Customer Reviews

For the Roses

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Without question, the two most critically celebrated and commercially successful albums of Joni Mitchell's career are the folky, acoustic "Blue" and the jazzy, radio-friendly "Court and Spark." However, sandwiched between the two is a stunning record worthy of just as much attention: 1974's "For the Roses" is an exceptionally well-written collection that serves as the perfect bridge between "Blue" and "Spark."

Fans of her earlier folk-flavored work will find plenty of chestnuts to treasure: "Woman of Heart and Mind" and "You Turn Me On I'm a Radio" are among her most well-written compositions; the former manages to slip in a scathing lyric ("drive your bargains/push your papers/win your medals/f*** your strangers/don't it leave you on the empty side?") amidst a deceivingly mellow musical vibe, while the latter -the album's sole hit- features the classic Mitchell line "I know you don't like weak women/you get bored so quick/and you don't like strong women/'cause they're hip to your tricks"). Along with the clever analogies on the socially-conscious "Banquet" and the touching introspections on the fame-conscious title track, Joni's lyrical sensibilities are rarely sharper than on this album.

But occasionally using woodwinds to flesh out her sound puts a whole new spin on things, taking "Barangrill" to a jazzy level above the quaint narrative it would have been on guitar alone. "Cold Blue Steel and Sweet Fire" has a jazzy edge surrounding its folk center, and "Judgment of the Moon and Stars," an ode to Beethoven, is a complex piece that's difficult at first; repeated listens let the song's quirks work their way in to a place of unique charm. "Blonde in the Bleachers" even goes so far as to offer a dose of pop/rock.

For those of us who find "Clouds" a little too flower-powered and "Mingus" a little too out-there, "For the Roses" offers a glorious bridge between Joni's folk-singer and pop/jazz-diva incarnations. A stunning example of Mitchell's capabilities and aspirations, "For the Roses" ranks as an essential outing from one of pop's most respected artists.

Though I initially overlooked this recording for the more accessible songs on Joni's great Clouds ... over time it has grown on me to the point where, if I could only have ten CDs in my collection, For the Roses would bump out more obvious choices. It might even make the Essential Five.

This is Joni Mitchell in full bloom, a collection of mature songs that are a solid blend of her best qualities as a songwriter: unapologetic emotion and intellectual irony. A progenitor of the tightly orchestrated Court & Spark (also on my top ten list), the arrangements here are sparser, with many featuring the distinctive watery piano work and mid-range vocals that are characteristic of this prime period of Mitchell's work. For the Roses is not the overly-intellectual jazz Joni of later years; nor is it the cute, pop-ified Joni of Big Yellow Taxi. This album is a sister to the great Blue, with a fresh, lightning-in-a-bottle quality that touches and revives. Many of the tracks have a very intimate, almost improvisational feel to them ... as if the listener is a companion to the ramblings of a natural-born (and slightly dotty) poet. But then the stream-of-consciousness road turns ... and you realize this rambler is a guide who knows exactly where she's taking you ... and how to get you home again.

Woman of Heart and Mind is a gorgeous and deceptively simple track that continues to grow on me over the years. Both naive and ironic, it is can be listened to as a character study or a painful confessional. Many of the tracks are like this: many-roomed, hospitable, intriguing songs, songs that get inside you as you get inside them.

For the Roses is a true Mitchell Masterwork.

For over thirty years Joni Mitchell has been a source of consistent amazement among her legions of fans. In a hundred years, when someone wants the perfect example of a stellar and singularly talented singer/songwriter and a peripatetic innovator of 20th century music, they will dust off any of a dozen of Joni Mitchell's albums and give it a spin. This album is an example of her ability to subtly change styles and approaches, fusing jazz and blues to her popular venue, resulting in a captivating and quite arresting collection of my personal favorites. My personal favorites here are later in the song cycle, including her smash hit "You Turn Me On, I'm A Radio", "Blond In The Bleachers", "Woman Of Heart And Mind", and "Judgment Of The Moon And Stars (Ludwig's Tune)", but the entire album is excellent, as usual for Ms. Mitchell.

