Joni Mitchell: "Turbulent Indigo" Song by Song Thread

Nice, but I prefer Joni's tone.

 

I love Sire of Sorrow. It is, along with Slouching Toward Bethlehem, Two Grey Rooms and My Secret Place, my favorite of Joni's later works.

I also feel that in a way, Sire of Sorrow is a bit of a bookend (thematically and/or in its shape and tone) to Judgement of the Moon and Stars (Ludwig's Tune).

 

Interesting. I hadn't made that connection (to Judgement) with Sire of Sorrow, but I did bring it up in relation to the title track earlier in this thread. In the past year, Judgement of the Moon and Stars as become perhaps my favorite Joni Mitchell song and I do hear echoes of it throughout Turbulent Indigo. Maybe that's part of why I enjoy this record so much and have continued to like it even more as I dig deeper into it. I like when Joni writes like this, examinations of pain and artistry and individuality.

 

On my first two times through the album (2 weeks back), I found it really front-loaded, and it dragged to a grinding, never ending halt on this last track. I have warmed up to it but still feel it drags on a bit long and maybe not a stellar closing track. Still I like it.

To me, Joni is making a connection between herself as writer & artist to Job. The complaints Job directs to God sound similar to those she would wage against the fickle audience who might expect her to remain the same artist she was in the early mid 70s.

What is the next record in her canon we are listening to? All I know is it's one I have never heard before.

 

Taming The Tiger - I already listened ahead.

On first listen, TTT didn’t seem as accessible as Turbulent Indigo and Night Ride Home, but I’m trying to keep an open mind until I’ve heard it a few times.

I am enjoying TI and NRH almost as much as Joni’s 1970s albums and feeling sad that there's only a couple of albums of new original songs left.

 

I hope they receive a nice vinyl reissue sometime soon...hello, Intervention Records!

 

I hope there's some interest in that general comment session when we get there. I'm afraid I assumed too much and have been holding back from commenting on the 90s songs that appear later on Travelogue because I prefer the Travelogue version in every single case.
Cherokee Louise and this track in particular and wanted a chance to treat Travelogue seperately.

 

I'm pretty sure we can assume their conversations on this topic are very much better left under the veil of secrecy.

 

Songs should never set out to depress those listening. And it's a failed piece of work that does this unintentionally. What the artist cannot be held to, is hindsight. Namely, how little has improved in the world or in the particular listener in the intervening years. That is how, for me, a song comes to be associated with very bleak emotions; nothing better came after.
It's a very stark landscape of dark thoughts we have here. The Travelogue version, already posted here, 8 desperate years on becomes a differently shaded picture of her world; even darker and more inducing of sympathy still.

 

Sorry, Henry. I've gone back and forth on doing a Travelogue thread but I ultimately decided that it wasn't something I cared to dedicate the required time to doing. I will discuss it with you and everyone else at the end of the Both Sides Now thread though.

 

Love thus album, Parachute Woman. Ran across this touching and amazing live performance fro 1994.

Magdaline Laundries

 

I'm glad to hear it, @lemonade kid! Turbulent Indigo is an absolutely wonderful record. One of Joni's most poignantly written, and often very, very sad. "Magdalene Laundries" is a true heartbreaker, but incredibly empathetic.

This live performance is from the amazing 1994 MuchMusic Intimate performance Joni did, featuring questions from audience and over phone (and fax!) I linked the whole show on the first page of this thread if anyone wants to watch the whole thing, which is over an hour. It's one of my favorite Joni performances. I wish it were available on DVD.

 

Love this! My favorite from the record. Thanks for sharing.

 

Not sure exactly where this should go but The Guardian has a ranking of Joni Mitchell's albums today.

 

Fairly good list. At least you can tell the writer is actually familiar with and has listened to all of the records. I'd argue that he's got Clouds way too high (#2!) but I do agree that her first nine records are her top nine records. Thanks for sharing! I'm always glad to see people thinking critically of Joni's work beyond 'Big Yellow Taxi' and Blue.

 

I agree with the bottom three but I think I would put them the other way round. Although Chalk Mark does have "The Beat of Black Wings", but not much else memorable IMO.

Interesting to see that he/she shares my opinion that Shine is the best of her later works.

I have my quibbles with that list, especially at the top end, but still I think I would get along quite well with that reviewer.