If you’re anything like me, January 28, 2022, might invoke some tragic memories for you. On that fateful day, Joni Mitchell made the decision to remove her music from Spotify. This decision was made in solidarity with prolific singer-songwriter Neil Young, who removed his discography in protest of Spotify allowing podcast host Joe Rogan to spread misinformation about vaccines.
Finally, after two long years, both Young and Mitchell have returned their music to Spotify. As an avid Spotify user, this has been an extraordinary development. Gone are the days of having to listen to either of their music on YouTube. They’ve returned to my playlists, and I couldn’t be happier.
With Mitchell back on Spotify, I’m reminded once again of how intimidating her discography can appear to newcomers. Nineteen studio albums to comb through is daunting, so I’m here to help! If you’re intrigued by Mitchell’s music but unsure where to start, look no further.
It’s important to note that Mitchell doesn’t exactly have a binge-able discography. For this reason, I wouldn’t advise listening to all her albums in a single session, as her music isn’t designed for that kind of consumption. The best approach is to immerse yourself in her music—listen to an album or a selection of songs multiple times, gather how you feel, relate it to your own experiences, then proceed to the next.
- Start with Blue (1971)
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To begin to appreciate the depth of Mitchell’s artistry, you have to start with Blue. The singer’s fourth album came out when she was only 27 years old, yet she’d lived many, many lives by then – she became pregnant, placed her daughter up for adoption, declined a marriage proposal from fellow musician Graham Nash and began a relationship with James Taylor—all themes intricately woven into the album’s songs. In her own words, “The Blue album, there’s hardly a dishonest note in the vocals … I felt like I had absolutely no secrets from the world and I couldn’t pretend in my life to be strong. Or to be happy.”
Blue is a unique album in that there’s not a single song that’s anything short of magnificent. Mitchell has frequently been cited as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, and Blue makes it easy to understand why. The album goes through a whirlwind of Mitchell’s experiences and emotions. In Little Green, she laments her decision to give her daughter up for adoption, yet hopes that she has given her child a better life. In All I Want, she details the love and resentment that builds after being hurt by a romantic partner. The album’s lead single, Carey, is inspired by a friend she’d met while living in a hippie cave-dwelling community in Greece. Perhaps the most popular song on the album, A Case Of You, describes the beauty of a relationship after the love has been lost.
Blue is widely considered one of the greatest albums ever recorded – Rolling Stone even ranked it the 3rd best of all time. It’s impossible not to understand why after listening. So when starting a journey into Mitchell’s music, there’s no better place to begin than her magnum opus.
- Jump ahead to Court and Spark (1974)
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Moving straight from Blue to Court and Spark may initially seem like tonal whiplash. Whereas Blue is a folky examination into Mitchell’s mind and feelings, Court and Spark marks her return to Los Angeles – where the glitz and glamour quickly became her new lyrical muse and her folk origins shifted to include jazz elements. California, the second single from Blue, showed a more loving perspective of the state than what Court and Spark portray. Whereas California describes Mitchell’s desire to return to the creative climate there, she looks at the party scene in Los Angeles much more cynically.
My favorite on Court and Spark – and among all of Mitchell’s songs – is People’s Parties. She dissects the myth of celebrity culture encountered at Los Angeles parties, where everyone seems perfect outwardly yet struggles with issues internally. Meanwhile, Mitchell, feeling too awkward and insecure, refrains from adopting such a facade. Raised on Robbery is, sonically, dissimilar from most of Mitchell’s songs, skipping folk and aligning more with straight-up rock-n-roll. Unlike many of her other tracks, this song isn’t autobiographical. It’s instead told from the perspective of a prostitute trying to seduce a man at a wealthy hotel bar. It’s fun, catchy, and lyrically outstanding even with its goofier premise.
Court and Spark remains Mitchell’s most commercially successful album. It marks a turn in her musical career toward more rock and jazz influences and away from the Laurel Canyon folkiness of some of her earlier work.
- Preferred Blue? Try Clouds (1969)
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If the folk-rock, lyrical crooning of Blue was more your groove, I highly recommend checking out Mitchell’s sophomore album, Clouds. Her debut album, Songs to a Seagull, was released with little fanfare or exposure, but Clouds marked the beginning of her cult following and subsequent fame.
The most popular song on Clouds is arguably Mitchell’s most popular of all time. Both Sides Now had already been covered by Dave Van Ronk, Judy Collins and Dion by the time it landed on Mitchell’s album, and remains one of her most covered tunes. Both Sides Now describes how Mitchell’s outlook on certain things has changed as she’s grown – clouds, love and even life itself. It’s a piece of lyrical brilliance, and its relenting fame is unsurprising when you listen to it. Chelsea Morning had also been recorded by other artists (notably, again by Judy Collins) before Mitchell released it herself. Her apartment inspired the song in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City and describes the experience of waking up beside someone you love. It’s a sweet and romantic song – in many ways unlike some of Mitchell’s later work, but just as good.
- Preferred Court and Spark? Try Ladies of the Canyon (1970)
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Perhaps the jazz and pop influences on Court and Spark is more your thing. In that case, try Ladies of the Canyon, Mitchell’s third album. Though Court and Spark was undoubtedly the point in Mitchell’s career where she turned away from folk, Ladies of the Canyon certainly laid the groundwork for the genre shift, even pre-Blue. Even the title references the shift in genre Mitchell was aiming for, with Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles, being the epicenter of counterculture and rock music in the 1970s.
Ladies of the Canyon incorporates some of the most inspired themes on any of Mitchell’s albums. Big Yellow Taxi calls attention to environmental concerns Mitchell had, written when she noticed a massive parking lot blighting the expanse of Hawaii’s mountain ranges. It remains one of her most popular, and well-covered, songs. In Woodstock, Mitchell adopts the viewpoint of an attendee at the 1969 Woodstock Music and Arts Festival, expressing the sense of missing out through her lyrics, as she was unable to attend. She describes the journey of traveling to the festival, likening the event to the Garden of Eden.
I believe that Mitchell, somewhere in her discography, has a song that will speak to anyone. Her songs transcend theme and genre to truly create something for everyone in a way that not many other artists have accomplished. It’s no surprise that she’s been called inspiring by the likes of Prince, Bob Dylan and Taylor Swift, to name a few. Her work remains timeless yet is also somehow representative of the cultural tapestry of the era she wrote in, and its staying power across generations is a testament to her artistry. I highly recommend, especially now that her music has returned to Spotify, doing yourself a favor and giving her a listen.