Hejira

god that was terrible. I may never get a boner again.

Joni Mitchell wrote the songs for "Hejira" all over America in the mid 1970s, travelling partly toward another show and partly in pursuit of pleasure. It's her "road" album, and the context of rambling travel perfectly suits both her writing style and the lyrical themes. Snapshots of old towns, lost lovers, fleeting moments and passing thoughts all slip in and out of view, relayed in startling detail and breathtaking lyricism. Mitchell also uses her restless travelling as an opportunity for self-evaluation, using the magnificent epic "Song for Sharon" to ask exactly where she's headed. Some favourite lyrics? Where to begin... "A prisoner of the white lines on the freeway"... what a way to subvert the cliché of the "open road". Later, aeroplane vapour trails- images of escape and freedom- are compared to a hexagram of the heavens, strings on a guitar, and finally false alarms. "We're only particles of change I know, I know Orbiting around the sun But how can I have that point of view When I'm always bound and tied to someone" And the whole last verse of Refuge on the Roads- just listen to it. What an artist. They're such beautiful words, and I'm so glad I gave this multiple listens because it took a while for them to start standing out. This is even more the case with the music: sophisticated, dense, jazz-influenced... it's certainly beyond "Blue". The beauty of each song has been slowly revealing itself over the last few days, unravelling delicately on each repeated listen. The vibraphone and sustained guitar in the gorgeous "Amelia", "Hejira"'s "strains of Benny Goodman" being evoked by a distant clarinet; the fretless bass work throughout. There's so much to get lost in and I'm still in the process of doing so after listening six or seven times over the last two days. For now, all I can say is that it sounds like a restless spirit at the height of her powers, carving timeless words into the roads of America.

Never listened to Joni before! Ah, I am not enjoying this. At all. It’s like she’s just kinda rhythmically talking and there happens to be music playing on the background. Every song sounds exactly the same to me. Was this good in 1979?

Full disclosure, this is my favorite Joni Mitchell album. Haven't listened to it in a while, and never noticed the penis on the album cover before. Learning something new all the time. "Coyote" is such a great opening track. Lyrically, it is just fantastic storytelling, the bass tone and playing set the expectations for the musicality of this ensemble. I love it. "Amelia" has such a sense of longing. Mitchell has a gift for putting pain to melody. And on this album, it's the perfect lyrical blend — high-minded poetic construction that tells rich, beautiful stories. Whether Mitchell set out to create a concept album, I don't know, but there's something so cohesive about these songs, like we're spending a week on the road with her and the band. Quiet moments crossing the middle of the country. This album just transports me. I can listen to Jaco play like this all day. He's a master on the bass. And then comes "Black Crow," which is a clinic on how to be the coolest motherfucker on an instrument possible. Seriously. I get that this may not be her most accessible album, but it's brilliant. Road dick!

I was a fan of Joni Mitchell from the get go, back when she was sweetly singing good morning to Morgantown and such. But there was always a dark blue current moving underneath the surface of this petite woman, even then. 'Hejira' seems to have dug the well to that subterranean river. Musically, its gorgeously haunting. (Her cover art represents the same, visually.) Gone, are the gently sustained notes of the piano, replaced with ringing guitars, marvelously odd melodies and chord structures. Joni Jazz, which is not really jazz at all, but something else entirely. Nothing that can be exactly pinned down, mind you. Fitting for Joni’s (nomadic) lifestyle, (moody) temperament, (troubled) spirituality. 1976 found a lot of Joni’s 60’s comrades suffering under the excess of drugs like cocaine, which combined with her rolling and thundering along with Dylan’s infamous review for a while couldn’t help but further darken the gathering of Joni’s latent storm clouds. The opening song has her already confessing that she’s a prisoner of the white lines on the freeway, and not really fit for healthy companionship; that said, he’s only a randy coyote anyway, so fuck it! With some ‘Strange Boy, she gets ‘… high on travel, drunk on alcohol, and on love, the strongest poison and medicine of all.’ But it’s the title track that really seems to sum up who Joni Mitchell was at this time in her life, both professionally and personally (I would guess she doesn’t draw a distinction between the two): ‘There’s comfort in melancholy when there’s no need to explain. It’s just as natural as the weather in this moody sky today.’ And, ‘I’m porous with travel fever. But, you know, I’m so glad to be on my own. Still somehow the slightest touch of a stranger can set up trembling in my bones.’ The hejira that Joni mostly seems to be attempting is the one from herself. And that reminds me of that quote that says something to the effect of: wherever you go, there you are. I didn’t know this myself in 1976, entering into my senior year of high school, and suffered accordingly for years. I’m finally learning that one can be moody and prone to blue while nurturing an inner spirit of gratitude and even joy as well. Not to be too simplistic, but to a certain extent, it is a choice. Just like my choice to be careful with this recording, reserving it only for days when I have optimum emotional/spiritual health and clarity.

