Joni Mitchell Archives – Volume 4 Highlights The Asylum Years (1976-1980) (Rhino/Warner)

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Volume 4 of Joni Mitchell’s Archive Series is with us, covering the years 1976-1980 and here are the Highlights, collected on 4 vinyl discs.

Joni Mitchell seems to be going toe to toe with Neil Young when it comes to their respective Archives Series. Neil is up to Volume 3 which takes us up to 1987, while Joni’s Volume 4 gets to 1980.

The 6-CD, 100 track version includes 1976’s Hejira, 1977’s Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter and 1979’s Mingus along with 1980’s live album, Shadows And Light.  Personally, this is my favourite Joni period, one that found her at her most musically adventurous, taking a deep dive into jazz along with players like Jaco Pastorius, Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny and Jan Hammer, all of whom show up on the Highlights Box which consists mostly of unreleased live performances along with a few studio outtakes.

Joni MitchellThe first two discs of this collection find Joni sitting in with Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Review which Joni describes in the conversation she has with Cameron Crowe that comes with this collection as something of a three-ring circus. “It wasn’t really my style of music”, she tells Crowe. “I was just a hitchhiker. I was just along for the ride.”

Of course Joni’s presence was more than that. I was lucky enough to see and hear her perform with the Rolling Thunder Review in Rochester, New York (early show) which took place almost 49 years ago to this day (November 17th, 1975) Click here for much more about that show. and she performed two songs, Edith And The Kingpin and Don’t Interrupt The Sorrow, both also performed (and recorded) at Harvard Square Theatre three days later (Nov.20th) which I how this collection begins.

Mitchell is at the peak of her powers. She has just written Coyote, and we get to hear a live version played just days after it was written. Another highlight of the RTR tracks is a cassette recording of Joni teaching one (or more) of the Rolling Thunder bandmates how to play A Case Of You.

From there Joni’s off on her own journey.

We get early rough mixes of songs like Refugee Of The Road, Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter and Otis And Marlena and Joni live at the Bread & Roses Festival in 1978 where she performs’ Charlie Mingus’ Goodbye Pork Pie Hat.

Incidentally, Joni reveals to Cameron Crowe how the jazz great felt about Mitchell adapting his music saying “he hated it with a passion”.

The final two discs here mix Mingus Session outtakes with live version of Joni classics like Help Me, Big Yellow Taxi and Raised On Robbery. These familiar songs are given new life thanks to the superb backing of players like Jaco Pastorius, Don Alias, Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays. …and finally Herbie Hancock, who joins in on A Chair In The Sky, a Mingus/Mitchell composition with Pastorius and Alias. It doesn’t get any better than this!

Marty Duda

 

Marty Duda
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