Hejira

It sounds great but it’s just not for me. I don’t love how it often felt like one long, boring song.

Nice voice; wanted to like this more than I did.

5 immediate stars, except that the stars are from a different, higher universe. When Dylan won the Nobel Prize for Literature there were those who said, "Sure, but have you heard Hejira?" Written at a difficult time of her life, this documents the physical and emotional journeys she went on after the breakdown of a long term relationship. There are songs here so personal and intimate - Amelia, for instance, or Song for Sharon - that you feel awkward listening to her sing them, like you shouldn't be overhearing what she's saying. The fact that the man she broke up with and that some of the songs are about is playing with her in the studio makes it even more awkward. The songs on here are lyrically dense and musically static. Few chord changes, lots of words and sung as though they're being spoken. Quite a bit of Coyote IS spoken. Probably Blue Hotel Room and Black Crow come closest to being songs you can sing along with, while Hejira, Song for Sharon, Coyote, Furry Sings the Blues are their own thing, a whole different type of music. On later albums she would go further in this direction and by the time she was recording Dreamland or The Dry Cleaner from Des Moines she was in a world all her own. This is probably the best of her Jazz Albums. In fact, it's one of the best albums.

7/10

Again for me quintessentially Canadian. This sound is music I remember growing up with. Hearing it regularly on the CBC. As I said with the previous Joni Mitchell album, her vocals play with words and it is entrancing. 5/5

Pretty classic but newer Joni here. I enjoyed it and it had a lot to say. It feels disorganized at times, but her voice and melodies are still remarkable. 3+

I love Joni Mitchell but "Twisted" is a stark dividing line for me. Some of "Ladies of the Canyon" can be a bit too folky for me, but I essentially love everything she did up until "Twisted" and like almost nothing she did from that song on. "Coyote" and "Amelia" and "Blue Motel" are all okay but I just don't like the way this album sounds. The music is too sparse for me. I want real songs not jazz fusion background noodling. Even Joni Mitchell's always compelling lyrics can't save the way the music on this album hits my ears.

Coyote Amelia Refuge of the Roads

no es jazz

It's been about a year and a half since I got a Joni Mitchell record. I recall enjoying the fusion of jazz and folk-rock that she employed on Court and Spark. Since that record, Joni continued to experiment with jazz influences, which not only meant keeping Larry Carlton on guitar and John Guerin on drums, but also bringing in Jaco Pastorius on fretless bass. Also, she was inspired by travelling across the country with friends and the many twists and turns that happened during that time. The resulting album chronicling these events was Hejira, and it made for an adoring listen. There is such an exquisite bounce to this record, between the lush guitars, supple bass, and spare percussion, with only a few instrumental embellishments such as Neil Young's accompanying harmonica on "Furry Sings the Blues", the subtle touches of Abe Most's clarinet on the title track, and the breezy horns that come in halfway through "Refuge of the Roads". All these elements coalesce behind Joni's hypnotic delivery, making for the restlessly venturous style she wanted to go for with this album. As for the lyrics, once again, Joni gets personal with the details, drawing on the aforementioned trip across the country and continued adventures in passion. The brief fling she had with playwright Sam Shepard on "Coyote", her encounter with blues guitarist Furry Lewis on "Furry Sings the Blues", the affair she had with a flight attendant who was simultaneously wise and childlike on "A Strange Boy", her trek from the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia on "Black Crow", all vividly detailed with the poetic prose that's expected from her. There are a few songs that feel the most revealing of Joni during this period. Across "Amelia", the title track, and "Blue Motel Room", she reconciled with the dissolution of her relationship with John Guerin, not only detailing her reasons for leaving him, but also leaving the door open should he ever wish to rekindle. "Song for Sharon" envisioned what her life could have been had she settled down and married a farmer like she wanted, only thinly veiled under the name of Joni's childhood friend, Sharon Bell. Finally, the album closes out with "Refuge of the Roads", detailing Joni's three-day visit with a Buddhist meditation master on her way back to L.A., curing her cocaine addiction and experiencing a brief "awakened" state. For a moment, she had such bliss, until her self-awareness, the "thunderhead of judgment", started kicking back in. Hejira is another excellent record in Joni's catalog, an absolute treat to listen to. I honestly can't wait for my next record from her, whenever that may come.

I just could not get into this at all. It's basically a jazz album, so I guess that's not surprising. The vocals are fine and the musicianship is fine, but the way it all came together did not work for me. 1.7

An all-time talent moving in a direction here that makes the songs feel more like jazz riffs than carefully completed compositions. That may be good or bad for you, depending on your tastes. Personally, it leaves me a bit "Meh?" What no one can deny, I think, is that Joni's singing here is sublime. She just pulls you in and has her way with you!

Joni Mitchell is another one of those critically acclaimed artists that I've never really checked out until now. That was clearly a huge mistake on my part because this was pretty great. I can see why some people may not have liked this because of how repetitive and minimalistic the instrumentation is here, but I think that allowed for greater emphasis on Joni's incredible songwriting. A lot of the songs here a pretty dense lyrically, but thought they were able to paint a lot of really vivid imagery that kept me interested in these songs even despite the lengthy nature of some of them. I do think this album is a bit too repetitive at points and there's a song or two on here that do overstay their welcome slightly but overall, I still very much enjoyed this. Fav Songs: Coyote, Hejira, Song for Sharon, Blue Motel Room Least Fav: Furry Sings the Blues 8.6/10

joni on her jazzy shite. interesting that "nighthawks and the diner" was only an album away from this as this feels like Joni's equivalent in terms of singer songwriter to jazz focus with those beautiful clean electric guitars and jazzy rhythm's/arrangements. Not an instant classic but definitely want to wear a beret now.

This is very much not my tempo

Did not enjoy, annoying voice

Beautiful, classic Joni. This hasn't changed the fact that I really don't love her singing, despite her pretty voice. I love her as a songwriter.

I have never enjoyed Joni Mitchell but I liked this. Her voice kid of glides over the music, which is enjoyable in its own right.

Too slow

I am truly starting to understand the wonders of Joni Mitchell

A lot of Hejira seems to be Joni Mitchell musing on whether being a female artist is incompatible with a ‘traditional’ relationship, and I found that interesting and even moving in a way I wasn’t expecting. That might just mean I’ve reached the Emma Thompson in Love Actually stage of perimenopause, but I loved this.

Really good songwriting. Her delivery is great as well, so effortless, like a soothing breeze. She really is amazing. 3.5/5 Probably will listen again

#72/1001 🇨🇦 First time listen. I've been through it twice back to back and feel like its one of those albums to come back to again and again. It has a sense of road trips, escaping broken relationships and falling into other unwanted ones. Best Tracks: Coyote, Amelia, Song for Sharon.

aburrido, pesado,

Her voice is so unique.

More Joni Mitchell. Yay. More amateur poetry sang over music. There's no chorus, no verses, no structure to the songs at all. It's just stream of consciousness, She just sings whatever comes into her mind. At least coyote had an interesting story. Best song: Coyote

W/ Astral Weeks, Hejira is the record that's most meaningful to me, at once the music that brought me back to myself & exploded any & all senses of what it means to be a self-encoded man (shrooms will do that to ya). The song that's got the most revelatory energy is 'Amelia,' a lullaby searching inevitably, realistically. Quiet, confident, & self-willed inquiry really frames the entire record, & road trip as theme, point of departure & point of arrival, matters greatly: 'I was driving across the burning desert / When I spotted six jet planes / Leaving six white vapor trails across the bleak terrain.' Jaco is the other genius, of course, & his lines were once what I felt to be literally living within, but Joni is an almost frighteningly gifted artist. No comp, no.

folksy, acoustic guitars and harmonica. consistently good, but not my bag

we get it, you're a hippy

Canada's greatest songwriter.

Got this on a Sunday which is the perfect day to delve into the stories on this amazing album. Adore Jaco Pastorius bass lines that weave in and out of the vocal lines.

Lovely voice but insanely boring. All the songs sounded the same. Black Crow is the only song I liked

A bit more variety with this one

A sophisticated blend of great songwriting and sultry vocals

My hopes were high here after my introduction to Joni Mitchell earlier in this list. Unfortunately, this album never quite reaches the highs that Blue did for me. Joni is still good here, but something is missing from the equation. The lyrics sound wandering, which is not a detriment on its own, but it misses the melodical hooks that caught me in Blue. The songs just kind of go on, all of them a little too long, that they tend to lose me. Hate to say it, but it was pretty nice, easy-going background music if I'm being honest. Highlight: Blue Motel Room Lowlight: Black Crow

I do have the capacity to imagine why someone would enjoy this album. However, for me this is just terrible. It is musically uninteresting - its not much more than warm ups and background music for Joni Mitchell's awkward spoken word style "singing". And both her delivery and lyrics sound so inauthentic to me. Nothing she says sounds like the world I live in, it all sounds forced and inauthentic. It is self-parody in the extreme - but unintentional. Just terrible stuff all the way around.