wow - never listened to her and I was blown away. quite a singer songwriter - I get the hype now

This is my desert island album. It's my coming-home album. My traveller's album. It's the jewel at the center of the galaxy. I don't know what caused me, midway through Joni's discography (chronologically) at age 26, to pause at Hejira and go no further. For years. But I'll just say that I've been stuck on this album for years and years now. Don Juan is, in some ways, a more expansive and intense vision of the Hejira sound. Court and Spark has some lovely, lovely songs, and I'd never be mad to put it on. But Hejira? This wormed its way into my brain. For years. Flashy albums are great. I love artists that go for broke, make a statement, pull you along kicking and screaming. But what strikes me about Hejira every time I listen is its quiet confidence and its (frankly) uncomplicated brilliance. It's just: beautiful poetry, set to Joni's utterly entrancing guitar tone that hits its stride in a huge way on this album (it's transformative, here). And some of the best and most forward-thinking session/jazz musicians of the class of 76. Jaco, of course, but... Chuck Findley. Victor Feldman. Larry Carlton. All at their best, but all serving the song. It's what I think of when I think of a truly musical collaboration. The jazz influence is authentic and brilliantly executed, but it's so... loveably Joni. I'm reminded of the Frank Ocean quote to James Blake, working on Frank's record: "You're in my world now." We're in Joni's world, no one else's. Her poetry is just entrancing. I don't know how she keeps getting away with it! Such an honesty, almost an earnestness that's been in her lyrics since she was 19... here, delivered in its most confident and assured form. This really is an album that doesn't have an equal. This new jazz-pop style, with the modulations, the Pat Metheny-esque chorus and phased guitars, the open tunings (very Joni) all seems to have collapsed into elevator music as soon as it was just getting going. I've hunted and pecked for anything, anything that has this kind of sound. And I'm sad to say... it doesn't exist. Beyond a couple of standouts or collaborations, we just get this album. This album is so good, you can almost sit back and miss it. It feels over in a second. Just hypnotic. I'll treasure it for the rest of my life, and it really is my one of one. 5/5

No regrets, Coyote

It was pleasant without being remarkable.

I didnt enjoy this album, although I didnt hate it either. It felt like a crazy lady going off on endless tangents where Im unable to foresee where the music is going. Sometimes this is great, in this case it just felt unnecessarily random and incoherent. Having said that, there were still some songs and certainly some beats that I enjoyed. It was upbeat.

This isn't for me to get. But I don't get this. The music is slushy with no real form. And she isn't singing to the music anyway.

I was 55 years old when I realized that this album I've listened to hundreds of times has a penis on it! WTF? I guess you can chalk that up to CD vs LP? Or maybe because I was so mesmerized by Joni's beauty that my eyes never left those cheekbones except to glance down at how she holds her cigarette with her pinky in such a delicate position. I listened to this album on CD (as opposed to Spotify) and as my husband suggested, my good headphones with a CD was the complete aural experience. What fun to hear Joni's whispers on Furry Sings the Blues! I'm a lyrics bitch over the music and this time round some hit harder: "I do accept the changes at least better than I used to do." "I looked at my haggard face in the bathroom light" "I met a friend of spirit" "I well up with affection Thinking back down the roads to then" It feels so trite to attempt a review of any Joni Mitchell album (as well as Jacko's contributions). So I won't. This one is most definitely an 11.

Kinda jazzy and cool, but minus one for her Spotify stunt.

This Joni Mitchell sound is so iconic and haunting and meandering and it’s just not my favorite Joni Mitchell.

