The Depths · All albums

Blue

Joni Mitchell · 1971

• Scores: Noise 1, Unease 1, Complexity 1 (each 1 to 5)
• Genre: Folk, Singer-songwriter
• Mood: intimate, raw, tender
• Sound: acoustic guitar, Appalachian dulcimer, piano, confessional lyrics, sparse arrangements

Joni Mitchell produced this at A&M Studio C in Hollywood in early 1971, with Henry Lewy engineering. Most songs were written on a custom-built Appalachian dulcimer she bought at the 1969 Big Sur Folk Festival, and the arrangements are sparse: James Taylor on acoustic guitar, Stephen Stills on Carey, Russ Kunkel on drums and Sneaky Pete on pedal steel. This Flight Tonight uses a low open A-flat tuning. David Crosby called it the best singer-songwriter record ever made.

Track list

1. All I Want (3:32)
2. My Old Man (3:33)
3. Little Green (3:25)
4. Carey (3:00)
5. Blue (3:00)
6. California (3:48)
7. This Flight Tonight (2:48)
8. River (4:00)
9. A Case of You (4:20)
10. The Last Time I Saw Richard (4:13)