Wish I liked her music more.

a true classic. lovely listening, great lyrics, what's not to like

A reflective, rambling, pleasant road album. Memorable for a feeling rather than a hook. Mitchell is excellent at musical narration.

Enjoyable. Lyrics are well thought out.

Joni Mitchell, all the lyrical talent of Dylan, but with a voice that doesn't sound like a Simpsons character

We love Joni here, since a generation (my generation) was introduced to her work in the form of Both Sides Now in that scene in Love Actually her work has been loaded for us with heartache, poetry, and emotional catharsis. Because of the immediacy of the songs on that album, Hejira poses a bit of a challenge. It's lyrically roaming, structurally it feels deliberately evasive, and musically it's drifting and beautiful, but it doesn't hang on impossibly memorable hooks like Both Sides Now. This is a record which I have a feeling will only be truly appreciated on a 5th or 6th listen. Coyote is the most famous track on the record, and it tells a tale, it carried the hallmarks of Joni's most characteristic writing and it's a gorgeous song. It's all about a real player, an irresistible dog of the world. In todays parlance, from what I gather, he's meant for the streets. The rest of the album contains some beautiful songwriting, Hejira in particular is memorably ethereal, but all I'm saying is don't expect to come away from the record humming any of the tunes. I know there's some gold in this here sieve, but I'm going to have to run it through a few more times before I really see it shine.

Damn i haven’t had any duplicate artists yet in my 50 odd days, except this is my THIRD Joni album, how lucky am i. She really knows how to tell a compelling narrative and transport you to her world, and even though this isn’t my favourite from her, it’s still strong. The standouts could be any track from the title track onwards, its a pretty consistent album.

All in all a pretty solid album from an important musical artist.

Canadian folk driving without licence.

It's Joni. How can you not enjoy it.

Saved? ✅ Would listen again? ✅ Would recommend to anyone? 🤔 Would buy on Vinyl? ✅

not my favorite of her work, honestly don't see myself revisiting this one even though i enjoy some of her other work -- 2.5 stars rounded to 3?

Loved it - very dense lyrically. Sound was very 70s. Can hear inspiration of modern singer songwriters.

All the songs kind of sound the same, but they don't sound bad, just a lot like poetry being read out loud.

Not bad

Listens: 3 Standout Tracks: Coyote, Furry Sings the Blues I think my opinions of Joni are improving as I listen to her. This is solid 3 material for me, and not something I really plan to listen to once the day is over, but its nice. I probably said a similar thing for Court and Spark. I had less good things to say for Blue, which is amusing in hindsight considering its widely considered her best work. I like the storytelling that happens in Coyote and Furry Plays the Blues. "A prisoner of the the white lines on the freeway" is some damn good imagery... or expression; it's a damn good something. I would give this album a 3.5 if do half-points on this platform.

I could listen to Joni Mitchell sing for the rest of my life

Nice little jaunt, loved the close out of the album but not a fan of the opening track

😒 Take a Midol!

It sounded out of place for a 70s album (in a good way!). Also sounds out of place for an 80s, 90s or 00s album (in a good way!)

6/10… singer-songwriter / folk / *1976 The 4th in a row…🥱

Great.

I like the lyrics at least.

More self indulgent garbage from Joni Mitchell. The saving grace being the bass of Jaco Pastorius.

Love Joni

I don’t meant to sound misogynist, but has any woman ever looked good in a beret. I think for women the beret is the equivalent of a leather jacket for men. Everyone thinks they’ll be the one person who can pull it off. We’re all mistaken. Anyway, Joni Mitchell just isn’t for me. I get bored three songs into every one of her albums.

Enjoyed this as I wouldve guessed 😂 Some deep tracks with pleasantly simple instrumentation. Jaco's bass takes over your attention from time to time. Carltons playing was dazzling in Blue Motel Room. Random thought: sometimes Mitchell sounds like Christine McVie of Fleetwood Mac 4 stars for me. Blue was a much better album IMO, but this is still rock solid.

Think this could grow on me but not as much as Blue

Fine, but something about Joni Mitchell just doesn’t connect with me

Also eh

Solid album… didn’t blow me away, but enjoyed it. Solid 3.

On the one hand, she has a beautiful voice. But I can’t decide how I feel about the talk singing. The snippets that actually sunk in tell me that there are stories to be told. But the style doesn’t do a lot for me. But the album does have beautiful moments. And the backing musicians are excellent. I expect I would like it more on a close listen. Perhaps I’ll come back someday. 6/10 Pretty Good

I would rate this 3.5 instead. I like the song amelia, but some of the songs didnt have much direction and were a bit arbitrary. I do love the vibe though.

Better than coldpla

She has a wonderful voice but the music just doesn’t vibe with me.

I likeJoni, but this album wasn’t a standout. Nice background music.

Major points for referencing Winn-Dixie cold cuts on the final track. 3.5/5.0: Very good

good voice. interesting enough for a folk album but a little too long

Travel themed singer-songwriter album. It was fine but I’m not sure any of the songs stood out for me.

Chilliä folk rokkia ja jazziakin. Ja muitakin jazz vaikutteita kuultavissa. Kivoja kappaleita. Parhaat: Hejira, Coyote, Refuge of the Roads

That went on forever. Music to sort the washing to.

A lot to like, but she has better albums.

Great sound. I think one thing that bothers me about Joni Mitchell is that though she has a lot to say, and her songs have great grooves and arrangements, her melodies just aren’t that interesting or memorable most of the time. The songs on this album are no exception - the instrumentation and overall sound, including her voice, are great, and there’s a lot to digest lyrically. However, for the lyrics to matter to me the melodies have to draw me in, and they’re just not catchy enough to do so.

I just had a Joni album one before this. I bitched about her high register singing. Then came a Mercury Rev album and i wished for Joni to come back. I am a fickle consumer but hey, the universe provides. Track one Coyote and i’m relieved ahe uses a bit more middle tone in this one at least. Can concentrate a but on her rythm and timing, which is very good. Ahe pulls in some immense musos i must say. Jaco on track 1, with larry carlton again! She has a very unique melodic sense i feel, at once usual but then unexpected. Just a lovely album.

Idk just not a fan of the speak singing

My favorite Joni Mitchell album. The story telling is sublime and I really love the instruments on here, Joni Mitchell's guitar sounds so pleasant here. The first few tracks on this album are some of the best songs out there. I feel it lulls on the second half of the album thouhh. The songs there are still nice but a bit more dull to me.

Beautiful, beautiful album. I vaguely remember liking Blue more, but this is also such a warm piece. Although I still stand by the fact that I am not a terrible fan of poets armed only with acoustic guitar, I'll give this lovely lady a pass.

This album is really cool and so is Joni Mitchell, but I just never really listen to her. Appreciate the Jaco tracks, also just like how she tosses the usual pop song format and it's just kind of poems set to funky chords. Overall, it's pretty, thoughtful, and unique.

Mitchell has a gorgeous voice; few would dispute this. This is a great folk-jazz album. I didn’t know this prior to this review, but the album was written on a cross-country road trip from LA to Maine, with a former and future lover. This context makes the theatrical and poetic lyrics on Hejira more cohesive. Musically, the sparse arrangements intermingle with Mitchell’s voice perfectly. The decision to include three instruments on each song also works. Sometimes, the absence of elements brings the rest into sharper focus. This was a departure from her earlier work, an experiment during a tumultuous time. I think it works. This is another album from this list that would become influential to future music, with acts from the Stone to Bjork and St Vincent citing it as an influence. It is an important work from an iconic performer and warrants a place on this list. This is not the type of music that I generally gravitate towards, but I enjoyed this album, especially when I was able to give it a deeper listen, without distractions and with a glass of scotch in hand. When somebody is trying to tell you a story, it doesn’t really work unless you are listening to it. I was initially going to rate it 3* and move on, I’m glad I didn’t.

Generally a good listen. A little samey after a while, but good.

Not as good [[Court and Spark]].

Now here’s a woman worth listening to. What a band firstly. And before you say ‘why would you mention the men first ?’ Joni put them together and wrote music to suit them. Jaco on bass on some tracks. Larry Carlton on guitar. Max Bennet on bass. Just an incredible lineup. And it’s my favourite Joni album - it’s a bit more sophisticated than Blue and Joni stretches herself. 5 stars.