It was all right but she looks like a buccal fat surgery victim ayy lmao alyun in the cover art

Hejira is a pretty good album. This album definitely does have a lot of the typical Joni Mitchell staples that you would expect from her. It has lyrics that are more like poetry and i think that is easily the best part about this album as it really does show what Joni is capable of and she does tell some great stories here. The music here is also alright, some pretty good sounding stuff but i do feel it doesn't go all the way and isn't as memorable due to it just not having enough elements to keep it interesting and to set it apart from it's cotemporaries. Its a good album, i just feel that it is not the best that it could have been. Best Song: Black Crow Worst Song: Coyote

#503 : Hejira : 16/06/2025 I don't love it, it's a bit meh. It’s like she’s just kinda rhythmically talking and there happens to be music playing in the background. Every song sounds exactly the same and nothing grabbed or stood out for me. Shrug

there were like two good tracks on this and they were both ones with jaco and the guy who played guitar on a lot of steely dan shit. joni seems completely unnecessary here.

If I realized one thing through this exercise is that Joni Mitchell is like nails on a chalkboard for me. This felt like pretentious hippy poetry and every time she came in I wanted to punch something like Randy needed to punch Brennan in Step Brothers.

Post your music online you pretentious fuck

Another album not on Spotify. This one also didn't have an album video on Youtube. I watched each song on Youtube with intermittent ads. Canadian folk.

This is definitely one of my favourite Joni albums - it's up there with Blue for me. I love the airy guitar and jazzy bass thought it. The first three songs in particular have a perfect soundscape, like a huge, but cold, open blue sky. Like being on top of a mountain, or looking out the window of a plane. Sounds exactly like the album cover looks in a lot of ways too. Really interesting images and stories in the lyrics. Just a beautiful album overall! Edit: after reading some other reviews, I had to come back and add this. It's not a penis on the cover, it's the wrist of her left hand coming out of her pocket. She's wearing a thin bracelet and has a prominent vein. Y'all need Jesus

Glad I’ve finally listened to this properly; I need more time, as the lyrics have the density of poetry, and must settle. This is as close as I’ve heard in record to the Beat ideal, a series of glimpses and startling images combined for revelatory effect. Mitchell appears to have given Pastorious the record and just said, please bass all over this, and the result is glorious, gives the record the feel of rolling on waves or undulating tarmac.

Oooh yes, my favorite Joni album! "Coyote", "Amelia", "A Strange Boy", Jaco Pastorius' slick sticky bass lines and the finest example of a very long song that I wish had another 20 verses (eat it Dylan!) - the incredible "Song For Sharon". Just wow. Imagine seeing (or being involved with) the Rolling Thunder Revue! Easy 10

I **almost** gave this a 4 purely because I was comparing it to Blue, which is perfect. But then I realized I have no notes for this album and it really is a 5.

When reviewing Blue earlier on this list I called Mitchell one of the, if not the, greatest songwriters of the 60’s and 70’s. Maybe ever? I was right then and after Hejira I still am. Other than Joni Mitchell herself that fretless bass is the true winner of this entire album. What a sound!

Once again, I will be unable to be impartial about Joni. She's fantastic, and this is another one of my favorites of hers. Songs like "Amelia" and "Coyote" have so much feeling to them. Her jazz influences continue to be more strongly felt than on her past works, maintaining the trajectory that she had been on, and due in no small part to Jaco Pastorius' fretless bass playing. This is maybe her last "perfect" album, but it's a perfect closer to an incredible run.

Love this record. Joni has made some of the most beautiful and unique music. Her voice and her phrasing, the songwriting- all are so good. I love how loose and open the folky/ jazzy vibe of all these songs are. The music really breathes and flows and goes on a journey in a way you don’t really hear in pop music. It totally feels like a road trip. I love Jaco’s bass playing on her records. It’s so melodic and his tone is so voicelike. It’s so different from what any other bass player would think of playing. It’s like he’s supporting her and singing a duet at the same time. They really perfected this sound on Mingus. Also, worth noting some really beautiful guitar playing by Larry Carlton, I like all the swelly stuff on Amelia. Kudos to her for taking her music off of Spotify, first album I’ve bought in a long time. 5

I love a whole lot of the art Joni Mitchell has shared with the world, and this album is high up there in her work that I love most. The jazz influence, Jaco Pastorius' contributions, Larry Carlton's presence, and so on. She always composes brilliantly and is one of the finest lyricists. What an ear for harmony and her sense of melody is intricate and intriguing. Of course, her vocal performances are spectacular and she is quite underrated as a guitarist. Some truly beautiful and emotional stuff here. Brilliant.

