FEATURE:
Joni Mitchell at Eighty
IN THIS ILLUSTRATION: Art by Joni Mitchell, from Morning Glory on the Vine (2019)/ILLUSTRATION CREDIT: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
The Gallery: Five Essential Books By or About the Icon
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THIS is my final feature…
IN THIS ILLUSTRATION: Art by Joni Mitchell, from Morning Glory on the Vine (2019)/ILLUSTRATION CREDIT: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
about the wonderful Joni Mitchell. She turns eighty on 7th November. I have covered her best albums and influence on other artists. I am going to end this run by recommending books about Mitchell. Whether they are by the legend or written about her, diehards and new fans alike might want some guidance or suggestions as to which books are worth getting. I suppose more Joni Mitchell books will come to light in the next year or two – as she is turning eighty; there is a lot of fresh interest around her following her recent live performances. If you want an insight into Joni Mitchell’s genius, there are articles and feature online that are worth digging into. Visit the official Joni Mitchell website, as there is a great archive that you can access. There have been a few Joni Mitchell books published through the years. I am linking to Waterstones for most recommendations (except for Amazon for the final choice). Ones you can order online through them – though you can also collect in-store. In all cases, you can search other book sellers and shops if you struggle to order a copy. Below are five Joni Mitchell-related books that everyone needs to check out. They give you a lot of detail and depth about…
A beloved and fascinating artist.
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Morning Glory on the Vine: Early Songs and Drawings
Author: Joni Mitchell
Release Date: 22nd October, 2019
Publisher: Cannongate Books
Buy: https://www.waterstones.com/book/morning-glory-on-the-vine/joni-mitchell/9781786898586
Synopsis:
“A beautifully detailed reproduction of a Christmas present that Joni Mitchell created for her close friends, Morning Glory on the Vine is a tantalisingly intimate snapshot of the great singer-songwriter circa 1971. Bursting with some of her earliest lyrics and illustrations from her sketch books, this is an eminently collectable volume to treasure forever.
In 1971, as her groundbreaking album Blue emerged as a singular commercial and critical success around the world, Joni Mitchell puzzled over what gift to give her friends that Christmas.
The result was a handmade book, with only one hundred copies produced, filled with Joni's hand-written lyrics and reproductions of many of her stunning drawings - portraits, abstracts, random concertgoers, and more. Each was given to a friend and, until now, the edition has remained private.
Today, with Morning Glory on the Vine, Joni's long-ago personal Christmas present is a present to us all”.
Review:
“Like most anything Mitchell touches, her book is a stroke of genius. Fans will find enthralling the opportunity to see some of Mitchell’s most famous songs outlined in her handwriting—some already having been recorded by the time of the book’s creation, and others still in developmental stages. Newcomers to Mitchell’s oeuvre will find similar inspiration in the same words, absorbing the artist’s creations in a melody-free forum that may lead to closer first-listens of her music than if never before read on paper.
Each page manifests a life of its own—from culturally-omnipresent images (i.e., the famous Court and Spark album artwork), to random but undoubtedly sumptuous diversions, such as an abstract portrait of Georgia O’Keeffe, or a still life study of Mitchell’s sun-dappled Laurel Canyon dining room. Content and form operate in revelatory ways. The arid, sun-soaked palette of which Keeffe’s visage is comprised, rendering the artist inseparable from the desert landscape that surrounds her, speaks volumes of the inseparability between “creator” and “creation”. This is a quality integral to Mitchell’s own work.
This visual smorgasbord is anchored effectively by her writing, which begins in 1960 with the poem “The Fishbowl”. It’s about Mitchell’s disdain for show-business, and continues through the advancing stages and albums of the artist’s lived experience.
There is an ethereal confluence about the material, which aligns all of Mitchell’s skills into a single, unfettered platform for expression. The music couldn’t exist without the poetry, and the poetry couldn’t exist without the art, and the art couldn’t exist without the music. In fact, and unbeknownst to many, they have been inseparable all along. Legendary songs (i.e. “River”, “Ladies of the Canyon”, and “You Turn Me on I’m a Radio”), whose lyrical exceptionalities lend them an artistic wholeness that would seem stifled by any kind of supplement, are granted drawings that provide the layers of comprehension and complexity we didn’t know we needed. It is a mosaic equal parts fulfilling and thrilling, Mitchell’s canon inhabiting a newer, more tactile life before our eyes.
