Joni Mitchell

Joni Mitchell returns with her first set of original material in nearly a decade. Mitchell tackles war and man-made ecological destruction with rare grace, but also with more than a few flashes of light-hearted musical wit (she even re-records her classic "Big Yellow Taxi"). Joni's way with rhythm, harmony and tempo still feel all her own and she probably has no idea that her judicious employment of synths and drum machines is hip once again. Joni's voice has aged but she uses the changes to her advantage. The way she phrases "shock and awe" on "Strong and Wrong" makes it sound like the saddest thing in the world.

Joni Mitchell is the kind of aging egoist who gives ecology a bad name. On her first album in
five years and first for Starbucks -- a connection some anti-corporatists will foolishly
disparage -- she rails against environmental ills with the privileged pique of someone who
considers the world's failure to resemble the one she grew up in a cosmic affront. Skillfully
marshaling the jazzy growl and desultory melodies she's cultivated for decades,... More >

Joni Mitchell is the kind of aging egoist who gives ecology a bad name. On her first album in five years and first for Starbucks--a connection some anti-corporatists will foolishly disparage--she rails against environmental ills with the privileged pique of someone who considers the world's failure to resemble the one she grew up in a cosmic affront. Skillfully marshalling the jazzy growl and desultory melodies she's cultivated for decades, she observes that "there's just too many people now," compares our orld unfavorably to the Garden of Eden, and heaps cellphones with her gorgeous wrath. Given Mitchell's talent and prestige, it's a waste of precious resources that she couldn't have emulated the kind-hearted heroine of "Hana" when reminding the caffeinated consumer that nature is gravely out of whack. Instead, her most nuanced new lyric details an apostate tour-bus driver's descent into a luscious sin she probably knows better than she lets on. The runner-up is the title tune, where she grants the sun leave to bless all sinners--even cellphone users! Text her your thanks. (Grade - ***)