One Listen Review — Blue, Joni Mitchell

I love spontaneous inspiration. Its the best, and also at times the worst. Sometimes it hits me while I’m at the supermarket, or maybe while I’m driving long distances, or a variety of other unrelated activities. In the case of this review, I was doing research on some of the best break-up albums of all time for another article I recently published about heartbreak albums and their relation to the summer months. Near the top of the lists I viewed was this album, Joni Mitchell’s Blue. I don’t always follow through on these unprovoked motivations, but there was little standing in the way of this opportunity: a chance to listen to a widely-regarded classic album for the first time. While most times my spontaneous inspiration is fleeting, I’ve been looking forward to this listen for a couple weeks now. As I’m completely aware of its status in the heartbreak realm, I think I have prepared myself adequately.

While I have done one-listen reviews in the past (again, shoutout @Yoh301 for the original idea and sustained inspiration), it’s been awhile, so I’ll recap the rules for everyone’s sake. No skipping, no going back to tracks or rewinding, and no stopping (pausing to write is an exception). I will make notes and observations in real time as I hear each track. Essentially, this is a stream-of-consciousness review.

What is not stipulated in the rules is any first impressions I have of the album while looking at it in my music library, so I’ll give those to you now. First, sick album cover. Shading the photo in blue is an obvious call given the album title, but this particular blue is the exact tone I am looking for. This is the cover of an album that contains classic material. Second, there’s only 10 tracks. Love it. Let’s not live in this pain too long. Also, this album was released in June of 1971. That correlates really well with my idea that the best heartbreak music comes in the summer. Joni is validating me already. Finally, the title of the tracks just sound awesome in the saddest way possible. Have you ever looked at a tracklist and thought, “yeah, all these songs have to be great”? I do it all the time. The most recent time this happened to me was when I picked up a Freddy Fender record titled Before The Next Teardrop Falls, which had songs on it like “Going Out With The Tide”, “A Man Can Cry”, and “Mean Woman Blues”. I mean, there’s no way those songs don’t go absolutely nuts. Back to Blue: “Little Green” sounds devastating. Closing with “The Last Time I Saw Richard” is intimidating in the best way. Most songs titled “California” or that include the Golden State in some way usually have something special in them. I gotta get rolling on this album. Keep up if you can.

1. “All I Want”

I think I came into this expecting a different kind of heartbreak album. She’s got the guitar going to open the record, and its not giving me the vibes I expected. This has to mean she’s going to just kill us with her words. And here is her voice, I think the first time I have ever heard it. I don’t think I’ve heard a Joni Mitchell song before, at least not of my knowledge. “I love you when I forget about me.” This song seems to be before the demise, when there’s still some optimism. Her voice is crazy unique. We’re heading down the spiral now. Her intentions seems good (“I want to write you a love letter/ I want to knit you a sweater”), I’m just waiting for the inevitable.

2. “My Old Man”

This has to be where shit starts going sideways. The piano gives it away, too. I’ve been deceived, she seems pretty complimentary of this fella. “But when he’s gone…” Here we go. If this heartbreak is just separation anxiety I have been wholly hoodwinked. Sorry Joni, but I want some drama. Her runs are just crazy. If I step away from what I wanted the narrative to be for this “break-up” album, these are two good songs. I need Joni to start peeling back some layers though if she wants to keep me around. And I’m sure that was/is her main priority.

3. “Little Green”

I want this track to kill me. “Born with the moon in Cancer.” There’s no fucking way Joni Mitchell was buying into astrology in 1971. Am I the only one who refuses to buy into the moon? We’re getting to the shits now. The writing is definitely picking up. So is the story. This song flew by, but it delivered. I hope this approach keeps up for the rest of the album, I enjoyed this one. Give me more melancholy. I live in this shit.

4. “Carey”

Here comes the pace. So Carey is the partner, I’m guessing. The writing is definitely carrying over from the last song. Super detailed and the imagery is classic singer-songwriter. The instrumentation has been super simple to this point, which doesn’t surprise me with her genre, but I wouldn’t mind some differentiation. If you’re not going to give me anything wild or dramatic in the lyrics, I need it somewhere else. All aspects are pretty impressive, I just haven’t been overwhelmed with anything yet.

