975. Utterly unbound by genre formality or commercial considerations—and also very explicitly chafing at the expectations put upon her by the music business—these three studio albums (and one equally unapologetic live album) proved to be much more divisive.

There are still plenty of warm and accessible numbers ("Dreamland" and "Amelia," for instance) interspersed throughout this material, but don't be fooled, this is the most experimental and expansive music that Mitchell ever made, and cuts like the 16-minute "Paprika Plains" or the evocative abstractions of "The Wolf That Lives in Lindsey" are far more representative. From the first notes of Hejira opener "Coyote"—where you hear Jaco Pastorius's gooey basslines come in a split second before Joni's voice—it's clear that Mitchell has launched into a universe only briefly glimpsed on Hissing of Summer Lawns. The spare arrangements focus the listener's attention on Mitchell's advanced and idiosyncratic tunings, her interactions with Pastorius's fretless bass, and her dense, imagistic lyrics. This makes Hejira a much less "complex" album than Lawns. It is far more consistent in tone and mood (with the exception of the frenetic and vaguely psychedelic "Black Crow") but it's also a much stranger and esoteric-sounding work. It is also the most straightforward and accessible studio album in this collection. For Don Juan's Reckless Daughter (included here with new cover art that mercifully lacks blackface), Mitchell's ambition went into overdrive, resulting in a far-reaching work that is loose, adventurous, and highly individual. Not only was it her first (and only) double studio album, it was also her first album since Ladies of the Canyon to not crack the US Top 20 (a feat even more ignominious since sales of double albums count twice toward chart position).

The aforementioned "Paprika Plains" remains one of the most divisive pieces in Mitchell's discography, but it is also undoubtedly the work of an artist who is clearly more concerned with the act of creativity than with how people are receiving that work. Naturally, after releasing such a demanding album, Mitchell could have cut an LP filled with radio-friendly songs, but instead was inspired by her recent connection to an ailing Charles Mingus to delve even further into her jazz tendencies. ("It was as if I had been standing by a river—one toe in the water—feeling it out—and Charlie came by and pushed me in—'sink or swim'…” said Mitchell.) Mingus is both a collaboration with and a tribute to the legendary bassist; he supplied her with a clutch of newly-written melodic fragments, which Mitchell used as the seeds for new material, recorded with luminaries like Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, and, of course, Jaco Pastorius.

Where the looseness of Don Juan's turned into a wandering wilderness of ideas sometimes, these sessions feel equally unfettered, but also have a marked sense of fun to them—whether it's turning "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat" utterly inside out or augmenting the soulful "God Must Be A Boogie Man" with goofy shouts from the band. It is definitely not a pop record, but it's also not the self-serious "Joni goes jazz" album many folks made it out to be upon its release. Of course, the triple-whammy of these studio adventures in a row managed to help Joni shed nearly all of the fans she gathered up with hits like "Help Me," so the wisdom of a live album focused on this material seems questionable. However, it's stunning just how much these songs blossom in a concert setting, as Mitchell is at the absolute height of her abilities as a musician at the time, thanks both to her own skills and years of practice, and to the high bar set by the musicians she'd been collaborating with. Thus, the jammy, jazzy Shadows and Light live album closes out this set with a remarkable restatement of just how unique and special Joni Mitchell's creative energies were during this era, fully transforming her from a classic rock iconoclast into the type of truly one-of-a-kind artists that go down as legends. © Jason Ferguson/Qobuz

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The Asylum Albums (1976-1980)

Joni Mitchell

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Coyote (2024 Remaster)