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43 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of my three favorites, October 1, 2002
I've often said that The Beatles were the geniuses of rock, but it was more of a collective genius with George Martin included. They fed off of each other's individual muse. Joni Mitchell, however, is a genius that stands on her own. Her music and lyrics meld into a seamless, living, breathing whole - taking on a magical essence that's greater than the sum of its parts. And those parts are some of the most brilliantly advanced and artful musings you will find in popular music."Clouds" (1969) is a fabulous collection of songs, and one of my favorite albums. It begins with "Tin Angel," about someone (Joni?) with memories of a past love who finds another with a soul as sad as her own. The verses are in a minor mode, so minor-infused they're practically mournful. When she gets to the last line of each chorus, "I found someone to love today," her minor guitar chords still amble, even right through the word "love," but finally resolve to major as she sings "to-day" (and even then there seems to be some hesitation as the chord smiles briefly). The song is pure magic. "Chelsea Morning" awakens us out of the gloom with a burst of sunlight - rhythmically bright, filled with hope and anticipation: "Woke up, it was a Chelsea morning, and the first thing that I knew
There was milk and toast and honey and a bowl of oranges, too
And the sun poured in like butterscotch and stuck to all my SENSES
Oh, won't you stay
We'll put on the day
And we'll talk in present TENSES" How can I not be moved? The entire album seduces me. Her meaningful lyrics are veritable stories one can become lost in, filled with thought-provoking relevance. The music supports her storytelling, bursting with sensual richness. The sound of her voice alone makes me swoon. I can only describe her vocal harmonies on "The Gallery" as heavenly. On "Songs To Aging Children Come," her lyrics, melodies and chords all soar to celestial heights while the rhythms of her guitar keep the whole thing anchored. One could depict this - like much of the album - as at once both cosmic and earthy. Her unaccompanied vocal on "The Fiddle and the Drum" can give me a lump in my throat, but that's no matter, since the concluding "Both Sides, Now" (which ranks among the most intoxicatingly gorgeous songs I know), is a song that can reduce me to tears. Joni Mitchell is a genius in the truest sense of the word. She is an artist of the highest order. Words often elude me when attempting to describe what I feel when I listen to her music. She reaches deep inside of me - and I'm never quite the same after listening to one of her albums. If you are new to Joni Mitchell, I suggest starting with "Clouds" or "Song to a Seagull." Get to know her through these two, then continue on.
Cheers,
Murray
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41 of 45 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Three reasons to get this album: BOTH SIDES NOW, April 17, 2000
I'll go out on a limb and say that Joni Mitchell is probably the greatest female musical personality of the last three decades. She's also an artist that still commands great respect in her career at a time when other female artists who quote Mitchell as an influence are the ones ruling the charts. Mitchell's latest appearance on ROSIE O'DONNELL should revive interest in her career at the very least. Those new fans looking for a place to start may wanna try out her second album CLOUDS. Her self-titled debut just hinted at the potential Joni Mitchell was capable of, but CLOUDS manifested it. Looking at the dates for songs like "That Song About The Midway", "I Don't Know Where I Stand", and "Tin Angel", these are quite insightful and advanced for a woman still in her mid-twenties. Of course, the two songs that most fans will recognize in an instant are "Chelsea Morning" and "Both Sides Now". Judy Collins may have been the first to popularize these songs, but when sung from their actual creator, they sound a lot better. While not hit singles more than standards, these could still be called the most popular tunes to come off of CLOUDS. While Joni Mitchell's later work can be difficult and quite idiosyncratic, CLOUDS is by far the best a new fan can get when starting out their collection.
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23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Both Sides THEN!, October 14, 2002
It's often said that Joni Mitchell first came into her own on this album. I would disagree. It's hardly a quantum leap from the first LP (sometimes referred to as JONI MITCHELL and sometimes as SONG TO A SEAGULL). Both albums are quality late 60s folk, with a few hints of the artistic adventuressness to come. What CLOUDS does have are some of songs already made famous by other artists, which, not insignificantly, she had penned prior to even beginning her recording career. Tactically, it was actually a pretty smart move NOT to record "Both Sides Now," "Tin Angel" or "Chelsea Morning" until her sophomore effort. Fans may have been dying for her versions of those songs, but if her fledgling effort had included them, it would have only proved what people already knew: that she had written a few good tunes. Remember how Karla Bonoff's (much later) debut contained all three songs that Linda Ronstadt had already made famous, plus one that Bonnie Raitt had already recorded)? The implication was that Karla didn't have that much more up her sleeve (not an entirely fair assessment, but hard to avoid under the circumstances). Joni was actually quite canny in parceling out the pre-existing "hits" over the course of her first three albums (the only ones from SONG TO A SEAGULL being the title track, which had been recorded by Buffy Ste. Marie and "Michael From Mountains" which Judy Collins had done earlier--and she held off on recording a crowd pleaser like "The Circle Game" until her THIRD album). She thereby proved that she already had a wealth of material and that she was hardly a flash in the pan. Less of a concept album than her debut, CLOUDS' focus is more on the individual songs, to be sure. In that sense, it may be viewed as a stronger album, since the individual songs are SO good. She was also gaining confidence as a singer and has a number of stunning vocal moments on this album. Her double tracked vocal on a track like "Songs to Aging Children Come" actually elevates one of her weaker, drippier lyrics into something quite special. Not all her vocal moves work so well, sometimes she seems to be striving for dramatic effect (as on "Tin Angel") and winds up just going flat. But even those occasional awkward moments do not undercut the entire song. Unlike much of her later, more experimental work, CLOUDS is impressive mostly in its stark simplicity. On most tracks, it's just Joni's vocal accompanied by her guitar. One can really get a sense of her much vaunted guitar work, her unique open tunings. Her a capella "Fiddle and the Drum" always seemed a little forced to me, but I must admit that given the present political environment her stern anti-war, anti-unilateralism ballad takes on new significance. CLOUDS is, as some have suggested, a good introduction to the work of Joni Mitchell, although for your more musically conservative friends and relatives, you may need to throw in a few caveats ("It's not ALL as tuneful as this one, Mom!"). Indeed there are many people who probably won't want to advance much more beyond this record and its follow-up, LADIES OF THE CANYON--just as there are others whose attention flags after middle period Joni (BLUE, FOR THE ROSES and COURT & SPARK). And well, that's OK. You can't bring everyone along with you every step of the way (although from Mitchell's own comments, I sometimes wonder if she blames critics, record company execs and radio programmers more than her own later obscurantism for her gradual falling off in sales). Whatever the case, if there is one record that could accurately be called "Mitchell for the Masses," this is it. Not that that's a bad thing!
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