From beginning to end this song cycle is an ardent but soft-spoken exploration of her internal landscape, a tour of her thoughts and feelings about the state of contemporary relationships. Taken in total, the song cycle represents a sort of informal inventory of all her feelings and emotions about herself, her close friends, and the world at large. Never one to stand still, this album was the successor to the immensely popular "Blue" and came just the incredibly jazzy and experimental style of "Court and Spark". Each of these albums is both unique and quite different from the others, and as a body of work illustrates he r fantastic creativity and ability to change style s and venues like so many suits of stylish clothing. Her in particular Mitchell's gorgeous and intricate lyrics, melodies and acoustic guitar arrangements meld into the strings, horns, and piano work to create an indescribably beautiful work. As with her other work, this album shows Joni at her apex, full of hope, compassion, and with all her creative juices flowing. For folk fans and people just interested in one of the best albums to have come out of her unforgettable stable of mysteries, this is an essential album. Enjoy.

...make "For the Roses" one of Joni Mitchell's most interesting albums. The album is packed between two classics. Before it was "Blue," which is often considered to be her best album; it is commonly listed in the Top 20 albums of all time. Following "For the Roses" was "Court and Spark," her most popular album. It is no wonder that this album is often (in my opinion, unfairly) neglected.

It is a diverse collection. Joni is evolving and this album captures that change. Gone are the easily accessible personal lyrics of "Blue." They are replaced by often cryptic poems about others. The folk guitar sound too is diminished; most songs are piano-based. Stylistically, it foreshadows what's to come. "You Turn Me On, I'm A Radio," the nominal hit, has more similarity to "Court and Spark" than the rest of the material.

That's not to say that the other songs are dismissable. To the contrary, highlights abound. The superb vocal on the luscious "Let the Wind Carry Me?" is one. If you ever need proof that Joni is a great singer, play this one.

"Electricity" is enchanting. "Woman of Heart and Mind" is direct and effective. Musically, the most interesting song is the closer, "Judgement of the Moon and Stars." At one time, Joni considered naming the album after this song. It's a unique masterpiece.

While it is less accessible than "Blue" or "Court and Spark," "For the Roses" is a triumph of musical artistry. It may take longer to befriend, but the payoff is worth it.

Critics have historically cited "Court & Spark" and/or "The Hissing of Summer Lawns" as the major turning point in the musical stylings of Joni Mitchell. I, however, would make the case that Joni planted some deliberate clues on "For the Roses" that she was seeking (and hearing) something new in the constant quest to surpass herself musically. The use of woodwinds, reeds, horns and drums is used marvelously to underscore the emotional pull of such tracks as the brilliant "Judgement of the Moon & Stars", the classic "You Turn Me On I'm a Radio", the unnerving "Cold Blue Steel and Sweet Fire", the wistful "Barangrill". Lyrically, this albums out-distances other Mitchell albums in terms of sheer literacy. Her images are powerful, whether she's addressing the perils of heroin addiction: "Come with me/I know the way/She says, "Its down the dark ladder"/Do you want to contact somebody first/What does it matter?/You're gonna come now or you're gonna come later!" or skewering yet another lover with the timeless couplets in "Woman of Heart and Mind": "Drive your bargains/Push your papers/Win your medals/F**k your strangers". This songs still packs a wallop! The main theme beneath "For the Roses" is her uncertainty and wariness toward her growing fame. When this album was recorded, Mitchell had all but forsaken public performing, preferring instead to 'hole up' in her Vancouver, B.C. cabin. The title track elegantly states her case: "I guess I seem ungrateful/With my teeth sunk in the hand/That brings me things/I really can't give up just yet" and even more poignantly, "Oh the power and the glory/Just when you're gettin' a taste for worship/They start bringing out the hammers/And the boards/And the nails". "See You Sometime" confronts the same issue, albeit from Joni's uniquely sly perspective: "Where are you now?/Are you in some hotel room?/Does it have a view?/Are you caught in a crowd?/Or holding some honey who came on to you?". The album ends in a brilliantly executed song called, "Judgement of the Moon and Stars", Joni's homage (if you will) to fellow Sagatarian Ludwig Beethoven. Even his fame is commented on: "In the court they carve your legend/With an appled in it's jaw/And the women that you wanted/They get their laughs". Years later, after coining the term 'star-maker machinery', Joni would return to confront her demons on "Taming the Tiger" -- another withering glance at the industry which made her famous. For the Roses, for the new or casual Joni Mitchell listener, is the perfect place to hitch a ride with a master.

