Sweet sweet Joni Mitchell. The quintessential 70s female singer. The queen without a king they say who plays guitar, cries, and sings la la la la. I highly recommend you do exactly like I did... turn on Blue, sit back and listen, and let Joni Mitchell's voice completely wash over you. As is often the case when I am confronted by something really good, I'm not sure what to say. It's harder to critique beauty than it is to tear at something that pisses me off. Mitchell's melodies are a perfect mixture of familiar and challenging. I think I can anticipate which way a song is going then she does something different and a million times better than what I had in mind. Her vocals are so complex it feels like the music can't be contained within the song itself. She's trancendant and illuminating, even though Blue is so raw and focused on Mitchell's loss. I need to sit back and let this one stew a bit.
...
Ok, I've come back to listen to Blue again, and for the second time in like 2 weeks I am completely torn apart by Joni Mitchell's music. A bonehead like me just can't do it justice. Mitchell has a soft voice somewhere between alto and soprano. Her vocals have such raw emotion I can feel every moment of pain and sadness tearing my heart to pieces. It's almost more than I can bear. I complain a lot about bands that write nothing but sad or depressing or dark music, and yet I'd have no problem with letting Joni Mitchell make me cry for hours.
When I started this project I honestly expected there to be more great albums on the list. As it turns out even among the supposed "albums I must hear before I die" there's a metric shit-ton of crap. I was initially hung up on whether I should grant Blue the exulted honor of joining American Gothic in the 5-star club. I feel no such reservations now. 5 stars.
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