Beautiful. I've never listened to Mitchell before, and today I saw footage of Mitchell playing "Both Sides Now" at the Newport Folk Festival with Brandi Carlile which is one of the poignant performances I have ever seen. I usually hate music that comes out of folk, probably too much of it is blues based, but her music is refreshing with her alternate tunings and strong writing about the experience of girls and women. Now I will continue to dive into her catalog.

She has removed her stuff from Spotify

Elegant, folky, rocky and wry.

she's just a queen.

Perfect to me.

Joni

4.5/5. This def feels like an essential Joni album, and I think it’s gonna grow on me more

I listened to this one on a solo midnight bus ride from Los Angeles to Snata Barbara. I own this album, it's one I've listened to a hundred times but never like this and it finally dawned on me that this is a solitaire album. The music is incredibly complex, as is the musicianship. Tunings. Chords. Progressions. None of which are predictable or even easily accessible. Which makes it reveal more and more on every listen. It's a long way from Blue, a record only ~5 years in the past. This is an electric jazzy record. It might not be everyone's cup of tea but it's right up my alley - mysterious and haunting. Don't listen to this album just once. Give it a few runs and all the way through each time (although the clear highlight is "Amelia"). Slam dunk 5 stars: 10/10. One of my alltime favourite albums by anyone.

Mitchell's voice is never not beautiful and the arrangements always complement her so perfectly. It's not 'Blue' but very few albums come close to that.

I recognize Joni’s contributions to music and the era in which she emerged. Her voice is lovely and her storytelling is impeccable. Musically, this is just not pleasing to me. It’s like she and her band are on two different pages. Shes just sing-talking, and the band is just jamming behind her. Like Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell is important to a generation; just not MY generation.

On a roll with artists I actually know.

The last of the four Joni Mitchell albums on this list. I still have the same problems with it as I did with her previous work, the songs just don't stick with me even if in theory I should love this. Anyway, this one sounds a bit artsy-er than the other ones, with less conventional song structures and even jazzier elements. Key tracks: Coyote Black Crow

Thick bots, fresh tops Like a gentle rain, just let it wash over you Lyrically a mouthful, alot to digest. 3/5 4/5 if she just shut up and let the music shine

Liked the concept, storytelling Joni has a great voice of course, and a few tracks had some great baselines from jaco pastorius Still didn’t stand out as especially fantastic as a whole

Little slow. Chill. Not for me.

I had never listened to Hejira before but I feel somehow that it has been there my whole life. It fills me with nostalgia.