The music of Joni Mitchell has continually surprised me in the fourteen months since I bought "Blue," and was introduced to the legendary singer/songwriter, by far one of the greatest talents in all music. One such example is in the fact that a couple of weeks ago, I was frustrated at the fact that "For The Roses," was the only album I'd bought by her (I own 11 at present) which hadn't blown me away. I persisted and continued to listen, but I felt nothing. Then, the more you listen, the more you begin to identify vocal stylings, melody patterns. Like with all great music, this album takes a lot of patience. The song structures are very complicated, but once you identify with these structures, they come back to you again and again like old friends, bringing more joy each time.

For The Roses was Joni's fifth studio album, and followed on from the strong quartet of "Song To A Seagull," "Clouds," "Ladies Of The Canyon," and "Blue." For this fifth effort, Joni went into complete isolation after her new-found success. Connecting to the earth, she conjured up the twelve magnificent songs that form this undeniable classic set. It was her first album to incorporate orchestral elements, creating lush soundscapes that paint a beautiful picture much like the photo used on the album cover. Just look at the image of Joni sat on the hillside, lake in the background, and listen to the instrumental harmony. You can't help but be captivated.

The album opens with "Banquet," a song that uses a dinner table as a metaphor for the world Joni had experienced: "Some get the gravy, and some get the gristle...And some get nothing, though there's plenty to spare." It's just Joni and her piano. Angry chords force her point through about the greedy world we live in. This is followed by the superb "Cold Blue Steel And Sweet Fire." This chilling song details the life of a heroin addict, the inescapable insatiability and desperation for the drug-fix. The imagery created from these lyrics is dark, sharp and gleaming: "Looking for Sweet Fire, Shadow of Lady Release..."Come with me, I know the way," she says, "It's down, down, down, the dark ladder. Do you want to contact somebody first, leave someone a letter. You can come now, or you can come later."" The reeds fill the song with an airy, meditative atmosphere, while Joni's vocal delivery is so sensual and the melody so lovely. "Barangrill" provides much-needed light relief, making magnificent work of woodwind. The lyrics are nice and gentle, the delivery much the same, but keeps very much in-theme with the tense, tight nature of the album overall. "Lesson In Survival" is the first love song of the album, about what is always new, the longing and need for love: "I'm gonna get a boat, and we can row it, if you ever get the notion, to be needed by me." It hurts, this song, because she is capable of delivering such a strong subliminal suggestion and the pulse of her desire is so irresistible. The vocal delivery is calm and incredibly soothing, especially towards the end where she sings, "I will always love you, hands alike, magnet and iron, the souls."

This segues beautifully into "Let The Wind Carry Me." The first forty seconds of this song, along with the last forty seconds of the last song, are one of the most spectacularly raw moments out of any Joni songs I've ever experienced. The gentle cooing 25 seconds into this song, followed a couple of seconds later by a beautifully harmonious and natural reed-solo take me somewhere else. I close my eyes, and it's enough to make me cry. Incredibly beautiful. Here, Joni takes the 'heavy company' of the previous song, and applies it to her parents - true heavy company. Her father is the one who roots for her, while the mother can never feel anything truly compassionate towards her. "For The Roses," the album's title track, is perhaps the most significant song on the album, and really drives home Joni's message about the music industry. It is an incisive portrait of what the business of fame will do to people who play the big leagues in the music industry: "In some office sits a poet, and he trembles as he sings, and he asks some guy, to circulate his soul around...They toss around your latest golden egg, speculation - well, who's to know, if the next one in the nest, will glitter for them so." That Joni named the album after this song is a testament to her relationships, which were well-publicized at the time of recording. "See You Sometime" deals with fleeting feelings and romantic competition. It's a short and sweet piano song with fantastic singing: singing that opens tight and course, "Where are you now? Are you in some hotel room?" This is coupled with the brilliant "Electricity," a clever song that uses the nature of electricity as a metaphor for the nature of love. People often think of themselves as machines in regard to their relationships: "Input - output - electricity. But the lines overloaded, and the sparks started flying, and the loose wires were lashing out at me."