Ah, Joni. Poetess of our dreams and life and musings - a Jazzy Folkster. Atmosphere and whimsey across the decades. How do you make the natural talking cadence fit in song? So, I , naturally, looked it up. Joni Mitchell’s unique, conversational vocal style is often described as a blend of folk-jazz phrasing, conversational lyrical phrasing, or melodicized poetry. - any "icized" word is complex, so lets unpack: .... the technical terms for what she is doing when she "Adapts Natural Cadence to Song" : Prioritize Melody Over Rhyme Scheme: Mitchell often composes the melody first to avoid the rigid, predictable patterns of traditional verse. This allows the words to follow the natural rhythm of speech rather than forcing them into a strict poetic meter (like iambic pentameter). - Rhythmic Flexibility (Syncopation): Rather than singing directly on the beat, place words on the off-beats. This mimics the way we naturally emphasize words in conversation. Extend Key Words (Melismatic Singing): Make minor, filler words very short (16th notes) and allow important emotional words (like "river" or "skate") to be held for several beats or a full bar. Employ "Conversational" Phrasing: The lyrics should follow the rhythm of natural, contemporary speech. Use "Chords of Inquiry" (Suspended Chords): Mitchell is famous for using "sus chords" (suspension chords) instead of immediate major or minor resolutions. These chords create tension and a "question mark" feel, which keeps the song flowing, allowing the lyrics to feel more like a unfolding story or question rather than a finished statement.

Mid seventies Joni had hit her stride. I'm not sure what it was that she was doing with chords etc, but when she played Coyote at The Last Waltz Garth had to explain the chords to the rest of The Band! This is a delightful record by an extraordinary singer song writer, it was an absolute listening pleasure. Nothing leaps out per se, rather the body of work flows over you. Has the late great Jaco's playing dated somewhat? I mean there are certain points where you'd love a bit of fretted bass root notes, but the harmonics as a whole still work. This is a fine record, which manages to transcend its mid seventies context.

I am a huge admirer of Joni Mitchell, but this is a bit over my head. It's not jazz, but she has incorporated some pretty phenomenal jazz players (Larry Carlton, Jaco, et al.) into her band because she needs people who can play to the level she is hearing in her head. And the playing rises to the occasion. Her writing is intricate, personal and highly sophisticated. It's the sophistication that is beyond me and my simple tastes. In the words of Nigel Tufnell, it's a fine line between clever and stupid, and my theory is that great rock music needs a balance of clever and dumb, and you certainly wouldn't accuse Joni Mitchell in 1976 of being a dumb musician. I hugely admire this record; Joni Mitchell is an artist who stretched herself, but she has extended out into territory that has left me behind. That's my fault, not hers. I just can't really keep up. 3.5 stars, rounding up.

Another Joni album, and another great collection of songs. This one definitely shows her moving in a more sophisticated direction with her music, and lyrically is, in my opinion, leaps and bounds ahead of her earlier releases. It's still not up there in my top three of Joni albums, so again I'm going to give this one four and a half stars.

When I first listened to this I was really impressed with the musical depth by the band. The bass playing reminded me of Jaco and after doing some research it turns out it was him! I give this album a higher score than I probably would all do to the great musicians backing these mid vocals

Heard some of this before, like Coyote. I like the vibe of the record, the guitar and bass sounds. Musician sure love singing about how much they hate traveling. Still, she does it very well! 4 Heard before? Some Owned: No 48/212 (22%) Will I get: No

I’ve always really liked this album. Joni seems a little less like she’s trying to be this mystical poetic genius, and instead we see her authentic side, which is, as you guessed it, a natural mystical poetic genius. My only qualm is that the prominent bass played by Jaco Pastorius sounds like, well, bass played by Jaco. I know some people praise this guy on their hands and knees, but his work just sounds dated and distracting to me.

Hay algo que esta mujer no sepa poner en las palabras mas hermosas posibles? Te amo Joni "I see something of myself in everyone" <3

Her voice and lyrical storytelling alone made this very enjoyable for me. I was not familiar with this album, but enjoyed "Coyote" and "Amelia" the most. Great album and one that I will check out again!

Okay I'm back after a hectic ass week. As I was saying before I was deleted, this is an interesting one. I have a lot of Joni Mitchell stuff, full albums and tribute albums, etc. She's hugely respected in the jazz world, I like her voice and I really really enjoy all the stuff she's done with Weather Report (Jaco/Wayne/Joe, not just Jaco like on this one). I have this album and I've tried, but I just couldn't get into it. I remember thinking her style was a little too poetically dense for me, literally phrasing too dense. But, I am excited to try again, even if I don't know what to expect. 1. Coyote - Jaco sure does take over any track he's on, non derogatory. This is the third time I'm listening to this track trying to finish this album (I've been so fucking busy) and I must say, I really really enjoy this groove. Dig the hell out of a perc heavy, drumless, shaker and conga chug. That's grown ass man groove right there, make it funky without the funk engine. That said, I was right about the density of Joni's lyrics. Sometimes she just starts talking in regular old non-verse, like no meter. I think I'm getting more used to it, but I'm still not sure it's fully my thing. I like this track though. 2. Amelia - again, third or so time listening to this one. With the benefit of time, I've caught more lyrics and really enjoy what I hear. It is again, like Tracy Chapman, very descriptive and evocative but personal. I think it's somewhere in between Chapman and Taupin with the use of literal passage and metaphor and I really like it. Beautiful poetry. It just hit me with the line "a ghost of aviation", but this is about Amelia Earhart. Or at least, it's using her as a metaphor for something Joni clearly experienced. That's really cool. She even had Icarus allusion there, and I tried that without sounding overplayed. And, I really like the changes and vibe of the tune. Last time I wrote this, I likened it to Lori Lieberman and Lynn Ahrens work on Schoolhouse Rock and yeah, it really does have a quality that is digestible and peaceful but engaging just like most Schoolhouse Rock tunes (a project which may be a top 5 musical offering for me period, really tight shit). I think Joni Mitchel played guitar on most of these. I see Larry Carlton is here too. Lastly, I think that the dense nature of Joni's lyrics finds a better home here at a slower tempo. More room to breathe, less need (maybe she didn't need but, still) to jam all the words in by not singing and just talking at a high speed. I see this got recorded with Joni and an orchestra on Travlogue, may check that out. 3. Furry Sings the Blues - I heard this one first time last night. I don't uh, really like it that much. It's kinda soft rock, whic isn't bad. Kit is on this one. I figured out before reading that it was about an old blues musician on Beale Street that is dealing with time changing and Beale Street being torn down gradually. That's fine. I think the dense lyrical thing is back and it kinda KINDA fits but not as well as Amelia. So, this song is actually about a real blues musician, Furry Lewis, who was a Delta blues pioneer. And more specifically, it seems to be about Joni meeting Furry in his old age. That's all well and good, surely a pioneering blues musician is a folk hero to a folk artist like Joni Mitchell. One thing I super definitely don't like is Joni imitating him on this track? Not his musical style, but imitating his speaking voice and saying stuff I guess that he said to her? "Old Furry's got nobody" is really sad on its own, but it actually makes me more sad that Joni took what is surely an outward rep of a private feeling and imitated it for artistic effect on this album. I understand that this may be off the mark, but it feels like exploitation a bit to me. Not necessarily malicious, but I dunno. I have a thing already where old folks make me sad if they're unhappy, so maybe that's kicking it up a notch. Someone named Kelala apparently covered this, I'm curious to hear what she does with it (she's black). ALSO I'm reading that Furry legit didn't like Joni Mitchell's use of his name? And listening closer in this song, after Furry says "I don't like you" to Joni, she tells him that she isn't familiar with his music but she gets "such strong impressions of [his] heyday". Ehh. Okay, this one feels like a white girl discovering black music and then using it but not really understanding what makes it important, not respecting it. I feel like Joni must have with how much respect the jazz comm has for her, but idk. This track bugs me. Also, surely delta blues pioneers play harmonica better than Neil Young here. 4. A Strange Boy - I heard this one last night for the first time. So far, it had been the easiest to keep up with lyrically on first listen. Chords are simple but throw enough drama in to keep it interesting. Minor 1 to major 1 is cool. Larry Carlton is on the joint, clearly. That guy sure can play. Pretty simple stuff here, but I enjoy listening to it. Again, very direct descriptions of things in the lyrics. Not fantastical, but not too direct. She is good at that, when the track allows her room to breathe. 5. Hejira - heard this one last night and again Jaco is so up front but he deserves it cuz he really makes this track. Such thoughtful and melodic playing. It takes real bravery of me to play like that, especially coming from the church tradition where you get either a funny look or a killin look if you play anything other than the root and the difference between the two just depends on the person. Groove is pretty strong still without much perc or drs. That's also thanks to Jaco mostly, but Joni is comping right in the pocket too. I don't know if I've mentioned, I really do like her voice. And again, the more laid back feel does compliment her lyrical style, although it's not as dense on this track as on Coyote. 6. Song for Sharon - okay 8 minute song, hoping it's not a slog! So far I dig the changes. She is really good at writing changes that have just the right amount of tension and drama. And she clearly loves her minor 1 to major 1 cadences. So far not a slog as I'm reading liner notes on wiki. The song is about a woman choosing between marriage and freedom to do other things. I connect with that, actually. I do feel that my own dream has been kinda directly hindered by choosing to be in a relationship seriously instead. It's just a fact of life, unfortunately. I wouldn't choose to not get married, but when that door opened the other one closed. Anyway, no that wasn't a slog at all. Groove was tight and again, just enough tension and release to last. I'd like to see a lyrics sheet along with this one. 7. Black Crow - Jaco's back lol it's so immediate. OOOH damn that first harmonic chord. Is he back or what. I actually remember this one as one I enjoyed because of Jaco and I listened to it more often than any other Joni. Similar groove to Coyote, and cool changes. Joni over top is nice but really the groove from Larry Carlton, Jaco and her on acoustic is king here like goddamn, they are killing it. I could have gone my whole life without knowing they did stuff together, but thankfully I didn't. Funny, this one is probably the lightest subject matter so far but it's the heaviest groove. 8. Blue Motel Room - I know this one too. I always thought she had kind of a Billie Holiday feel on this one. Swings a little bit, upright instead of electric. And she's way way more melodic than lyrically dense here. Most of the time, anyway. Still a little of that talking thing. I think it's on purpose. Changes again are really nice. I have to sit at the keys and map it out, but I'm pretty sure that's a minor four move and she's using it kind of a lot on this album. However, it's a classic and a fav of mine so it hasn't gotten stale. It's not non-functional either so it's not so jarring and works out every time pretty much. Like I said, she's a great poet. "I've got road maps from two dozen states, I've gone coast to coast just to contemplate" and "funny how these old feelings hang around, you think they're gone no no they just go underground" are wonderful and charged. And she places them just right, so clearly she can do that. And damn the line about the Cold War right after, like she can write. I guess the whole jamming a talking line in is a choice, but I prefer she did more of what I just mentioned. It sounds way better and she's really good at placing lyrics like that. 9. Refuge of the Roads - Joni sounds good on guitar too, shouldn't understate that. Jaco is back, I love you Jaco Pastorius. Kit is back too, didn't expect it. Pretty crazy that the drummer on this album is the subject of some of the breakup-y songs. He was playing the soundtrack to his breakup, that's something. Yeah love the soundscape of this one. Horns coming in so sweet they sounded like winds. Jaco multi-tracking his orchestral bass feel. Good capper here. I really like the verse about the photo Earthrise. I was looking at it at the same time and it really made me feel. Insignificant, but also a part of something grand and unexplainable. It was a very earthy feeling and that last verse was really used from a composition standpoint to nail that right home. Well, all said, I think I've wasted some years not giving Joni Mitchell more of a chance. I think this album is a high 4. I would give it a 5, but I can't get over the feeling that track 3 gave me. I'm reading a Rolling Stone article about Joni Mitchell coming to see Furry and it's making me pretty mad, actually. Furry says she came in to ask about him on a personal level, not to write a song. I understand that they're not obligated to give him anything and it's not like he has an estate that would come after Joni or the label. But, she shows up to his ramshackle place in Memphis in a limo and asks him about his life to write about him and Beale Street, then the manager can't toss a dime from an RIAA gold album to fix a downed wire on the old man's porch? I truly understand that they're not obligated, but so what? People should only do the right thing when they're obligated to in some way? It's asshole behavior to me. Trying to separate art/artist here but it's really getting under my skin. Anyway. I'm reading that was Victor Feldman on vibes for track 2. Clearly the jazz world likes Joni (Herbie's tribute album?) and I do too, but that track 3 really rubbed me the wrong way. Whatever. Album itself is very good. It isn't lighthearted but it also avoids being a drag, I'm still not sure I like the half poem-half song approach. Gil Scott Heron was a poet first, but he usually chose rhythmic coherence over fitting every word in no matter what. Jaco is immaculate on the joint. As is Larry Carlton. I think I would actually be tempted to call this a 5 but the aforementioned rhythmic non-coherence and that damn Furry Sings the Blues are knocking it down to a 4 for me. Still, really enjoyed all the rest of it.