I’m at a 5. Not quite the easily digestible tones of “Court & Spark” (which I gave a 10 to), but a lovely road trip album regardless. This album is deeply inspired by a lot of Joni’s personal life, making it a little harder to digest at first, but I think once the “therapeutic road trip” angle comes in, a lot of this album really melts into place. Joni Mitchell apparently went traveling a LOT in 1976, crossing through a lot of America while on & off various tours, even with no driver’s license. This album is practically her recollection of those cross-country trips, reckoning with why she did them, the sense of heartbreak that caused her to do them in the first place, and trying to heal her tensions & vices that came to light before & after the trips. I suppose “Hejira” really makes sense as an album title, given that it’s a loose translation for Muhammad’s spiritual pilgrimages from Mecca to Medina. I think it’s a very well written album; rather verbose at times, and occasionally a bit cryptic (namely on “Amelia” with its false alarms), but full of vivid & rewarding imagery in its most straightforward moments. “Furry Sings the Blues” being about the decay of such a vitally important spot in music (Beale Street in Memphis) stood out really well to me, as did the deep desire for marriage on “Song for Sharon”. I do think “Court & Spark” is a better written album, but it’s just because I was able to pick up on a lot of the metaphorical writing there on a first pass, whereas some of these took a bit longer to reveal themselves, though they're rather vivid all the same. Joni Mitchell’s voice is still very good; not as dazzling as it was on “Court & Spark” due to her more conversational / talkative tone on this album, but she still has some moments with a presence & power that can only come out of someone who really means the tracks they’ve written. Instrumentally, it’s a much more blues-y / jazz inspired album, which leaves it a bit more somber & slightly more one-note than the variety of “Court & Spark”, yet the moody attitude rolls along really nicely. I compare it, in a sense, to “Autobahn” by Kraftwerk; not in the style of music at all, but in terms of capturing a sense of travel. The simplicity of the lead guitar on a lot of the tracks, when surrounded by the passing bass melodies, the very light percussion, and the myriad of other atmospheric instrumentation (special shoutout to Neil Young’s harmonica on “Furry Sings the Blues”) really creates the feeling of just looking out of a window whilst driving or flying or some other form of transportation, and just contemplating life as it is, while the scenery whips by. I think it’s very easy to have those moments as a passenger or a driver, lost in your own thoughts. That’s what this album captures very well, and while the sense of verbosity in the lyrics is intimidating at first, I think they’re just there to give richer depth to the imagery that her voice & these instrumentals already succeed at capturing. They’re optional, and they add a lot to the album, but they’re not crucial. As a whole, then, I really enjoyed it. I do think there’s a bit of mixing issues on a few tracks that distract from what the album is going for, with some instrumentals burying Joni’s voice in the mix. This could’ve also been trimmed down by a bit; I wouldn’t cut any tracks, but some verses here feel a little more tangential than others, in a way that’s not as tight as it could be. Overall, though, it is a road trip album, and it may be even more enhanced by just listening to it in a car. I think it’s a rewarding album if you choose to engage with the lyricism, but it’s not as necessary as it seems on a first pass. It’s got great instrumentation (quick acknowledgement for Jaco Pastorius of Weather Report doing bass on some of these tracks, & any of the other session musicians here), great vocals, and I can’t find many flaws with it. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s certainly mine, and I think it’s a 5.

Joni is a national treasure

Always heavenly.

Just adore. Must relisten 100 times.

Another great driving album. Perfect for long stretches of lonely road. Mitchell liked traveling as inspiration for her songs... it's only proper.

Probably my favourite of all the Joni I’ve heard. And there’s a lot of good stuff. One of those albums where the cover perfectly matches with the music itself with themes of travel and wandering. You can hear clearly how the melodies and lyrics influenced others like Joanna Newsom. Not as instant as other work but gives you something new every time.

267/1089 - Cool to hear the crossover of jazz fusion with folk. I like this a bit more than Court and Spark. I wish some more Jaco was on the list like his self-titled album or Bright Size Life by Pat Metheny. Such a great bass player. By the way, I have a bone to pick with you other reviewers on this site for this album particularly! That's not a mouthwatering delicious juicy cock on the album cover, that's her wrist! She's got a bracelet on and everything.

Not sure what to say about this other than it’s an experience. Joni’s voice is ethereal and haunting. Great listen on a fall day.

Gran album. Sonido jazz innovador destacando el bajo de pastorius.

No matter how personal to her are the matters that she sings about, Joni Mitchell's songs always draw me in. I think that's her gift to us: she sings intimately, as if sharing her stories for our ears alone. Most of these songs do meander somewhat, but always thoughtfully, with the melodies tending to resolve every so often into a lovely warm, major chord. The effect is one of Joni being on her journey, observing, puzzling over things, worrying, messing up, examining her feelings, but ultimately content. And, of course, sharing it all with us through her lovely storytelling. I told my two friends who are sharing this musical journey that this wasn't one of my favourite Joni albums (that was before I put it on), but it's a measure of how good she is that I immediately stopped everything else to be able to soak it up (I'm guilty at times of multi-tasking my way through the 1001). Wonderful album. She's just great.

A cold, on the road album of motel rooms, broken relationships, sadness, and occasional happiness peeking through the snow clouds. Though Mitchell continues to plumb the depths of her own and essentially humanity's psyches, the music is more jazz influenced and unexpected. Odd tunings, winding melodies and (of course) the game changing fretless bass playing of Jaco Pastorious. Best Tracks: Coyote; Hejira; Refuge of the Roads

приятная музычка. басист молодец.