"You Turn Me On I'm A Radio" was the album's bona-fide, runaway hit single, peaking at No.25 on the Billboard 100. It was Joni's first real taste of radio success, rather ironically, with a song that goes against that radio-friendly scene that was dominating the decade. "Blonde In The Bleachers" is an incredible song, best placed in the 'rock and roll' bracket. Joni sings about the strife to hold down a rock and roll man, and how the female companion is always pushed aside. She can't compete with him, and before long they become strangers and have moved on: "She says, 'You can't hold the hand of a Rock'n'Roll man very long, or count on your plans with a Rock'n'Roll man very long..."". Just as this point, the drums kick in, making it a traditional rock song in itself. Very beautiful and melancholic. "Woman Of Heart And Mind" is an incredible song that tells Joni's story. The naked honesty in her voice is raw and naked, never glamorised or sensationalised for effect. It just is, and that in itself is enough to capture anyone with, indeed, a heart and a mind. The album closes with "Judgement Of The Moon And Stars (Ludwig's Tune)," a song that is a tribute by Joni to Beethoven. "It's the judgement of the moon and stars/Your solitary path," she says of the great Sagittarian. The song ends this searing record on a weird but hopeful tone, like a pep talk to a memory.

OVERALL GRADE: 10/10

I won't lie, it's a difficult and challenging listen, and if you don't think you can handle it then I'd suggest you pass this one by and go for something a little more accessible, such as "Blue" or "Court And Spark." However, I don't see how anyone couldn't grow to love this music like a relative, given time. There's so much passion exerted here, it spills out between the songs from time to time. The brown area on the painting on the back of this CD case represents the **** amongst the roses, as it were. This applies to many things in life, but none more obvious than the music industry versus Joni Mitchell. She is, without a doubt, the most perfect female example of consistent musical genius, album after album, in the Seventies. Everything from 1969 up until around 1978 was amazing in my eyes. In the past few weeks, For The Roses has bridged the gap for me, and Joni continues to ascend higher and higher in my opinion of her. This album could even be paced in the coveted Top 3 of my Joni Mitchell albums, it's really that good.

Like Blue, with For the Roses Joni Mitchell wrote with open nerves. Lots of heart here, embellished by straight piano written songs, unaccompanied by the over-produced sounds that seem to dog later work. And here too is that unique open tuning of the title cut and others that came for the first time to characterize her haunting acoustic guitar. This album contains some of her most powerful music. Lots of it written for ex-love James Taylor ("pack your suspenders, I'll come meet your plane..")and especially the title cut. Never heard an artist use the "F" word as powerfully as she does in Heart and Mind. What a song! What a position she's taking! The word tells everything of her gouged emotions, yet her compassion is overwhelming. My all-time fave JM. Among ALL all-time faves of the last 35 years.

" For the Roses" is probably Joni Mitchell's least recognized work that merits rapt attention. Other CDs are fabulous, close to perfection, but "Roses" delivers in a way that positions it as among the best of Mitchell's recordings.

"Blue" was amazing, no denying that. How could an artist top it? Mitchell imposed an exile on herself after the tremendous response to "Blue" for reflection, study, a time to get out of the race. The result was a musical jump that carried a maturity that wasn't exactly missing in previous releases, but discernable growth is obvious.

" Banquet", the opening track, is such a panoramic view of the way people were dealing with a complex society. Again, fairly simple terms, but loaded meaning. " Cold Blue Steel..." chronicled the crushing lament of addiction; mired in the squalor while unable to resist.

