Product Description

BLUE marks the culmination of Mitchell's early, traditionalsinger/songwriter period, and it is one of the very best albums of that genre. Though she was already beginning to experiment with elements of pop and jazz, BLUE focuses on Mitchell's skill as a folk singer, showcasing her reedy, expressive voice in duet with her piano or guitar. The arrangements on the album--which feature keys, dulcimer, bass, and assorted percussion--are spare and tasteful, so much so that it is easy to overlook their sophistication.
Yet it is ultimately Mitchell's songs that make BLUE such a moving and memorable experience. "All I Want" establishes the themes of wandering and soul-searching that define much of the artist's work, while "My Old Man" and "Carey" explore relationships with a keen attention to detail and emotional truth. Songs like "California" shuffle along with a sunny yearning, but the predominant mood--true to the album's title--is lonely, plaintive and stark, with "River", the title track, and "The Last Time I Saw Richard" ranking with the saddest, most moving songs in the pop canon. An album of great intensity and confessional depth, BLUE closed the chapter on Mitchell's folk period beautifully, opening the gates for the bold new work to follow.

Track Listing

1. All I Want
2. My Old Man
3. Little Green
4. Carey
5. Blue
6. California
7. This Flight Tonight
8. River
9. Case Of You
10. Last Time I Saw Richard

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #489 in Music
• Released on: 1988-01-11
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
Joni Mitchell would go on from this 1971 recording to make more popular, more ambitious and more challenging albums, but she's never made a better one. Working with minimal accompaniment (Stephen Stills and James Taylor are two of the four sidemen), the Canadian songbird summoned an involving song cycle of romance found and lost. Though Blue is an uncommonly intimate representation, it's also astonishingly open and gracious. Songs such as "All I Want", "Carey", "California" and "A Case of You" work equally well as poetry and pop music. --Steve Stolder

Customer Reviews

My world changed
I first heard the song Case of You in the film Practical Magic and thought how wonderful it was. I bought the film soundtrack (the whole music selection for the film was pretty good) and then i bought the album Blue to see what the rest of Jonis work was like.

I fell in love with the album so completely, that now i've moved to MP3 and sold 99% of my CD's i can't bear to part with this one. One of the others is Court & Spark.

The music is so simple, the strings, drums, and her voice- the most wonderful voice i have ever heard, conveying such emotion that the music and words combined make the whole album an amazing rollercoaster of feelings and thoughts.

I'd recommend to anyone who has ever felt any kind of emotion.

Why not say what you really feel?
I have read all the reviews of BLUE on this site and they all give 5 stars. This is only because there isn't a rating for "THE BEST ALBUM OF ALL TIME". In the years since I first heard Joni's heartstrings crying out I have heard many other albums - some great - but they are all pretenders. Blue just pushes all the buttons, ticks all the boxes and speaks direct to the core.

The most uplifting sad album of all time
This wonderful record is full of very sad songs about loss and the breakup of relationships. So the fact that it is one of the most uplifting and positive records I've heard puts it into my 'must haves'. A beautiful record which you should buy now.