I love Joni Mitchell’s every album

Incredible story telling set to beautiful music

4 for enjoyment but I think it deserves a 5, also it has the best instrumentation of her albums

#DÍA 8: 1001 Discos Que Hay Que Escuchar Antes De Morir (English Translation Below) Como el nombre del álbum indica, Joni Mitchell en este proyecto nos embarca con ella a un largo viaje de carretera y manta, o como canta: las “finas líneas blancas”. Todo este LP se siente como entrar dentro del cerebro de la artista para escuchar y sentir su flujo de pensamientos mientras marcha por todo el país. De hecho, la lista de canciones se siente como un día entero, desde los sonidos matutinos y ensoñadores de Amelia, hasta la atmósfera nocturna de Blue Motel Room. Es un trayecto desolador, lleno de melancolía azul y de íntima reflexión, principalmente sobre amor, pero también sobre la propia existencia, el envejecer o la avaricia, entre otros tópicos. Los instrumentos mezclan de forma realmente sofisticada elementos del jazz y del folk, dando un resultado onírico, piezas de poca variación que se sienten como un paisaje tras aquello de lo que nos canta Joni Mitchell. La voz de la cantante es cercana, expresiva y absolutamente en línea con la poesía a la que da melodía. Posiblemente el LP resulte algo monótono si no te terminan de hipnotizar las canciones, o si no te interesa escuchar qué tiene que decir Joni Mitchell en las mismas, pero una vez sintonizas tus ondas cerebrales y el latir de tu corazón, se convierte en un viaje de lo más humano y bello. Favoritas: Amelia, Furry Sings the Blues, Hejira, Song for Sharon, Black Crow, Blue Motel Room, Refuge of the Roads Menos favorita: A Strange Boy #DAY 8: 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die As the album title suggests, in this project Joni Mitchell takes us on a long road trip with her — or as she sings, along the “fine white lines”. The entire LP feels like stepping into the artist’s mind to listen to and feel her stream of thoughts as she travels across the country. In fact, the tracklist feels like an entire day, from the dreamy, morning sounds of Amelia to the nocturnal atmosphere of Blue Motel Room. It’s a desolate journey, full of blue melancholy and intimate reflection, primarily about love, but also about existence itself, aging, or greed, among other topics. The instrumentation blends elements of jazz and folk in a truly sophisticated way, creating a dreamlike result — pieces with little variation that feel like landscapes behind the stories Joni Mitchell sings about. Her voice is close, expressive, and absolutely in tune with the poetry it brings to life. The LP might feel somewhat monotonous if the songs don’t end up hypnotizing you, or if you’re not interested in hearing what Joni Mitchell has to say in them. But once your brainwaves and heartbeat sync with it, it becomes a deeply human and beautiful journey. Favorites: Amelia, Furry Sings the Blues, Hejira, Song for Sharon, Black Crow, Blue Motel Room, Refuge of the Roads Least favorite: A Strange Boy

Her last perfect record.

Don't be ridiculous.

JACO! JONI! What an incredible album. I ended up listening to Blue four or five times before rating it because I just loved it so much and wanted to sit with it. I'm not going to bother waiting this time. Easily joining some of my all time favorite albums even after one listen.

Great bass on this one and I love the jazzy vibe and the sound of the guitars. This was my favorite era of Joni's music from '71 to '76. Excellent stuff.

Kicking myself for not diving into more of Joni's catalogue. This sits just as good, if not better, than Blue, an already immaculate listen.

I bloody loved this, great vocals, easy to listen to but still with enough substance to keep me engaged the whole way, great discovery

For “Coyote” alone this is a fantastic album. The rest are very good as well. An album that hits all the spots.

Thus is another fantastic example of Joni Mitchell's style, featuring lyrical complexity accompanied by almost spartan musical arrangements. I really enjoy the pictures she paints of life on the road in this album. Favorite tracks: "Coyote," "Amelia," "Refuge of the Roads"

Loved everything about this. Just as good as Blue

i’ve returned to this album after a while because it annoys me that i didn’t like it as much as Blue. i don’t know why it never hit me the first time but it’s really working well now. i’m paying attention to things and it’s such a beautiful sounding album. i love the sound of the bass, guitar, vocals, everything. just so gorgeous. it’s getting upgraded from a 3 to a 5 😮 yep. i’m doing it. i love this.

