Great to see these coming back to print. Song To A Seagull and Clouds were not reissued when Rhino did the excellent editions a while back, which was a bit of a mystery to me. I'd love to see her entire catalog in print, so i don't get the comments about "why no extras", it appears to me there are always two different projects; studio recordings in print, and then releasing what is in the vaults. I don't see why we shouldn't have both. I'd assume after the box sets, the individual albums will be made available separately too. Cover all the fan preferences.
That whole era, 2007-2010(ish) Rhino was knocking it out of the park with Joni, Van, JT, so many great reissues.
I don't have any problem with the original mix of the first album but I'm looking forward to hearing the new mix.
also from Fremer: "Both RTI and Optimal are pressing the LPs for different global regions." So that means it's possible the USA versions pressed at RTI might have decent jackets. Other recent Rhino sets done exclusively in Europe tend to have thin direct board jackets, like the James Taylor WB box, that was a bit of a disappointment with regard to packaging.
So Fremer’s reporting that Bernie’s cutting everything bar StaS AAA. Am I mistaken, or had I heard that Grundman had stopped cutting directly from tape?
It's not that many compared to some albums like Who's Next, Kind of Blue or Never Mind The Bollocks. Am I right in thinking some of Joni's albums have only ever had one widely available mastering outside of specialist audiophile releases?
that is great question, and i'll do my best, but if i err, please, someone correct me: there is the 10 CD set 'the studio albums" which is up to and including 'mingus'. the first 4 albums have had 4 CD releases, with 'blue' having 5 (the DCC) court and spark has had 5 also, with the DCC 'summer lawns', 'hejira' and 'don juan' did get the HDCD treatment. so they have 3 releases each. mingus is the bastard child i am not really sure about, maybe someone else can help out with that one. the 4 geffen albums have only been released twice (individually and in the geffen box set) as far as i know ( i don't think they got the HDCD treatment, although i don't know whether the HDCD's stopped at 'don juan' or 'mingus") and to the best of my knowledge the last 5 have only been released once on CD and i have no idea about vinyl releases after the 80's.
I am much more interested in the Archives Vol. 2 particularly if it contains unreleased material that may be a revelation to us for the 68-71 period. For decades I have read of her dissatisfaction with Song To A Seagull's mix; musically and vocally I enjoy it for what it is. When the remixed album is released I will be very eager to read the comments by you all that buy it; I could see getting that if it is truly a revelation. I am very happy with my vinyls of the Reprise albums, and the cd versions of them I have are fine to me. But I can be persuaded to invest in updates if they are meaningful.
Song To A Seagull does sound a bit odd. I have an original Canadian vinyl pressing, and the volume level is very low - especially the vocals. It sounds unbalanced - like the guitar is very present in the mix, but the voice is somewhere else. Hard to explain, but I suspect this is part of the issue that prompted a remix.
Wonder Song To A Seagull will get a separate release, I’ve never really had any issue with it, I instantly get lost in the beauty of the songs and Joni’s young voice.
I usually wave off all these re-releases but these got me HYPED, especially if Joni herself is involved ALMOST makes me wanna buy a turntable
£120 for 4 albums. No wonder the vinyl resurgence is being hyped to the max. I don’t know if I’ll pay that.
The 2021 remaster of Case of You is on Spotify for those interested. I'll be ordering the vinyl box if, for nothing else, to have nice quiet backgrounds on Clouds and Ladies of the Canyon. The used copies of those LP's I've picked up always have some crackle even when graded and visually NM.
I have 3 CD versions of Blue and the HDCD is the best sounding. I also have the 10 CD box set of the first 10 albums and most of those just sound OK but not ideal. Anyway, I think I will be buying this 4 CD box which hopefully are definitive versions of these important albums.
I have heard the HDCD version of Blue and even Steve's DCC master, and I have to say the 24/192 HDTracks version (I think from 2013?) beats them all. Something about it makes it sound like you're not listening to a tape recording, it's like she's in the room
This ignores the HDCD remasters which were released around 2000 (as has now been mooted above) - I have several, bought on a trip to Boston in early 2004. Joni Mitchell Blue For the Roses Court & Spark Hissing Hejira Mingus At the time I was running a Naim CD player (CDX2) which was HDCD-empowered and thus had the full benefit of these. On a non-HDCD player they can sound edgier than the 'normal' ones. I have the original CD of 'Joni Mitchell' and it still sounds fine anyway.
Hi Guys! Hm, here in Europe they can be preordered for: 4 LP set = 128€ and 4 CD set = 43€. No way I'm going to pay 128€ for the LP set, but 43€ for the 4 CD box sounds ok. Bye Andrea
Sorry, completely missed that. I meant vinyl reissues for the albums that were only released originally, or, post-1991, not at all on vinyl (excepting the recent issue of "Shine")
Crazy. At the exchange rate, it's £65 on Amazon Canada. $113 cdn https://www.amazon.ca/Reprise-Albums-1968-1971-Vinyl/dp/B091WCSTL8