5. “Blue”

I’m picking the title track to be a turning point for the album. Yes. Already. I’m one bar into this and we’re exactly where I want to be. “Blue songs are like tattoos.” Fuck yes, Joni. I love when songs reference tattoos (Sade’s “Like A Tattoo” is the first to come to mind). Lyrics are on point, sentiment is on point. She has expressed herself extremely well on this album. Even when its not what I was hoping for, she’s so effective in her writing, its impossible to be upset.

6. “California”

This album is moving super fast. I love this track already, in the first 30 seconds. The rednecks Joni meets are way different than those I know. Where the fuck is the heartbreak? This seems more like she is dealing with some separation and that’s not enough for me. “All the news of home you read/ Just gives you the blues.” That holds up 50 years later. I’m getting a little more of that instrumentation I asked for. The melodies in here are pretty cool. California is her refuge, her place to go when there’s nowhere left to distract her. It seems that she’s now coping with a little more than just minor separation. Lets get emotional, Joni.

7. “This Flight Tonight”

It seems like travel is more of a theme on this album than heartbreak. Still, the pace and tone is not what I expected. This album doesn’t really sound “blue”. Traveling is definitely her way of escaping her problems, but she’s admitting here its not working. We’re making progress. Stop running from your feelings, Joni. I really like this intersection about two minutes in (“Bye Bye Baby (Baby Goodbye)” interpolation). A little passive aggressive sarcasm to close this last verse. I like the direction we’re going. Seven tracks in and the momentum is finally building.

8. “River”

I love hearing keys to start a track. “Its coming on Christmas” is how you start this song?! Joni is about to get busy. She means business. Also, green is becoming a recurring theme, perhaps more commonly than blue. I don’t think anyone has loved me “naughty.” I wonder what that’s like. She’s owning up to some shit now. And she’s fucking singing. This is my favorite song so far. Super simple, like most others, but this aligns more with my expectations I had for this album. More please.

9. “A Case of You”

The title here is promising. Sounds like some pain is coming. Interesting guitar to start out here. The man saying, “I’m as constant as a Northern star” probably should have been the first sign that he’s going to flake. This chorus is hard in the most emotional way possible. There’s levels and variants of hard that you have to understand to know what I mean. What terrible advice from the woman Joni met in that last verse. I mean, I guess she was being honest, but what kind of counsel is that? “Stay with him if you can, but be prepared to bleed?” That’s tough. Joni is great at capturing dialogue in her writing, she’s one of the best at it that I’ve heard. Let’s get to this finale.

10. “The Last Time I Saw Richard”

Spill the beans, Joni. Keys to start, hell yes. The first lyrics are the title of the song: she’s about to go crazy. That’s what that means. More dialogue, I love it. “Its just that now you’re romanticizing some pain that’s in your head.” Aren’t we all? Damn, things didn’t work out with Richard. I was rooting for them too. Wow, what a final verse. People say closure doesn’t exist, and I agree, but that was as close as you can get. She brought closure to the whole album in about half a verse. Joni works super fast. She builds emotion and settings so quickly and its always effective.

I don’t want to say that I’m disappointed in this Joni Mitchell album. Its a great record — but I will admit that my high expectations were only seldomly fulfilled. The highs of Blue uphold the album’s reputation as a top-tier heartbreak record. These climaxes are few and far between, though, at least for my liking. As a self-proclaimed connoisseur of heartbreak music, I don’t know if this is the album I’m turning to when I need pity or to reminisce. That’s not to say I’ll never play this album again. It certainly has some redeemable qualities that are as admirable today as they likely were when the album was released. Her writing is what impressed me most, even if it wasn’t always in the direction I was hoping for. That’s the flaw with a one listen review, especially in this context; I had this album billed a certain way and I was reluctant to accept any deviations. This isn’t an all-time break-up album for me, and that’s ok. I’m hearing this album as Diet Carole King, which is in no way an insult. More people should make music like Carole King. But it’s really hard to get on her level. Mitchell is probably a tier below King, a fine place to be. In the end, Joni didn’t seem to be as sad as I had hoped, which is nothing to be ashamed of.