Beautiful album. So much depth and range in Mitchell’s voice. Blue will always be the favorite, but this ids excellent in every way.

When I was younger I hated olives and also Joni Mitchell. Now that I’m older, I absolutely love olives and at least like this album quite a bit. Sure seems like she was boning a lot back then. Makes me sad I wasn’t around for the 60s and 70s, though if I’m honest, I probably would have been a square then too.

This issue with this app is that sometimes a day isn't enough to take in the albums. This is one such case. On first listen it's a strong three or four star record, but the more time you spend with it the more you get from it. I love her early albums of course, but this is a masterpiece. Heavy, floating, ambiguous. Classic indefinable Jonie, on another level - it's an incredible mix of the greatest folk player with jazz giants. Nevermind Portrait of Tracy, this is Jaco's most sublime playing. Lary Carlton complimenting everything so perfectly too. A truly beautiful record.

Witchy ahh 🔥

Heavenly. That bass tone makes me feel things.

The first Muslim community.

Like a cool breeze on a summer day ❤️

Hejira marks the moment where Joni Mitchell completed her transformation from an easy to pin down ingenue of soon-to-be burned down iconoclasts to an abstract road warrior hardened and wizened by what was in front of and around her. Completing what was started with The Hissing of Summer Lawns, Hejira is Joni's finest hour as the jazz influence makes its presence felt and the lyrics take on a hazy, albeit contained stance verging on rambling yet memorable. This is a steep mountain to climb and it is not a surprise that many have tried to emulate its footprint in the years since.

An incredibly dense record, but god is it rewarding. I was initially a bit hot-and-cold on it, liking a track and then not liking the next, ironically preferring the more esoteric jazz cuts to Joni’s typical folk songstress shtick, although both left my head spinning in the end. But as Side B played out, I warmed up to it a lot more. The tipping point for me was “Blue Motel Room,” with the brilliant verse: “You and me, we're like America and Russia/ We're always keeping score/ We're always balancing the power/ And that can get to be a cold cold war/ We're going to have to hold ourselves a peace talk/ In some neutral café/ You lay down your sneaking round the town honey/ And I'll lay down the highway” This felt like the Joni I know and love, and felt like a save point for me to latch onto if this record got too weird. Then, I played it a couple more times, and each time, I became more of a fan. The bass on “Coyote” and “Hejira” are both mind blowing– shoutout Jaco– and the story on “Fuzzy Sings the Blues” (despite its unfortunate history), “A Strange Boy,” and “Song for Sharon” have so much depth to dig into lyrically and sonically. Once my ears adjusted to the weird folk-jazz of it all and I had my bearings, I was actually able to vibe out to this record. The only song I really don’t adore at this exact moment is “Amelia,” which is the most complex song lyrically and arguably sonically, since it’s so thin, and I have a feeling I’ll warm up to it with time. Hejira is one of those records where you need to spin it multiple times to get it, but you won’t love it until you get it stuck in your car’s CD changer, or you find a vinyl in a yard sale and just feel slightly too lazy to take it off your turntable and put it back in its sleeve, so you just listen to it for, like, a month straight. It’s a record whose love needs to be nurtured, cultivated, grown with habitually repeated listens. At this exact moment, it’s definitely not my favorite Joni Mitchell album by a long shot, although it’s still a standout. But I have a feeling that, over time, it might become my favorite as I garden my love for it. (Especially since her jazz era after this is a bit, ummmm, tarnished with polish, let’s just say that 🤢)

So so good wow

Wow. While I've enjoyed, I've never been overly impressed with Joni Mitchell outside of Blue, but this was outstanding. Totally blew me away. "Coyote" and "Amelia" are possibly Joni's best songs, but every track on this album was fantastic. Totally brilliant, and I loved the mood of the album. I'll be listening to this a lot.

This is incredible. Amazing singing, beautiful instrumentation (love the fretless bass) and incredible songs. It just delivers with this incredible weight. Awesome.

