« Back to Top Level | Joni Mitchell

Joni Mitchell - Court & Spark (Dcc Gzs1025) (1974)

Track listing:
  1. Track 01 2:48
  2. Track 02 3:24
  3. Track 03 3:03
  4. Track 04 2:15
  5. Track 05 2:56
  6. Track 06 2:59
  7. Track 07 5:38
  8. Track 08 4:25
  9. Track 09 3:07
  10. Track 10 4:00
  11. Track 11 2:23

Notes

Mitchell reached her commercial high point with Court and Spark, a remarkably deft fusion of folk, pop, and jazz which stands as her best-selling work to date. While as unified and insightful as Blue, the album — a concept record exploring the roles of honesty and trust in relationships, romantic and otherwise — moves away from confessional songwriting into evocative character studies: the hit "Free Man in Paris," written about David Geffen, is a not-so-subtle dig at the machinations of the music industry, while "Raised on Robbery" offers an acutely funny look at the predatory environment of the singles bar scene. Much of Court and Spark is devoted to wary love songs: both the title cut and "Help Me," the record's most successful single, carefully measure the risks of romance, while "People's Parties" and "The Same Situation" are fraught with worry and self-doubt (standing in direct opposition to the music, which is smart, smooth, and assured from the first note to the last).