Product Description

Joni Mitchell draws freely on her heroes and influences, and in her turn inspires and informs the work of countless others; thus are the genes of our musical heritage passed on tonew generations. The love of jazz glimpsed in COURT AND SPARK and THE HISSING OF SUMMER LAWNS is wanton in HEJIRA. The arrangements are loose and the melodies seductively free-flowing. The lyrics, too, have broken free of rigid verse and rhyme structures and tend towards prose poetry. The cloak of introspection that weighs down on much of her work is lighter here; though far from mainstream. The chiming flanged guitar throughout, is inspired.

Track Listing

1. Coyote
2. Amelia
3. Furry Sings The Blues
4. Strange Boy
5. Hejira
6. Song For Sharon
7. Black Crow
8. Blue Motel Room
9. Refuge Of The Roads

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12704 in Music
• Released on: 1987-08-21
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
After the expanded instrumental scale and sonic experimentation of Court and Spark and The Hissing of Summer Lawns, Joni Mitchell reverses that flow for the more intimate, interior music on Hejira, which retracts the arranging style to focus on Mitchell's distinctive acoustic guitar and piano, and the brilliant, lyrical bass fantasias of fretless bass innovator Jaco Pastorius. Known for his furious, sometimes rococo figures beneath the music of Weather Report, Pastorius is tamed by Mitchell's cooler, more deliberate ballads; these meditations coax a far gentler, subdued lyricism from Pastorius, whose intricate bass counterpoints Mitchell's coolly elegant singing, especially on the sublime "Amelia," which transforms the mystery of Amelia Earhart into a parable of both feminism and romantic self-discovery. This isn't Mitchell at her most obviously ambitious, yet the depth of feeling, poetic reach and musical confidence make this among the finest works in a very fine canon. --Sam Sutherland

Customer Reviews

Why "Vinyl"?
I'm not a huge singer/songwriter fan but I particularly like the awesome beauty of the backing track provided by such notables as Larry Carlton and Jaco Pastorious reminiscent of the kind of jazzy mood that would be created by Steely Dan on "Aja" and "Gaucho".What I can't understand is why Amazon have called this particular edition "Hejira"(Vinyl).The cataloguers don't want to know because I can't prove it on the web but this edition is nothing more than a 1987 CD reissue of the 1976 vinyl album and there's no trace of vinyl.I do wish one or two of the supplers would point this out to Amazon as I'm sure many of us are being misled to believe that this edition is a 12 inch vinyl LP.

Life becomes a Travelogue
This album was released eight years before I appeared on this earth. I am now 23 years old, and this album means a lot to me. Joni Mitchell's lyrics are effortlessly beautiful, and this album has rapidly taken over 'Blue' as my favourite Joni Mitchell album. It's more than music, there's something timeless and ethereal about this gem that grows and grows with every listen. It's very difficult to describe the effect of the landscapes, emotions and images that are conjured up here. The best way I can describe it is as a musical journey. It's about travelling around the world only to find yourself. The lyrics and the music are fluid and unrestricted, conveying this wonderful essence of travel and discovery.
Sometimes when I listen to this album I wish I was growing up at the time when it was orginally released. When music was actually music. Some modern day singer/songwriters such as Tori Amos and Bjork may come close to turning their music into an art form, and have some success. But none of them can surpass Joni Mitchell. Buy and have your eyes opened to what music can be.

In a highway service station
Over the month of June
Was a photograph of the earth
Taken coming back from the moon
And you couldn't see a city
On that marbled bowling ball
Or a forest or a highway
Or me here least of all
You couldn't see these cold water restrooms
Or this baggage overload
Westbound and rolling taking refuge in the roads...

Comfort In Melancholy (nevertoolate #001)
1976 saw the release of an album which continues to hold a solid
place among the most enjoyed and revered albums in The Wolf's
collection.

Never a stranger to confessional songwriting, in 'Hejira' Ms Mitchell
arrived at what perhaps remains the pinnacle of her creative career.

These nine songs reach across the void between the deeply personal and a kind of sublime universality.

Songs of lost love; fragile hope; the ever-present tension between
committment and flight; the deep desire for some kind of transcendent
reconciliation with what it might be to be wholly human.

The contribution of her fellow musicians, notably bassist Jaco Pastorius, is almost organically integrated into the breath and bones of this extraordinay music.

Ms Mitchell's voice reaches a warmth of tone and maturity unmatched by her peers. Her flirtations with jazz have not been wasted.
We find them here lovingly absorbed in performances of commanding emotional power and integrity.

Great music was never better than this.

'Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light'.

Dylan Thomas