But Morning Glory on the Vine is not only a book of synthesis; it, too, is a work of deft confessionalism akin to an album like Blue. Some of the art validates our deepest contemplations about certain songs, like “Blue”. long believed to be Mitchell’s tragic love letter to James Taylor. One cannot help but recognize Taylor’s silhouette in the lyrics’ accompanying drawing—a long-haired guitarist, bedside, head bowed, staring at ocean waves through the window. It is in these moments that we feel Mitchell has brought us full circle, and that we may never have understood “Blue” in its entirety without this missing puzzle piece” – PopMatters
Joni Mitchell: Lady of the Canyon
Author: Michael A O'Neill
Release Date: 17th September, 2020
Publisher: Danann Media Publishing Limited
Buy: https://www.waterstones.com/book/joni-mitchell/michael-a-oneill/9781912918249
Synopsis:
"This is the story of one of the most important female recording artist of the last 50 years. Joni Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in her hometown of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan before busking in the streets and nightclubs of Toronto, Ontario. In 1965, she moved to the U.S. and began touring. Settling in Southern California, Mitchell, with popular songs like "Big Yellow Taxi" and "Woodstock," helped define an era and a generation. Mitchell's fifth album, For the Roses, was released in 1972. She then switched labels and began exploring more jazz-influenced melodic ideas, by way of lush pop textures, on 1974's Court and Spark, which featured the radio hits "Help Me" and "Free Man in Paris" and became her best-selling album. With roots in visual art, Mitchell has designed most of her own album covers. She describes herself as a "painter derailed by circumstance" – Jonimitchell.com
Joni: The Lyrical Life of Joni Mitchell
Author: Selina Alko
Release Date: 16th April, 2020
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Inc
Synopsis:
“Colors burst across each page, with layers of collage-work emphasizing the richness of Mitchell’s influences and imagination. Will speak to readers just starting their own exploration of artistic expression." —Booklist (starred review)
Celebrate the captivating life of Joni Mitchell, the world-famous songbird who used her music to ignite and inspire an entire generation, in this stunning picture book biography from award-winning author and illustrator Selina Alko. This nonfiction picture book is an excellent choice to share during homeschooling, in particular for children ages 4 to 6. It’s a fun way to learn to read and as a supplement for activity books for children.
Joni Mitchell painted with words.
Sitting at her piano or strumming the guitar, she turned the words into songs.
The songs were like brushstrokes on a canvas, saying things that were not only happy or sad but true.
But before composing more than two hundred songs, Joni was a young girl from a town on the Canadian prairie, where she learned to love dancing, painting, birdsong, and piano. As she grew up into an artist, Joni took her strong feelings—feelings of love and frustration, and the turbulence that came with being a young woman—and wrote them into vivid songs.
Brought to life by Selina Alko’s rainbow collages and lyrical language, this heartfelt portrait of a feminist and folk icon is perfect for parents, children, and music lovers everywhere.
Back matter includes a letter from the author and Joni’s full discography.
“An inspired and creative ode to the inimitable Joni Mitchell.”—Kirkus
“Layered mixed-media collages featuring cut paper, found images, and colorful smears of paint effectively evoke the richly rendered emotional landscapes of Mitchell’s songwriting.” — Publishers Weekly”.
Review:
“Selina Alko (Why Am I Me?, Can I Touch Your Hair?) introduces readers to Roberta Joan Anderson “before the songs” in Joni: The Lyrical Life of Joni Mitchell, the first picture book biography of the folk music icon.
Living in a small town in Canada, young Joni felt like “an upside-down bird on a wire” in a family who didn’t share her creative ambitions. The book chronicles her bout with polio at age 10; her interest in painting and poetry; her discovery of music and songwriting in art school; her marriage to and subsequent divorce from folk singer Chuck Mitchell; and the launch of her career in Greenwich Village. Alko sketches brief stories of the inspirations behind several of Mitchell’s most beloved songs and albums, including “Big Yellow Taxi” and Blue. She also includes portraits of the handful of musical luminaries who were contemporaries to Mitchell—Bob Dylan, Mama Cass, Leonard Cohen and more.
The illustrations, rendered with acrylics, collage, found objects and even wildflowers, are busy with occasional skewed angles, but Alko always keeps Joni their focus. Vivacious colors swirl in melodies, music notes and lyrics that undulate across the pages in banner-like waves. A wing motif dominates with birds, butterflies and winged insects. The final spread notes that the truth Joni shared in her music gives us freedom, and “freedom gives us wings to fly”—here, Joni herself is painted in flight. The color blue dominates, perhaps a nod to Joni’s most iconic album.
Alko, who in the backmatter relates a personal anecdote of having first heard Joni’s music at age 9, shares Joni’s life story with affection and drive” – BookPage
Joni Mitchell On Track: Every Album, Every Song - On Track
Author: Peter Kearns
Release Date: 24th September, 2020
Publisher: Sonicbond Publishing
Buy: https://www.waterstones.com/book/joni-mitchell-on-track/peter-kearns/9781789520811
Synopsis:
“In her long career, Canadian songstress Joni Mitchell has been hailed as everything from 1960s folk icon to 20th century cultural figure, artistic iconoclast to musical heroine, extreme romantic confessor to outspoken commentator and lyrical painter. While some criticised what they viewed as her seeming dismissal of commercial considerations, she simply viewed her trajectory as that of any artist serious about the integrity of their work. But whatever musical position she took, she was always one step ahead of the game, making eclectic and innovative music
Albums like The Ladies Of The Canyon, Blue , Hejira and Mingus helped define each era of the 1970s, as she moved from exquisitely pitched singer songwriter material towards jazz. Her past influence was obvious in the 1980s when hoards of assuming successors (some highly respectable) gathered her exotic breadcrumbs with a view to distilling their illusive compounds, while Joni simultaneously forged ahead.