I like Joni Mitchell but I wasn’t feeling this one. My favourite thing she does is set a groove before telling us a story in her cool poetry. The lyrics here are still great but the overall sound of this record is too 70s California for me. Too smooth. Not enough groove.

An album on maturing. I felt like I was in her shoes.

Folky with a modern touch. The engineering and production has a polished finish, but the vocals and some of the instrumentation is a bit simple. I'm not the biggest fan of her voice or range, but I understand the impact Joni had on the industry, especially for the female singers that came after her. It's an okay record.

I should have listened to this years ago. A gem. I saved “Coyote”.

This felt like music with a lady talking on pitch over it, but boring music and songs that are too long. No changes in any song and they are just to long. I get that this is supposed to be storytelling but I didn't like it.

Ok not really my thing but a nice singer

Mal se pozno lotevam dons - let's go! Tega albuma ne poznam nič, na splošno sm Joni do zdaj zelo površinsko. "Coyote", prvi komad, mi je bil kul. V tem njenem stilu, ki mi je poznan. Mhm, ja, glavni razlog zakaj površinsko samo poznam Joni, je preprosto to, da mi Joni baš ne potegne. Razen kak komad, mi je načeloma dost a snoozefest. "Furry Sings the Blues" in "A Strange Boy" se še spomnim, da sta se mi dopadla, sicer pa sm bolj čakala, da bo konc.

Calm, and beautiful

This is not my world. It's like a spoken word album about being pissed off, but it is quite lyrical. I will need to grow as a listener.

I like me some Joni Mitchell. Maybe the blue ne is nicer but this is still very pretty.

I don’t like her voice

I find her storytelling annoying at times, but the music is pleasant enough.

I like it, but feel the need to switch it up after a couple of songs

Joni Mitchell, what’s not to love. I know the more I play this the more I’ll like it.

I'm not sure it's really for me. Or maybe I'm just not in the mood. Slow. Fine but not doing much for me.

This was okay. It's very subdued and calm. I couldn't really get into this one very much though. Favourite Tracks(s): Blue Motel Room Least Favourite Track(s): Furry Sings the Blues

I like Joni, and this album is no different.

Not my thing. Although, I do like her voice. It’s just too talking singing and too melancholy

Stand-out tracks: Coyote, A Strange Boy, Refuge of the Roads From the first track I was already questioning if I will like this album or not because there are things I like about this kind of style and things I don't. The instrumentals are soothing and at times jazzy, but they drag on in many tracks to the point where I kind of just got tired midway through a track as there wasn't much variety. The same can be said for the vocals as well, they feel tacked on at times and like they aren't even following the rhythm of the song (this is a popular singing style, but not something that I personally enjoy). With all that said, there are things to like on this one and it is a soothing record, but I can't say it deserves better than an average rating from me, considering how little of the tracks I actually liked.

Highlights: Amelia, Furry Sings the Blues, Hejira, Song for Sharon, Black Crow, Blue Motel Room Sophisticated sound paired with interesting storytelling which hides analysis of her current state of affairs... The performance isn't much vocally but I didn't mind it since the point of this record is what is said. Nice late night record because you need to focus on it, it doesn't make a good passive experience (almost fell asleep lol). Really requires you to be in the mood for it. First time listening to Joni Mitchell. I expected her to be more boring but I was surprised. Can't get the line "You and me we're like America and Russia" out of my head, it was so random and maybe even a bit cringe given the mood of the record. This is definitely a record worth revisiting when the mood is right.

This was ok. I thought when I was listening to this that I’m not liking it as much as other folk albums, such as Nick Drake’s. It’s manly because I like the music and I like Joni Mitchell’s singing, but the two never meet.

Not my favorite Joni

Quite pleasant, great to listen to at work for some ambience. Nothing to write home about tho.

This is an artist at the peak of her confidence, creating a totally singular project with world class collaborators. The music is crisp, languid, and twisty. Thoroughly contemporary, and in 1976 surely sounded like a version of the future. You could write a whole book about the lyrics, but suffice to say that they're poetic vulnerability, slices of a life on the road, cryptic missives from the mind of a Canadian drifter. I'll admit that I haven't given Joni a ton of time before, despite my wife being a super fan. This project grabbed me more than I was expecting, and I'm going to dole out a 4.5/ from me. Harmonics, texture, and contemplation.

Classic case of me enjoying an album the more I listen. I didn't get it with Coyote, the first track on the album, but after giving it my full attention I want to listen to this again and again.

There's much to marvel att the way her words put pictures of places, charachters and situations in your mind. Unfortunately, they're not people, places or situations that interest me. But if you are an wealthy American with nothing to do I'm sure it resonates. Music and vocals OK.

I’ve had this album for a while I hadn’t realised it was Jaco Pastorius on bass! So obvious now I listen again. Really good album.

I recently watched The Last Waltz for the first time, and i do like Joni Mitchell a bit more now. But still not all that much.

Das war in der Tat ein Meilenstein in der Musikgeschichte!

