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Court and Spark
 
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Court and Spark

Joni MitchellAudio CD
4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (135 customer reviews)

Price: $7.77 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
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Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
MP3 Download, 11 Songs, 2008 $9.99  
Audio CD, 1990 $7.77  
Vinyl, Limited Edition, 1997 --  
Audio Cassette, 1990 --  

Listen to Samples and Buy MP3s

Songs from this album are available to purchase as MP3s. Click on "Buy MP3" or view the MP3 Album.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Samples
Song Title Time Price
listen  1. Court And Spark 2:46$0.99 Buy Track
listen  2. Help Me 3:24$0.99 Buy Track
listen  3. Free Man In Paris 3:03$0.99 Buy Track
listen  4. People's Parties 2:15$0.99 Buy Track
listen  5. The Same Situation 2:57$0.99 Buy Track
listen  6. Car On A Hill 3:02$0.99 Buy Track
listen  7. Down To You 5:38$0.99 Buy Track
listen  8. Just Like This Train 4:24$0.99 Buy Track
listen  9. Raised On Robbery 3:07$0.99 Buy Track
listen10. Trouble Child 4:00$0.99 Buy Track
listen11. Twisted 2:21$0.99 Buy Track


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Canadian Joni Mitchell is more than just another singer-songwriter: she was one of the most brave and pioneering female artists of the 20th century. Fiercely independent of outside pressures, she had no hesitation in taking artistic risks even when commercial success was at stake. Mostly, her risks paid off, as her relentless creativity kept fans loyal and won fulsome praise from music… Read more in Amazon's Joni Mitchell Store

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Frequently Bought Together

Court and Spark + Blue + Ladies of the Canyon
Price For All Three: $25.04

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  • Blue $9.28

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Product Details

  • Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
  • Original Release Date: 1974
  • Number of Discs: 1
  • Label: Elektra/Asylum
  • ASIN: B000002GXL
  • Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (135 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,917 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential recording

Painter-turned-folksinger Joni Mitchell had slipped stark saxophone solos into her prior album, For the Roses, and her singing had often hinted at a capacity for bluesier fare than her guitar- and piano-framed confessional ballads offered. None of those hints prepared fans for this sudden, expansive shift toward a much larger canvas--a sleeker, orchestrated pop style pulsing with jazz elements. Court & Spark found Mitchell casting aside her earth mother affectations and revealing herself as the thoroughly modern, thoroughly complicated woman she is; the songs sustained familiar preoccupations with relationships but replaced courtly settings and naturalistic imagery with recognizably modern locales. Deeply romantic, constantly questioning, classic tracks like the title song, "Help Me," "Free Man in Paris," "Same Situation," and "Raised on Robbery" display a more liberated Mitchell, ready to rumble with unbridled electric guitars (guest Robbie Robertson on "...Robbery"), even willing to poke fun at her own oh-so-sensitive rep with a hip cover of Annie Ross's hilarious "Twisted." --Sam Sutherland

Product Description

MITCHELL JONI COURT AND SPARK

 

Customer Reviews

135 Reviews
5 star:
 (119)
4 star:
 (11)
3 star:
 (3)
2 star:
 (2)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.8 out of 5 stars (135 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

79 of 82 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The album on which the "real" Joni Mitchell fully emerges, July 13, 2002
This review is from: Court and Spark (Audio CD)
The verdict of history is the "Court & Spark" is the album where the "real" Joni Mitchell let loose. On previous albums like "Clouds" and "Blue" she had played piano and guitar, certainly appropriate for her folk roots. But for this album Mitchell brought in Tom Scott's jazz-rock band the L.A. Express. "Raised on Robbery" was the first single released from the album and certainly introduces the "new" Joni Mitchell to the world. How many other songs do you know with hockey references? But notice how the title song opens the album with just the sound of a piano, making the listener think this is still the "old" Mitchell. Of course, "Help Me" and "Free Man in Paris" are the best-known tracks (I consider the latter the quintessential Joni Mitchell song), representing the fact that Mitchell's romantic side tended to be more popular than her quirky fun side (although who can forget "Twisted" once they hear it?).

The final pair of lines of the chorus from "Help Me"--"We love our lovin'/But not like we love our freedom"--may well be the most insightful into Mitchell's work. Maybe it is because I have been looking over sonnet forms lately, but it suddenly strikes me that Mitchell is one of the premier writers of couplets in American music. Think about it: "We are stardust we are golden/And we've got to get ourselves back to the garden"; "They paved paradise/Put up a parking lot"; "Stoking the star maker machinery/Behind the popular song"; "I wish I was a river/I could sail away on."

Mitchell is a singer/songwriter's singer/songwriter. This is why there are so many covers of songs like "River" and why David Crosby, Graham Nash, Robbie Robertson, Jose Feliciano, and even Cheech & Chong show up for this one. It goes without saying that the cover painting for "Court and Spark" is done by Joni Mitchell.

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26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The hidden bittersweet beauty of "Court And Spark", September 9, 1999
By 
David S. Minjares (Montebello, CA. USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Court and Spark (Audio CD)
"Court And Spark" is most definitely Joni Mitchell's transitional album, from wistful and haunting songstress/writer to edgy, bittersweet visionary. At first listen, it's so musically melodic and catchy you can pass it off as great dinner music. But once the reality sets in at the appropriate time, this album rubs your face in the sand. There is cynicism here. "Trouble Child" is one of the most haunting and bitter songs I have ever heard. The title track is almost a last flirtation with her "Blue" period. "Help Me" is beautiful pop about blissful confusion. "Free Man In Paris" is great tale about a mogul's exaustion and cravings of personal freedom (Geffen, perhaps?). "People's Parties", "The Same Situation", "Down To You" & "Car On A Hill" are all self-explanatory. "Raised On Robbery" and her cover of Wardell Gray's (via Annie Ross) "Twisted" pre-date punk rock with plenty of attitude and "don't **** with me" vibes. I first had this album when I was nine, then got back into it during my early 80's punk era. Now I've rediscovered it with new eyes. She's up there with people like Black Sabbath and Iggy Pop...people that you wish you could hear more of on the radio (besides the hits), but these days are sadly underplayed. Make a difference and buy this timeless scripture. Then buy "Hissing of Summer Lawns" and "Hejira" and you'll round up a trio of highly appreciated and misunderstood 70's Joni Mitchell masterpieces. There's more to the story behind the lilt!!
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Ahead of its time, and still a wonderful experience, November 5, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Court and Spark (Audio CD)
If there is one Joni Mitchell album to own this is likely it. Her singing, writing, and playing are all terrific. This music marked a break with her past work and with the pop trends of the time, and alluded to her future work. Even today it remains a timeless album. People sometimes lament that Joni has never written another "C and S". Well, that come from then, no other time. Her other work has been different, and remarkable, it is just not the unique product of those incredible times, and one moment of an artist's journey as is "Court and Spark".
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