This book revisits her studio albums in detail from 1968’s Song to a Seagull to 2007’s Shine, providing anecdote and insight into the recording sessions, an in depth analysis along with a complimentary level of lyrical and instrumental examination”.
Review:
“Joni Mitchell may have limited prog-rock credentials but during the 1970s her albums were essential listening, regardless of musical preferences. Although I lived on a staple diet of prog in those days, the 1975 The Hissing Of Summer Lawns album is one of my personal favourites from the period. Fish was similarly smitten, when a decade later, he adapted lines from the title song for Marillion's Lavender (which isn't mentioned in this book). When Joni started out in the 60s, her acoustic songs were inevitably tagged as "folk", but over the years she's embraced various styles including world music and jazz.
Author, journalist, musician and producer Peter Kearns hails from New Zealand and has two previous On Track books to his credit; on Elton John and 10cc. At 158 pages, plus a 16 page colour section, this is one of the longest books in the series and discusses all of Joni's studio albums up to and including Shine from 2007. This is followed by a single page Epilogue, which brings things almost up to date. I say almost because the book was completed before the October 2020 release of Archives - Vol. 1: The Early Years (1963 - 1967) therefore missing out a good deal of previously unreleased material.
Unlike many books in the On Track series, separate chapters listing live recordings and compilations are not included, although these are referred to in the general narrative. For American artists of a certain vintage, orchestral re-recordings of familiar songs have become very much in-vogue of late but Joni was ahead of the game. Accordingly, individual chapters are dedicated to the Both Sides Now and Travelogue albums from 2000 and 2002 respectively.
Kearns is clearly musically literate, with an almost academic approach when discussing the music with references to tritones, keys and chords. This will undoubtedly appeal to the serious musicians out there, although fundamental aspects of the songs like melody, mood and tempo are sometimes sketchy. Instead, the lyrics and the stories behind the songs are the main focus of attention, which is not surprising given Joni's often autobiographical approach to her song writing. To support his analysis, Kearns includes extracts from the lyrics for many of the songs.
This is a book that will appeal to Joni Mitchell devotees who will appreciate Kearns' analytical approach and erudite writing. Even die-hard fans may discover something new about a favourite song that may have otherwise passed them by. As such, it's recommended reading” - Jonimitchell.com
Reckless Daughter: A Portrait of Joni Mitchell
Author: David Yaffe
Release Date: 17th October, 2017
Publisher: Sarah Crichton Books
Buy: https://www.waterstones.com/book/morning-glory-on-the-vine/joni-mitchell/9781786898586
Synopsis:
“Joni Mitchell may be the most influential female recording artist and composer of the late twentieth century. In Reckless Daughter, the music critic David Yaffe tells the remarkable, heart-wrenching story of how the blond girl with the guitar became a superstar of folk music in the 1960s, a key figure in the Laurel Canyon music scene of the 1970s, and the songwriter who spoke resonantly to, and for, audiences across the country.
A Canadian prairie girl, a free-spirited artist, Mitchell never wanted to be a pop star. She was nothing more than a painter derailed by circumstances, she would explain. And yet, she went on to become a talented self-taught musician and a brilliant bandleader, releasing album after album, each distinctly experimental, challenging, and revealing. Her lyrics captivated listeners with their perceptive language and naked emotion, born out of Mitchells life, loves, complaints, and prophecies. As an artist whose work deftly balances narrative and musical complexity, she has been admired by such legendary lyricists as Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen and beloved by such groundbreaking jazz musicians as Jaco Pastorius, Wayne Shorter, and Herbie Hancock. Her hitsfrom Big Yellow Taxi to Both Sides, Now to A Case of Youendure as timeless favorites, and her influence on the generations of singer-songwriters who would follow her, from her devoted fan Prince to Björk, is undeniable.