Here's a little secret for you. All Joni Mitchell songs are the exact same. They all are EXACTLY the same as the last. It's all one song (and I'm really tired of it) Best Song: Coyote Rating: 4/10 Stars: 2

Jaco's presence alone rates at least 3 stars. Always a cool, dark sound from Joni, sparse, if you will. Not my absolutely favorite of hers, but some wonderful songs on this one.

This was a beautiful way to start a morning. A strong album that suits Joni Mitchell’s strengths very well. Ethereal listen.

Chill. zygomatic

3.5. Beautiful songs but nothing stood out a lot.

Ok

Not for me. I think the music saves this from being a one but not digging her singing style.

There's something off-putting about the way Joni Mitchell alternates between speaking and singing. I just could not get into this album. 2/5

Love her voice, but never loved her stuff

Je vais être direct : j'ai passé une partie de ma vie dans les bacs de disques indépendants et derrière les micros de radios qui passaient du John Zorn ou du Joy Division. J'ai grandi avec la fureur de Nirvana et la lourdeur tellurique de Sunn O))). Alors, quand le projet "1001 Albums" m'oblige à me taper Joni Mitchell pour la énième fois, j'ai l'impression qu'on m'enferme dans une boutique de bougies parfumées avec une prof de yoga qui m'explique le sens de la vie en chuchotant. On m'avait dit : "Attends, "Hejira", c'est différent de "Court and Spark"." Tu parles ! C’est exactement la même soupe tiède. Certes, c’est "plus riche" au niveau des orchestrations — comprenez par là qu’elle a invité Jaco Pastorius pour qu’il fasse des prouesses à la basse fretless dans mon conduit auditif — mais le résultat est le même : je me fais chier comme un rat mort. C'est le genre d'album qui s'écoute avec un thé bio en regardant la pluie tomber, alors que moi, j'ai envie de larsen, de distorsion et de rythmiques qui te décollent la plèvre. Le bouquin de Robert Dimery nous explique doctement que Joni mérite qu'on s'attarde sur "l'étendue et le développement de son œuvre". L'étendue de quoi ? De mon ennui ? Le disque dure une éternité et chaque morceau ressemble à une digression interminable sans aucun but précis. On appelle ça du "folk-jazz" pour faire chic, mais pour moi, c'est juste de la musique de fond pour gens qui ont peur du silence mais qui n'aiment pas vraiment le rock. J'ai travaillé en magasin de disques entre 96 et 2000, j'en ai vu défiler des clients qui achetaient ce genre de musique en pensant acquérir un morceau de "culture essentielle". "Hejira", c''est mou, c'est propre, c'est poli. C'est tout ce que je déteste dans la musique de cette époque. On est en 1976, bordel ! Les mecs sont en train d'inventer le punk à Londres et à New York, et Joni, elle, elle est en train de philosopher sur ses voyages en bagnole avec une guitare qui sonne comme si elle avait peur de réveiller les voisins. Je lui colle un 1 sur 5, sans aucune hésitation. C'est la même note que "Court and Spark" parce que c'est le même combat contre le sommeil. Si vous voulez du génie, écoutez l'album éponyme de l'époque où elle n'essayait pas encore de réinventer le jazz sans en avoir les couilles.

DNF

utterly wonderful - Queen Joni with one of her greatest, lyrical, allusive, great melodies and arrangements, an album you can go back to again and again

Hejira by Joni Mitchell is haunting and beautiful. The arrangements, to include Jaco Pastorius on bass, are spectacular, very creative and chill. Her lyrics are classic Joni Mitchell, brilliant but not my favorite style. The readings of her lyrics are still fantastic throughout. I listened to it twice, on hi-fi and headphones. It was lovely, and I hope to hear it again sometime, but I probably won't be rushing to select it anytime soon. It's probably a three-star record for my enjoyment, but it's so well done that I feel compelled to bump it up to four.

Second album on the list we have on vinyl! Good album great instrumentation very relaxing

*Not a style I like *Didn't love much of the background music and her sing/talking was not enjoyable

Starting the challenge STRONG!! I looooove Joni Mitchell, and this is certainly one of her better albums in her discography, even though it's her eighth. The album heavily features Paco Pastorius (from Weather Report) playing a fretless bass, a surprisingly interesting combination, despite this still being a folk album, it brings some amazing jazz influences that elevate the album. OVERALL RATING: 5 stars FAVOURITE TRACK: 'Song For Sharon' LEAST FAVOURITE TRACK: N/A (Couldn't decide :c)

Antras albumas, kurį jos klausau, šitas man labiau patiko, gražus tekstas ir balsas

Amazing album great everything, I didn’t know what I was stepping into but it was love at first here

I have to give Joni some credit for being an original. If you look up her supposed influences and contemporaries, none of them really sound like her (with the exception of CSN). There are also not a lot of singer-songwriter albums in this vein that are considered classics like this one without any standout tracks. I don’t mean that in a negative way, it’s just clearly meant to be a full, complete album and not just a compendium of songs that happened to be recorded at the same time. That said, I still don’t like her style as a lyricist and it sometimes feels like she is in a bubble and the rest of the band is [gestures] over there somewhere. I listened to this twice, and there were times I thought I could give is a two and times when I thought I could give it a four.

A little slow for my taste

Not bad but not really into folk music

Meh all sounded like 1song

GOING IN: Not fussed really LISTENED WHILE: Afternoon, relaxing FAMILIARITY: Know the artist, not the album SKIP RATE: Played it straight through REPLAY VALUE: Might come back to it DISCOVERY CURVE: Slow burner this one ALBUM ARC: Pretty even, consistent VERDICT: Fair enough BODY'S VERDICT: Sitting nicely - Motionless appreciation My Rating: 3

To vare8hka

you can't go wrong with joni

What a great singer and songwriter! These songs have a unique sound that bridges folk and jazz styles merging her vivid stories with very interesting harmonic progressions. Very cool to have the distinct and very imaginative bass playing of Jaco on a few tracks which fits perfectly with her style. She’s got a few albums that deserve to be on this list so I hope they show up!

Great singer songwriter. I like her voice and most tracks on this album were good.

6/10

kind of like a less rock-y heart? not bad

Poetic lyrics, beautiful voice, some important themes and messages in there, but it was hard to get into the rhythm of it. Love Joni Mitchell, but this was a more difficult album to get into for me.

meh

Coyote - 5/5 Amelia - 5/5 Furry Sings the Blues - 4/5 A Strange Boy - 5/5 Hejira - 5/5 Song for Sharon - 5/5 Black Crow - 3/5 Blue Motel Room - 4/5 Refuge of the Roads - 5/5 Average score: 4.6/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I'm not really one for songs where they just kinda sing-talk over some music (with exceptions) and this is an album full of it. Not for me. Favorite Track: A Strange Boy

Occasionally kind of repetitive. I enjoyed “A Strange Boy” a lot, apparently a song needs few guitar chords and I’m hooked.

A pretty good album, I liked Black Crow the most.

Maybe I'm missing something but I just can't listen to Joni for more than a song or two.

*sigh* Joni’s good, I get it. Let’s move on please?

We've had a lot of Jonie in this challenge. I'm not able to pick up on significant musical shifts between the 3 so not sure why there are so many. This is a fine album but generally not my fave genre

This album almost made me cry - out of boredom at first, then out of annoyance and frustration. I guess it would have been too pedestrian and common-sounding to call her album "Exodus", so it had to be in Arabic to appear more profound. Considering the religious meaning of the word in Islam, it's like comparing yourself to a prophet to describe your own cocaine-fueled roadtrip... But whatever. Of course she's wearing a fucking beret while holding a cigarette (with a dick protruding from her pocket instead of a baguette). It proves she is a free and very distinguished woman. At least the cover is honest, since the music itself is just as vain and self-indulgent. At no point during this album can anything vaguely resembling rythm be found. Joni actually barely sings at all - as often with the self-absorbed sham that is the "singer-songwriter" genre, she's just mumbling adolescent pseudo-poetry and insignificant anecdotes in a monotonous off-key voice. And of course most of the lyrics are about herself, because she's a fascinating individual we all need to know more about... This was truly painful to finish for me. I'd rather listen to spoken word, or simply to someone reciting actual good poetry. 1/10

I didn't listen to the lyrics which should be the up of this songwriter.

Still pretty monotone and self-important. On part of Hejira, Pastorius’s bass brings urgency and depth that Joni Mitchell hadn’t explored before. That’s where the album works best. But overall, the songs feel loosely built and tend to drift by, which just reminds me that clear, solid song structures usually exist for a good reason.

Day 154 Not my style at all. Highlights Hejira

It was fine.

On first listen I prefer the music to the meandering vocals and lyrics throughout the album. I sort of imagine enjoying this at 'an evening with Joni" event where she interlaces the songs with anecdotes.