"Lessons in Survival" seamlessly flows into " Let the Wind Carry Me", a suite that says to lover and family " I love you, please accept my essence."

" For the Roses" provides the first glimpse into Mitchell's disenchantment with the music industry... it's also an open letter to help her friends in the business cope with the fickle nature of entertainment. "Judgment of the Moon and Stars ( Ludwigs Tune) " is a thoughtful ode to Beethoven, talking of him being "condemned to wires and hammers"... or, in laymen's terms, the cold comfort of his piano.

Intense, isolated study served to increase Mitchell's doubt about absolute truth, but it also formed the basis for an overlooked masterpiece. Incidentally, her first top forty single came from this CD; " You Turn Me On, I'm a Radio" is a campy attempt at appeasing the DJs who control the fate of the much needed "hit". It works, though, in the context of light moment among serious depth.

When it comes to pleasing lyrical surprises wrapped in memorable melodies, no one comes close to delivering the way Joni Mitchell does. Indeed, someday long in the future, when someone wants the perfect example of a stellar and singularly talented singer/songwriter and a peripatetic innovator of 20th century music, they will dust off any of a dozen of Joni Mitchell's albums and give it a spin. This particular album represents her at her eclectic best, moving through a romantic landscape, calculating an emotional calculus as she does, spinning imaginative concoctions and personal equations with measured levels of method and abandon, using a variety of styles and approaches, fusing jazz and blues to her popular venue, resulting in a captivating and quite arresting collection of works.

My personal favorites here include her smash hit "You Turn Me On, I'm A Radio", "Blond In The Bleachers", "Woman Of Heart And Mind", and "Judgment Of The Moon And Stars (Ludwig's Tune)", but the entire album is excellent, as usual for Ms. Mitchell. From beginning to end this song cycle is an ardent but soft-spoken exploration of her internal landscape, a tour of her thoughts and feelings about the state of contemporary relationships. The song cycle represents an informal inventory of her feelings and emotions about herself, her friends, and the world at large. Never one to stand still, this effort followed the immensely popular "Blue" , preceding the jazzy, experimental "Court and Spark".

Each of these albums is both unique and quite different from the others, and as a body of work illustrates he r fantastic creativity and ability to change style s and venues like so many suits of stylish clothing. Here in particular Mitchell's gorgeous and intricate lyrics, melodies and acoustic guitar arrangements meld into the strings, horns, and piano work to create an indescribably beautiful work. As with her other work, this album shows Joni at her apex, full of hope, compassion, and with all her creative juices flowing. For folk fans and people just interested in one of the best albums to have come out of her unforgettable stable of mysteries, this is an essential album. Enjoy.

"Blue" is the undisputed masterpiece of Joni Mitchell and I would never argue with the reputation of this sublime folk classic. "For the Roses" was released after that stroke of genius and before the chart-topper which was "Court and Spark".

"For the Roses" is my favourite Joni Mitchell album. I'll never forget the first time I heard the song "Cold Blue Steel and Sweet Fire". It struck me as such a basic tune, yet it affected me so deeply that I played the song again and again. The lyrics of this album are true poetry. A friend of mine purchased the book which contains all of Joni's songs printed as poetry. Her favourite works all come from this album...and she had never heard the songs. She was almost reluctant to hear them. The song "For the Roses" is a beautiful confessional of fame and fortune. "It was just the arbutus rustling and the bumping of the logs..."

"Blonde in the Bleachers" deceived me at first...it seemed like the least memorable song on the album, but then transformed into a favourite while I wasn't looking. "She tapes her regrets to the microphone stand. You know you can't hold the hand of a rock and roll man." All of the songs of this album are true works of art, but the crowning piece is "Judgement of the Moon and Stars". As Joni raises her fist and shakes it at the lightning, roaring like a forest-fire...she spreads her light like blazes all across the sky. She'll show you she won't expire...not 'til she's burned up...not even when she dies.

This album is essential for all Joni Mitchell fans, and an excellent sample of her lyrics and her musicality. BUY IT!