In this intimate biography, drawing on dozens of unprecedented in-person interviews with Mitchell, her childhood friends, and a cast of famous characters, Yaffe reveals the backstory behind the famous songsfrom Mitchells youth in Canada, her bout with polio at age nine, and her early marriage and the child she gave up for adoption, through the love affairs that inspired masterpieces, and up to the presentand shows us why Mitchell has so enthralled her listeners, her lovers, and her friends. Reckless Daughter is the story of an artist and an era that have left an indelible mark on American music” – Amazon.co.uk
Review:
“Reckless Daughter” takes us from the Canadian town — Fort Macleod, Alberta — where Roberta Joan Anderson, born into a conventional household in 1943, loved nature and hated school. Childhood polio damaged her left hand, a handicap that would later inspire her to use the open guitar tunings that became her trademark. Her family moved to Saskatoon, and she attended art school in Calgary, where she performed in folk clubs, and where she became pregnant after a brief affair. She married a singer, Chuck Mitchell, who agreed that she should surrender her infant daughter for adoption, a decision that would haunt her. Still in her 20s, she outgrew Mitchell after their move to Manhattan, where she played in downtown clubs and had her first major hit when Judy Collins recorded her song “Both Sides, Now.” Professional and artistic triumphs followed, as did love affairs with, among others, Cohen, Graham Nash, James Taylor, Sam Shepard, Jackson Browne and Jaco Pastorius.
We hear about the influences that included Dylan, Piaf, Nietzsche, Brando, Mingus and Mitchell’s seventh-grade teacher, Mr. Kratzmann. Yaffe, a music critic and a professor at Syracuse University, has immense respect for his subject’s stamina (“Joni became Joni through the ten-thousand-plus hours she put in on the road”) and for the talent that Cohen recognized even in the speed with which she tuned her guitar: “Just to hold all those tunings in her mind indicates a superior intellect. I remember being overwhelmed by the fertility and the abundance of her artistic enterprise, because it was so much more vast and rich and varied and seemingly effortless than the way I looked at things.”
As “Restless Daughter” tracks Mitchell’s musical development and her battles for creative control on tour and in the recording studio, its readers come to understand how much integrity was required for her to allow her love for jazz (never the most lucrative genre) to exert an increasing influence on her work. Equally admirable is her resilience in overcoming setbacks — dimwitted reviews, disappointing sales, an unproductive flirtation with 1980s synth-pop — and her struggles with substance addictions, among them a four-pack-a-day cigarette habit that affected her voice.
In a preface, Yaffe describes the enchanted night, in 2007, when he stayed up talking to Mitchell for an interview for The New York Times — and the ensuing warmth that stopped cold when the article appeared. “There were things about it that felt to her like an invasion, a betrayal.” Years later, a mutual friend brokered a rapprochement, and throughout “Reckless Daughter,” one senses Yaffe’s reluctance to make the same mistake twice. I can’t think of another biography in which I felt so strongly that the writer was worried about preserving the good opinion of his subject.
Perhaps as a consequence, Yaffe declines to question some problematic choices, such as Mitchell’s appearance in blackface on the cover of her 1977 album, “Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter,” and dressing as a black pimp for Halloween. While admitting that “what was troubling was that her desire to be the black man on the street superseded the unsettling history,” he ascribes it to her innocence of the “historical baggage” of minstrelsy. This sounds a little dubious. I was alive in the 1970s, and no white person with any brains was unaware of the “baggage” of blackface. Yaffe assures us that “Chaka Khan, who, as a teenager, had been a member of the militant Black Panther party, had no problem with the cover of the album for which she provided vocals.” And Yaffe manages to make things even worse when he attempts to explain Mitchell’s behavior by quoting W. E. B. Du Bois on the “double consciousness” experienced by black people: “Joni in her own way was pushing back against the limitations of a society that didn’t know quite what to do with her mix of creative muscle and distinctly feminine sensibility.”
Yaffe staunchly defends his subject from criticism; Rickie Lee Jones’s accusation that Mitchell “didn’t walk on the jazz side of life,” Yaffe writes, prompts an outraged rebuttal: “Rickie Lee Jones sang with a fake black accent. Wasn’t that pretentious?” Only at rare moments does the biographer let Mitchell’s dark side — evident, for example, in how pitiless she can be toward former lovers and spouses — speak for itself. Chuck Mitchell was a “major exploiter,” Leonard Cohen a “phony Buddhist” and “the high prince of envy.” Mitchell’s second husband, Larry Klein, was one of several “puffed-up dwarfs.” James Taylor “was incapable of affection. He was just a mess.”
Uncritical admiration can make “Reckless Daughter” seem like a 400-page fan letter, though one certainly prefers Yaffe’s approach to that of biographers who despise their subjects. Championing Mitchell, right or wrong, and trying to stay on her good side is not exactly the same as taking her seriously as a composer and performer. Ultimately, it hardly matters. The person who wrote and sang “Blue,” “Court and Spark” and “Hejira” doesn’t need protection from readers who, decades after those albums appeared, remember Mitchell’s songs. Anthems not only of restlessness and heartbreak but also of intelligence, insight and courage, they are tributes to the power of music to imprint itself indelibly on the consciousness of its listeners” – The New York Times