Amazing to unwind to, so glad to have finally heard this. Low 5

Hejira is an album that demands repeat listens, not because it's hard to enjoy but because on first listen it's so dense with musical and narrative detail that you couldn’t take it all in at once. There are wonderfully queasy, unnatural rhythms, particularly in the way Joni’s guitar interacts with the imaginative bass guitar playing that takes some time to fully wrap your head around. Then of course, her voice and vocal delivery is just sublime and the best of the three of her albums I’ve listened to so far (though I’ve yet to listen to Blue!)

My favourite album by one of my favourite artists. Incredible basswork by Jaco, great narrative storytelling from Joni and just a record you can live and travel with for years.

Some high highs (coyote and refuge of the roads are both great) but a few of the jazzier tracks grate on me.

Icon, but not my vibe. Maybe a 1.5 star. Standout: Hejira

Yeesh. What a bad album. It appears that Joni doesn't have much outside of her hits. I'll say 1.5, and I will round up to 2 because it wasn't quite bad enough to consider a 1. But what a woof album.

Solid 3

She's good but this also got boring.

kinda boring

Nice

Its a good folky album. Easy listening album but no wow factor. Feels plain and boring.

Kann man gut so nebenbei hören

This felt like a relaxing and intimate road trip with Joni Mitchell with her lavishing you in beautiful poetry over lush jazzy instrumentals. I loved this album. Picking highlights is very hard but Coyote and Hejira are up there for me.

Favorite Tracks: Coyote? Rating: 2.2 Joni's voice is pleasant, I liked the low-key jazzy vibes, and the bass playing throughout is so warm and melodic and sophisticated...that signature Jaco fretless sound. But man this whole thing just ran together into one drowsy, meandering, rambling listen. Maybe I'd feel differently if I had really dug into it with the lyrics in front of me, and perhaps Joni's songwriting/poetry might have blown me away. But that's not typically how I listen to music, I dunno. On the whole, this was unobjectionable but didn't really do much for me. I put on Heavy Weather by Weather Report after this, and enjoyed that listen WAY more.

Some of her best work, although her Mingus album is my favorite!

not gonna lie, this was beautiful but its not my type of beauty

Hejira feels like an album in motion, not just musically but mentally. It has that roaming, unsettled quality, as if every song is thinking out loud while moving on to the next place. The arrangements are sparse and fluid, built around bass lines that wander rather than anchor, giving the whole record a sense of drifting rather than arrival. It is reflective without being confessional in a neat or comforting way. What makes it compelling is its restraint. Joni Mitchell does not chase hooks or emotional peaks here, she lets thoughts unfold naturally, sometimes awkwardly, sometimes beautifully. The lyrics feel observational and slightly detached, like someone processing life in real time rather than shaping it into tidy statements. That honesty is powerful, but it also means the album asks for patience. It is not immediately inviting, and it rarely offers obvious payoff. For me, that is why it lands just short of a full five. When you are in the right headspace, Hejira is absorbing and quietly profound. When you are not, it can feel distant and elusive. Still, its atmosphere, intelligence, and sense of forward motion are undeniable.

This album didn’t really connect with me. I don’t think it’s terrible by any means.

Some gems no doubt, but doesn't hold together as an album as well as was hoping. Some over synthetic guitar takes away from the definitive Joni sound. Lyrics are killer though... from the forceps to the stone etc...

Joni Mitchell has a very iconic voice and this is a great album. The opening track, Coyote, is particularly strong.

A beautiful and peaceful album to listen to. Joni Mitchell has certainly lived a life, hasn't she? Coyote was the most captivating of the tracks, but the remainder of the album lived up to a similar standard. Great stuff.

I was really expecting to like this a lot more

I gave her album 'Blue' 2 stars. How is this one supposed to be any better?

Didn't measure up to "Summer Lawns" at all.

4.5 stars A sprawling album that unravels like a dream. The songs share a vibe and tone but also stand on their own. The music is jazzy and dreamy and it just glides. I really enjoyed this album. I’ve listened to this album once before but for this I really listened, and did so twice.

this is not the first time i’ve tried listening to this album but i still only like the song amelia. that’s a beautiful song but i still can’t seem to like the rest, which i really really want to

Fav: Amelia Beautiful and subtle, so close to perfection <3 Jaco Pastorius playing bass is just another reason this album is an unforgettable classic.

Someone else put it best: this is hippy poetry spoken over music without any real coherence to it. It's like a more pretentious and all together worse Bob Dylan.

Wow. Lyrics are clear and fun storytelling. I dig the beetles bass and harmonic lines. Production sounds modern. Fantastic opening with some less upbeat tunes thought they match their themes well in Amelia, Furry (unfortunately named), and the mysterious “strange boy” - a song with a guitar lick that seems to have inspired to Law and Order theme. The title song, Hejira brings back the fearless bass and more jazz in a more uplifted melody. Sharon tells a cool story of contrasting lives. And black crow is positively funky and doesn’t let up on the lyricism. Blue motel room is a solid homesick love song. I really like the parts where Joni slips into a talking voice and zips back into a singing register. Overall it’s smart, deep, and funny. No skips. Cool instrumentation. I could obsess over it and I see how it probably impacted later music. Laurel Canyon sounds really work for me. I want to give it a 5 for being beautiful, amazing music. It is. Maybe it’s not quite there yet since few of the songs opened up and evolved in a proud pop music way. It’s a strong 4 for sure though

I liked, but it’s not her best work.

++: Coyote, Furry Sings the Blues, A Strange Boy, Song for Sharon, Black Crow +: Amelia, Hejira, Blue Motel Room, Refuge of the Roads 8,5/10

Not Joni's best and the only reason why it should be on this list is because before you die you should hear some Jaco Pastorius and Coyote, the first tune on here, can give even civilians some appreciation for his immense talent. If you need help appreciating the magnitude of his contribution to this song, compare this version to the one on the soundtrack to The Last Waltz recorded around the same time - The Band are no slouches, either. But they ain't Jaco. It's not Joni's fault that Jaco was a one-in-a-generation stylist who expanded our collective understanding of the possibilities of his chosen instrument. It's like having Jimi Hendrix or Charlie Parker or Billie Holiday backing you up. But it doesn't help that the songs on this are a little boring. It creates space for Jaco to take over, as he does on Coyote. When I listen to this record, which I have done many times but not recently, I usually listen to the first tune maybe 3 times in a row and then let it continue but get bored with the next tune (Amelia) and soon after start skipping to the other tunes Jaco plays on but before that process finishes I often find myself moving on to other early Jaco recordings where he still can't help but dominate but at least they are playing better tunes, like Pat Matheny's thrilling debut, Bright Size Life. Which is exactly what I am going to do now. Bye!

Nice to know this is the last of the four Joni Mitchell albums in the collection. I've never been much of a fan of her style, and although I appreciate being exposed to her music through this project I haven't really warmed up to her any more as a result. I found myself constantly wondering as I listened if this is one of her best albums or one of her more forgettable ones; I also thought the album cover was a little too pretentious, although the inadvertent effect of her left wrist looking for all the world like a dildo emerging from the airbrushed highway is pretty entertaining, especially given how dramatic she's trying to look. In some ways the highlight of this album is the variety of luminary musicians playing as her backing band, especially Jaco Pastorius on bass and Larry Carlton on lead guitar on several tracks, although it feels like they weren't really challenged *or* unleashed the way they could have been. Songwise, "Amelia" and the title track were the better of the lot, largely because they better captured the road-weary theme of the album and because they didn't sound quite as cookie-cutter Joni Mitchell as most others on the album (e.g. "Coyote", "Furry sings the blues", etc.).

Coyote and Black Crow are the only songs I really like on this album. The others feel either a little "talky" or the music isn't as interesting, or a little of both.

I love Joni though this album meets the end of my true devotion. It still rates four stars because she’s a ripping musical genius, and “Coyote. “Song for Sharon” and “Refuge of the Roads” are keepers. The long songs and the sameness of the sound start to lose my attention. Her voice is starting to lose the high end and the songs are less engaging to me. After this she goes deep into jazz exploration that I never connected with.

Jaco Pastorius's performance on opening track "Coyote" should be enough to convince you that Hejira is a different kind of album. these are songs that wander and meander, much like the pilgrimage invoked by the album's title, and yet there's also such a focus and precision on display at the same time. surprising nobody, Joni Mitchell's explorations with jazz in the mid-seventies resulted in my favorite music of her entire career. her ever-lowering voice was now a smoky alto which transmitted some truly stunning poetry. the pristine layers of electric guitars from Mitchell and Larry Carlton, plus Victor Feldman's vibraphone, results in a transcendent listening experience on "Amelia". "Furry Sings the Blues" freely moves from one key to the next, but it always comes back to that beautiful A minor chord one way or another (Neil Young on harmonica!). it keeps going in much this same way; every song has at least one or two surprise chords, and Mitchell's melodies remain ever-searching. many of these tracks feature little or no percussion, which really adds to the soul-searching nature of it all. by the end, you really feel like you've wound up somewhere else. one of the most immersive albums ever created. it's great to pay close attention to, or you can just check out and let it wash over you. 10/10.

