Review:

on 2009-07-31 Rahgwood Said:

Joni Mitchell is one of the best lyricists of the past one hundred years. It is a shame that her name is not more often mentioned with the likes of Leonard Cohen or Bob Dylan, because she has a wonderful way of turning a phrase. Many seem to forget and make true the irony in her statement that she is "stoking the star maker machinery/ Behind the popular song." But hasn't she captured so much with which we can identify? Who doesn't "watch for judgment anxiously" or "[live] on nerves and feelings/ With a weak and lazy mind'? It seems that so much of her insight comes from her painful self-awareness of being a popular entertainer living off the judgments and whims of reviewers and listeners. Who could not respond positively to her when she "called out to be released/ Caught in [her] struggle for higher achievement." The lyrical power of her words with the beauty of her voice rings unused emotional timbres. Without Joni Mitchell, without "Court and Spark", are we not trapped "with the millions of the lost and lonely ones," but this album comes to court and spark the watch we keep on our hearts. Come and see the world anew through this amazing woman's eyes. She knows what is happening; she knows she's a genius.
Rating: 7/10