This album is one of my favourites by Joni Mitchell (which is saying a lot) after only maybe Blue, and it contains “Coyote”, which is one of my all-time favourite songs. The way in which she sings that first verse is just…inimitable. A truly beautiful album that never fails to make me cry.

you either love Jaco or not I guess. The chords and lyrics are ace. It's a masterwork

I've heard of Joni Mitchell before but never heard a song of hers. I just know that she's a legend. It's definitely a grower of an album, and it will take multiple listens to fully appreciate it but after only two spins, I already love it. It's a collection of some of the loveliest songs sung by someone with one of the loveliest voices I've heard. The title track has a slight south Asian tinge to it which sounds great. An immediate standout would have to be the epic 'Song For Sharon'. It's gorgeously haunting. The bass throughout the album is a highlight but on 'Black Crow' it's so so good, it oozes cool, coupled with the equally good guitar riff and solo towards the end of this slightly heavier sounding track. There's not exactly a typical structure to the songs and I love how loose and open they are. Albums like this are the reason I started this challenge. Great from start to finish.

joni is a gem and legend.

Not Joni’s greatest but it’s Joni so it’s great.

I've always loved Joni's songs. On this album, I really appreciate the music, the texture of the guitars, especially. There is a warm depth of the music that I really love. 4.5/5

My favorite Joni Mitchell album. A sprawling exposition of 1970s feminity and self-identity.

We have crappy, snowy weather today in Colorado. And what a great album to listen to in such conditions, staying warm by the fire and away from the cold. While I love Joni’s earlier work, this was more of a challenging listen. And I mean that in a good way; you just don’t get the lovely nuances in the instrumentation and chord progressions, which are typical Joni. Like a lot of music that demands deeper focus and attention. She doesn’t disappoint, especially in the writing, but it’s the band that gives this a cohesive vibe. Having said that, it’s that necessary deeper listening that goes against the idea of a 1001 albums challenge with one new album coming at you every day, that makes this one a harder than usual case. I’m rating it a 3 of 5 stars today, but I get the sense it’ll provide rewards for me if I revisit it regularly. My favorite cuts are “Coyote”, “Furry Sings the Blues”, “Hejira”, “Song for Sharon”, “Blue Motel Room” and “Refuge of the Roads”. My copy is from the Asylum Albums (1976-1980) box set released last year from Rhino Records, a great way to get an overview of her later work. < EDIT > Yup, it’s said that this album is a grower and damn if that experience didn’t happen for me. I listened again as if it was calling me to reconsider its merits, and I gave a focused listen with no distractions and I fell in love as if the universe was opened up to me. Not only a five star album, but a stone cold classic.

Sometimes albums I listen to in the morning decide my playlist for the day on Pandora. I enjoyed listening to this album, plus the music that Pandora connected to it. A wonderful day of inspiration.

Stunning production and the usual heartfelt lyrics that we've come to expect from Joni. When testing new audio equipment, this is one of my go to albums.

Take the jazzy parts of summer lawns and give the songs a rock edge. Joni Mitchell is seemingly the queen singer/songwriter, flexing her stylistic range with each album throughout the '70s. Hejira is simply fantastic, taking everything she's learned to date and perfecting it to a fine point. It's a haze of memories and introspection, with the road guiding Mitchell to be the woman she is today. The mark of a great songwriter is someone who truly knows themself, being able to weave stories from their own life and emotions. It's beautiful, in a word.

I think I liked this even more than I liked Blue. Amazing bass playing from Jaco Pastorius, who really brings that extra something to the tracks he is on.

over the past couple of years I have really fallen in love with Joni Mitchell's music and although this is the first time I've listened to this record, in particular, I can say this falls right in line with everything else. this album lives at the crossroads of folk, country, and jazz, and it is such a comfortable position there. this album is so cozy even though at the same time it feels like a road trip album. there's a longing that exists in a lot of Joni's music that is also ever present. here. her songwriting and her melodies are top notch as always, and I love the expanded jazziness exhibited here. just a great album through and through!

Insanely good!! Loved it and will listen again!

This is a great album and is definitely growing on me. It’s in between folky and jazzy. Gonna do a 4.5 because I can tell there’s more there.

Joni Mitchell versteht ihr Handwerk mit viel Seele und Herz. Beeindruckend was die Grand Dame abliefert. Ihre Kreativität ist unerschöpflich. Top!

Not a Joni album that I reach for that often but a really great one that demonstrates an evolution of her sound.