Kinda what you'd expect

I like Joni. One of the distinctive voices. Hejira is not one of her albums I was too familiar with. I did like it. I did I did. I didn’t really hear many tracks standing out much though, and really not sure it will get much more play around y house.

I think that it took me six weeks to listen to this in its entirety tells the story. I had to restart after: falling asleep (x3), headphones dying, a sudden need to stop listening and vacuum the house, lunch time, and one time I just got bored and wandered off.

What an ethereal album. I've never heard a song from Joni Mitchell, but I know that 'Blue' is a very highly regarded album, so I was very curious to know how does she sound, and I have got to say, she sounds really good. What I loved about this album is how incredibly ethereal it sounds. The main instruments, guitars and various types of bass, are all drowned in reverb. Combined with the little melodies, they create this very comfortable, relaxing and smooth atmosphere throughout the whole project. Every song goes for the same ideas, which makes the album very consistent. In addition, the lyrics are also entertaining to read, as they tell some interesting stories. My only complains with the record would be that, personally, it demanded an incredibly amount of my focus. Any time I got distracted, it would be very difficult for me to connect again. I think this is due to the songs being a bit lengthy for this style. Overall, a great experience.

I didn't take to this one as quickly as some of her other albums, but it's been growing on me.

I listened to this on a very cold day in Edinburgh whilst making mushroom soup. Incidentally, that’s exactly what the album feels like: hot soup on a cold day. Joni’s voice is its own instrument. I particularly liked “Blue Motel Room”.

her best in my opinion.

Joni Mitchell feels like someone I should be more into. I liked this and it was beautifully written but felt a bit... samey? Idk after five or six songs I kind of wanted a bit of a shake up in musical style. That said, it was still enjoyable.

Ni fu ni fa

More poppy

Ósköp ljúft og fínt. Ekki mikill Joni aðdáandi en hún er flottur listamaður.

furry sings the blues is a favorite, but i wasn’t super fond of the album

I'm going to blaspheme here, but i dont het the hype. This album is slightly better than previous as her voice seens to have matured and lost some of its reediness But the tunes and lyrics are still just bog standard.

don’t even get me started on this record. jaco’s bass work on these recordings provide a firm foundation for some of the most concentrated yearning in Joni’s discography. though a record like Blue or Court & Spark i return to more often, Hejira still hits on those long late-night drives home from a show or on tour.

Loved it

Demands your attention - especially lyrically, but also musically, with layers of precise instrumentation seemingly designed to enhance Joni's singing. Everything sounds bright and present and intimate. Furry Sings the Blues scared me off at first, but her take on the blues ended up being a standout. The title track has a haunting intro riff and the fretless bass is prominent again. It's a bleak masterclass in creating atmosphere. Blue Motel Room leans even further into the quiet, jazzy song structure. You could be in the room with her. Refuge of the Roads is a worthy closer, a wandering epic. The last bass notes fade away... but this leaves a lasting impression.

Not impressed, probably just not my genre...

You can tell that these lyrics came from journals; they're super meandering without being particularly clever. Mitchell's a great vocalist per usual and the music is pretty tight.

I never in my life would have listen to join Mitchel by choice..... This album is essentially perfect. Will listen again many times in the future.

This is my favorite album by her. I would listen to Amelia as I was flying, and itt would touch something inside of me.

uneventful

Nice instrumentals, questionable vocals. Songs don't take me anywhere and stay in one spot.

This isn’t for me but I can see the appeal

Not terrible but a little too talky folk music for my taste.

It's good... I think

I like Joni Mitchell’s voice but this less structured sound is not my thing. A good album to listen to if you’re a huge Joni Mitchell fan but otherwise there are albums of her that are so much better.

perfect in every way

I definitely prefer this one to "blue". Song for Sharon and Black Crow were particular standouts.

This was pretty, but somewhat boring.

Lots of interesting compositions and melodies. Nice coincidence for me that the first track is Coyote as I've been fixated with that song since I saw her play it with The Band in the old Scorsese doc The Last Waltz. Fucking great song. Great musicians on the album too. An exceptional job from all involved.

Just Joni. That is all

Joni Mitchell. An artist that I may never get tired of listening to. Let's just skip the intro stuff and get right into the review. I feel like doing that today. I don't know why. Hejira is fantastic. Blue is often called Joni's masterpiece, and the people are right in saying that. But who's to say that one artist can't have multiple masterpieces? Not me, that's for sure. I'm here to say that Joni Mitchell has at least two masterpieces. Blue is obviously one of them, but Hejira is not much worse. This album expands on the jazz-fusion thing that her past few albums had started to introduce and I love it. Joni Mitchell's always had good compositions on her albums, but they're really on focus and here and it's amazing. She even got Jaco Pastorius to play bass on some of these songs! I understand know why people call that man a master bassist. But of course, the writing is still the focus, and its as perfect as ever. The blend of storytelling, occasional humor, and deep introspection is the exact kind of thing that music like this calls for. Whether its the amusing story of a song like the opener "Coyote" to the emotional longing of the title track, there's always something to analyze and appreciate on Hejira. No weak spots. No bad songs. No filler. Hejira is outstanding. 5/5.

If Court and Spark was Joni's summer days album, Hejira is the summer nights album. There's something so moody and alluring about the instrumentation and production, combined with Mitchell's poetic lyricism and rambling delivery that creates a dreamy atmosphere. Hejira makes a strong case for my favorite Joni Mitchell album.

Great Joni Mitchell

Naw dawg.

4/5 great acoustic joni

Beautiful. Gave me wanderlust. All the sounds were so pleasing to my ears.

Lyrics about solitude/travel/aging can stand alone as poetry. Her tuned down guitar and Jaco's bass sound so soulful and reflective of one another. It ends on one of her signature deep introspections that pans out to the world. Even though her chords and lyrics are a mix emotional, her passion for life and beauty is ever present and leaves the listener with a wholly earned sense of contentment.

4.5/5

The Hissing of Summer Lawns Part 2, but luckily I still vibe with this

Ambivalent. C'est pas mauvais mais ça n'éveille rien en moi non plus.

Diiferrbt but cool

Another outstanding album from Joni. As always, Jaco's playing is next level. Wait until the generational stereotypers find out that fucking Boomer Neil Young is on this album, they'll have to write an essay about it.

Everything is samesy and bland. But, it's not offensively bland. So good job, Joni.

Lyrically very strong with the occasional burst of musical flourish. But simultaneously it feels a bit like slam poetry/storytime. Interesting but probably won't revisit.

OK, plätschert dahin

Best Song: Coyote I have a confused history with Joni Mitchell. On one hand, she has some great folk songs but, on the other hand, it is one song out of ten that falls into the great folk song category. The rest are mid, at best, and can be skipped. This is ok. It makes for decent background music but if I were to put on folk music, this wouldn't be in the top ten I would put on - it wouldn't even be the top five of Joni Mitchell. The first half is better than the second half. 3/5.

Still cant stand her.

I love Joni Mitchell—Blue is an all time favorite record. But Hejira just doesn’t maintain my attention for long. Perhaps it’s just my general disinterest in jazz, but most of these songs feel rather samey and lack the playfulness when Joni is at her best. I imagine I’d like it more if I spent more time with the lyrics, and perhaps I’ll reconsider this rating in the future.

Beautiful and sounds effortless in its grace. Musically moves and flows, gorgeous moving melody and astonishing instrumentation of a liquid jazz, shines and glows, is wistful and reflective and shines with life's hurt and love. She is caught in between, moving between connections, searching and fuck I feel that. The way she sings over this is stunning, esp with her lower register that really tugs at me. She is at her absolute best

Are these songs all just boring narratives sung over whichever guitar riff just so happened to be playing at that given moment?

One star for the line “boom boom pachyderm.” Two stars for the rest

Moody and atmospheric. Just not my mood and not my atmosphere.

I know that Joni is revered, but I just didn't care for this album. There are some interesting parts to this, but too often I would start to like a song and it would change tact towards a direction that wasn't nearly as good. Beyond this, while Joni's voice is excellent, the lack of a melodic approach hurt many of these tracks. It was just all over the place for me.

Widely considered the end of Joni's classic period (though I will defend Mingus more than most), this really is an album that rewards repeat listening. There's almost no hooks, just sprawling, languid and reflective songs which eventually sink into your brain. Favourite songs: refuge of the road, strange boy, amelia

Unique voice and lyric cadence that sounded more soothing the more I listened. Great voice control, but no song that was instantly catchy.

A sensação que eu tive ao escutar pela primeira vez...

Was a nice change to what I have been listening to. A great story teller

lovely, makes me want to drive through the desert

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

Why so much talk of planes? I'm just bored of Joni. I like Blue, isnt that enough?

Back by unpopular demand, Joni Mitchell.

I respect it, but don't enjoy it that much Will I listen to again: 2%

This album doesn't have any real singles, but it has VIBE for days.

