Track Listing

1. Morning Morgantown
2. For Free
3. Conversation
4. Ladies Of The Canyon
5. Willy
6. Arrangement
7. Rainy Night House
8. Priest
9. Blue Boy
10. Big Yellow Taxi
11. Woodstock
12. Circle Game

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3408 in Music
• Released on: 1988-03-14
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .22 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
Joni Mitchell's third album offers a bridge between the artful but sometimes dour meditations of her earlier work and the more mature, confessional revelations of the classics that would follow. Voice and guitar still hew to the pretty filigree of a folk poet, but there's the giggling rush of rock & roll freedom in "Big Yellow Taxi", and the formal metaphor of her older songs ("The Circle Game", already oft-covered by the time of this recording) yields to the more impressionistic images of the new ones ("Woodstock"). The dark lyricism of her earliest ballads is intact (on "For Free" and "Rainy Night House"), yet there's a prevailing idealism here that sounds poignant alongside the warier, more mature songs to come on Blue and Court And Spark. --Sam Sutherland

CD Description
Joni Mitchell's third release found her moving away from the wistful folk of her debut and CLOUDS, branching out into the progressive pop and jazz elements that would define her best work. The bright, poppy "Big Yellow Taxi", the album's single, is here, as is her epoch-defining "Woodstock", a soulful, stirring song about the 1969 rock festival that was later covered by Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. But the material on LADIES OF THE CANYON is uniformly strong, demonstrating the mature style and vision that made her one of the leading voices of the '70s.
On songs like, "Conversation" andthe title cut, Mitchell's lyrics begin to turn toward to the quirky, personal poetry of interior landscapes, focusing with a writer's eye on scene, detail, and the dynamics of human relationships. Her instrumental palette is broadened too,with colourful, textured arrangements that make greater useof piano, as well as strings, reeds, electric keyboards, and percussion. Some songs, like the sweet, chiming "The Circle Game", seem a bit nanve, but these are counterbalanced with darker songs like "The Arrangement", a stark ballad. In all, LADIES OF THE CANYON was Mitchell's first classic album, one that helped pave the way for its watershed successor, BLUE.

Customer Reviews

Canyon Life and the Heart Who Lived There
LOTC was my intitation into the world of Joni Mitchell. Fourteen years old, with romantic notions about Woodstock as it approached the twentieth anniversary, I searched out the cassette to hear what Graham Nash had described.

The "Woodstock" anthem was the catalyst for LOTC success, but it is by no means the only, or even best, tune this effort offers. "Morning Morgantown" sets the scene for a recording that basically takes the listener through a pastoral panorama. Along the way are some observations about the intrusion of art meets commerce ( "For Free"), manipulative triangles ( " Conversation"), Gender roles ( the stunning " Arrangement"), and spiritual quest ( " The Priest"). Of course, another career launcher, " Big Yellow Taxi", graces this album, as well as Mitchell's camp classic " The Circle Game".

This might possibly be the best introduction one could have to Ms. Mitchell's extraordinary canon. Then, working back to the first two, already exquisit work will be found. Proceeding forward, the genuis takes shape. LOTC is music for mellowing.

A great Joni album, but to be sure buy 'Blue' first!
Joni Mitchell's third album, 'Ladies Of The Canyon', sounds miles better than some of the music around today - 32 years after its original release in the spring of 1970.
The songs here represent the more folkie Joni, but there are jazz elements that would develop further on later works such as 'The Hissing Of Summer Lawns' and 'Hejira'.
"Morning Morgantown" is a pretty, uplifting folkie ballad and one of the highlights. "For Free" and "Willy" display the best of the album's ballads while "Conversation" is probably the most upbeat thing to be found and is the story of an impending love triangle.
"Big Yellow Taxi" offers an irresistible hook, "The Priest" is Joni working at some of her most eerie stuff, the classic "Woodstock" is just pure unique and the closing "The Circle Game" is another folkie tune, written in 1966. The wonderfully fascinating title track is another of 'Ladies Of The Canyon''s highlights.
The more forgettable tunes come in the shape of the Joni ballad - "Rainy Night House", "Blue Boy" and "The Arrangement" have trouble sticking in your head but they are not entirely useless, showing off Joni's songwriting brilliance well.
With all but two of the songs written in the 1960s, you get the feel of an earlier, folkie Joni Mitchell on 'Ladies Of The Canyon'. 1971's 'Blue' moved her from folkie to rock legend, something she would carry up with her through the following decades, constantly trying out new music.
Joni Mitchell is one of the best artists of all time, and this startling collection proves it!

Beautiful and just as good as Blue!
I love this albumn. In the eight years I have had it I have never tired of it. Morning Morgantown is a perfect song to listen to if you are feeling low, the melodies are full of emotions, mostly with a melancholy feel to them but this is not depressing music, standout tracks are Willie, For Free and the haunting Blue Boy.