Joni Mitchell Archives, Vol. 4: The Asylum Years (1976-1980)

Joni Mitchell

Released on 04/10/2024 by Rhino - Elektra
Main artists: Joni Mitchell
Genre: Pop

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The Joni Mitchell Archives series has been one of the most successful forays into an iconic artist's unreleased work to date. While not as exhaustive as some artists' (looking at that 27-disc set documenting one Bob Dylan tour!), it has also not been as exhausting, allowing each box set to go deep enough into a specific era's output without drowning listeners with more music than they could ever hope to listen to. These revelatory sets have tracked Mitchell's evolution from a tentative Canadian coffeehouse singer into one of the most innovative musicians of the rock era. The fourth volume, documenting her most challenging phase, is no less illuminating than its predecessors—however, it may be the most surprising. Although it catalogs an era in which Mitchell was exploring dense studio production techniques, jazz-inspired musical adventurousness, and other unexpected avenues, this collection of archival and live recordings consists predominantly of straightforward and stripped-down material that is far more aligned with the folkie/coffeehouse persona of her early years than it is with the experimental jazzbo studio hound she became in the mid-'70s. This is made clear from the very first songs, which come from Mitchell's appearances on Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue tour, accompanied only by her guitar and performing in a near-lighthearted manner. Likewise, a half-dozen cuts at the end of the first disc find Mitchell alone at the piano at the Music Hall in Boston, delivering strikingly spare versions of cuts like "Free Man in Paris" and "Shades of Scarlett Conquering" that provide clear evidence of her superlative strength as a songwriter. While the tracks documenting other highlights from her 1976 U.S. tour showcase her full band—featuring expansive percussion, lugubrious bass, electric keys, and plenty of jazzy flourishes—that same band was also lean and tough. So, whether it's a burly run through "Just Like This Train" or a downright funky version of "Trouble Child," the vibe on these live cuts is more confident and laid-back than it is exploratory and challenging. There's surprisingly little studio material to be found among the six discs here. (It's actually disappointing that there are only two outtakes from Don Juan's Reckless Daughter, as the gestation of that album was probably something to behold.) Mingus' development is represented by five alt versions, while there are a comparatively generous 11 Hejira outtakes, most of which are well-crafted demos. © Jason Ferguson/Qobuz

Joni Mitchell Archives, Vol. 4: The Asylum Years (1976-1980)

Joni Mitchell

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