Sometimes I wonder if I was too unfair towards Joni Mitchell and 'Court & Spark', the first album of hers my group got. I mean, I'm very certain I didn't engage with it **at all**, so, yeah, I probably was. But I still hafta wonder: why? Did it just catch me on a bad day? Was I just not in the mood for it? Would I've liked this record even if I had been in the mood? Would it have mattered at all? And in the meantime Joni's name has become one of **the** ones I bring up when I express my issues with 60's/70's folkie singer songwriters. I don't even bring up Bob Dylan's name anymore, and he's most people's poster child for it. So here I am, then, with the second Joni Mitchell album on this list — my second chance to try and be fair to her. I know for a fact I'm in a much better mood than I was the last time, for one. And while I haven't gotten **that** much better at deciphering poetic lyrics (my AuDHD strikes again), I've come to realize, it's not about getting the "exact" meaning. As long as I can pull some kind of feeling out of what's being said, that's all that matters. (Though, just in case, I **did** look up all the song meanings ahead of time anyway.) I'm much better equipped to deal with Joni's music this time. This album, as I've read, is Joni's "therapeutic road record." Apparently she'd been travelling a lot prior to recording, and so these songs basically amount to a scattered travelog of where she'd been and all of the feelings she'd been feeling. Y'know, jus' gettin' it all down and out on record. So, y'know, it's a little bit of a "lore drop" album, and I've found lately I'm not too much a fan of those ... but this thing came out in the 70's, so it's not like we're supposed to listen to this like 'The Tortured Poets Department', huh? And I think it's fitting that this is Joni's "roadtrip record," 'coz I ended up feeling the same way about this record like I do most roadtrips: namely, they're long and boring and, gawd, I wish we'd get there already. Look, I really tried here, but I found this album to be such an absolute slog. I read along with the lyrics, and there is just something about the way Joni writes them that puts me to sleep. Like, sure, there are one or two neat turns of phrases here and then — I'll grant her that much. For the most part, however, they're verbose in a way I simply don't enjoy. If I hadn't read what these songs meant, I doubt I'd be able to parse them. Seriously, if you didn't know, what would **you** think "Amelia" is about? And even putting aside "understanding" the lyrics and trying to pull a feeling, I didn't get anything from 'em either. I don't wanna ask her to write simpler because I'm a big dummy who doesn't get it, but seriously now. The actual music on this thing sure didn't help. The big point I always make when I express my issue with 60's/70's folkie singer-songwriters is that the music is only there as a necessity. They don't wanna just be poets, so they toss together **just** enough of a backing so it can count as music and they can count as songwriters. I've never felt that more than here on this album. There's a lot more going on than the simple acoustic guitar plink-plonking you'd expect from these kind of people, but it only amounts to a whole lotta gawdamm **nothing**. Sure, sure, there's blues and jazz influences, and that's cool and all, but I don't **care**. It's atmospheric and spacey and structureless in a way where I just can't even begin to care about it. While listening to this album I tried to get into the mood by putting on some footage of someone driving from Calgary to Edmonton. It'd been filmed on a particularly grey and cloudy day. And, y'know, it'd be one thing if it was raining, at least. You'd at least get to enjoy the water droplets bouncing off the windshield and the rhythmic swish of the wipers. Nope — it was just grey. And boring. And long. And unlike a regular roadtrip, I don't even have the music I actually enjoy to keep me company. That's about how this album turned out for me, in short. "Prisoner of the white lines" indeed. And I'll say it again: I **really tried** here. I don't want it to come across like I just don't get what she's doing. I do, I absolutely do — and that's the issue. Because I **don't** like what she's doing. I mean, for sure, I've heard worse, and I **want** to give her some kind of benefit. But ... I'unno. I just wouldn't be too surprised if by the time I finish another one of her albums suddenly I'm not as inclined to be kind. For your sake, Joni, I'm hoping that's not the case ... this road trip with you could be a whole heck of a lot better, though. Just sayin'.

Joni's got a nice voice as always, plus the instrumentation is pretty good for some folk. 4.5 bumped down to 4.

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.

This is my third Joni Mitchell album and I get why people like her but she just isn’t for me. I think it’s the syncopation between the lyrics and music. It’s like listening to spoken word. Also, I don’t think I’ve heard the phaser guitar effect used so much in one album since the last time I listened to George Harrison’s self-titled album (which is criminally underrated btw)

Overall: 8/10 I'm not afraid to admit that Jaco Pastorius playing bass on this album has skewed my rating a bit. Joni's voice is killer and all the other instrumentation is great and chill, but Jaco is on another level. Killer bassist. Joni'a biggest strength is also in her lyrics, which are great...but the vocal melodies tend to go all over the place at times. Fav Song: A Strange Boy

Some nice instrumentals, but the vocal parts sound like they’re just being made up as they go. Very undefined melodies. Every song sounds the same.

I tried to listen to Joni in the past (think it was Blue) and couldn’t get very far. I think it was the voice back then. This time, much more positive. Storytelling evocative lyrics and enjoyed the subtle guitar work. And the voice, nowhere near as annoying as I was expecting. Must be me getting old. Coyote was the only one familiar - seems like I must have heard that when watching The Last Waltz in my teens (getting into The Band). Tailed off a bit towards the end I think - or maybe just too long. Think I’d like to relisten several times rather than try another of hers. 3.6.

This deserves more listening time. Certainly not as immediate as Blue. I'm giving a 3 based on one listen.

The earlier Blue didn't do much for me, but I preferred this jazzier, looser, sprawling and meandering Joni. Some of it does veer a little close to soft/yacht jazz, but her quirkiness and charisma keeps this from ever becoming middle of the Road, and instead she stays on the right side of Laurel Canyon Boulevard.

Lovely storytelling, I just found the songs a bit “meh” in places. Preferred the more uptempo numbers. A solid, even upper end 3.

Joni Mitchell is such an incredible songwriter

Decent album. Miss Mitchell is one hell of a song writer.

This is, I think the third Joni Mitchell album I've gotten in the generator and I'm at less than 200 albums so far. For the most part these albums don't diverge too much from each other and I wasn't in a great headspace to listen to it. That being said, this album feels like it goes nowhere. I was barely perceiving when one song ended and another started. Joni Mitchell seems to write lyrics like she's going to do some spoken word but then at the last minute decides to sing it. It's just a flurry of probably personal and unrelatable statements. Not that that is an invalid approach but it doesn't resonate with me

not for me but appreciate

3.5 Coyote is an all timer, also liked Hejira and the final track. I bumped against the bass in some of the songs, too magoo

Not my favorite, but certainly interesting. I immediately had my attention grabbed when I noticed Jaco playing on the first track. Interesting arrangements, interesting vocals. Not my thing, but pretty decent.

Oh wowww. Funny enough I saved Blue by Joni awhile ago bc I’ve heard it discussed as a classic. I haven’t gotten around to it but this is also quite beautiful.

Too whiny

Joni

Beautiful voice! Absolutely stunning.

Another really good Joni Mitchell album. I really liked the compositions on this one, and there was lots of great fretless bass, played by Jaco I was surprised to see, so no wonder it's great. 4/5

Another great Joni Mitchell album. This one was pretty experimental but I was here for it. 4/5

2 out of 5 70 folk rock. Nice slow pace songe

"no regrets coyote!" — Sun Tzu, The Art of War fav tracks: amelia; coyote; song for sharon; blue motel room; a strange boy; hejira

I love the darker, maybe more highly produced sound to this album compared to earlier ones like Blue. The traces of songs from that album are evident in tracks like "Coyote" and "Song for Sharon", but with added elements like the strong bass with its noticeable electric sound. There's almost a glossiness on all of these songs (it kind of reminds me of the type of guitar sound or production method of something that Fleetwood Mac used around this time which is maybe why I like it so much). I can't quite put my finger on exactly what it is that she's doing but I really love how cohesive it makes the whole album feel. It almost sounds a little 80s to me for some reason? I might be wrong on that but I was surprised to see how old this is. Maybe she was just ahead of her time or maybe I don't know what I'm saying. Both are equally likely. Fav tracks: Song for Sharon; Blue Motel Room; Coyote

It’s a well-crafted album, just not my favorite genre.

Previously rated: #176 - Court And Spark (3/5) #266 - The Hissing Of Summer Lawns (3/5) #938 - Blue (2/5) ************************************************* Album #953 I recently had her most famous album, Blue, and I just didn't care for it. This one is about the same. Dull folk singer songwriter storytelling for 52 long minutes. Best track: Coyote

This woman is singing long tales about some stuff that I couldn’t be bothered to pay attention to. The only thing I liked about it was it gave me the vibe of a dark bar with an amateur band playing while dancing with someone like in the movies, but even then I would prefer it to be background music rather than actively listen to it.

Joni Mitchell is an acquired taste. Unfortunately, it is one I have yet to acquire.