Blue
About this Album
Blue is Joni Mitchell's fourth studio album, released June 22, 1971 on Reprise Records. Recorded in January 1971 at A&M Records' Studio C in Hollywood (the former Charlie Chaplin studio lot), it was created during a period of extraordinary personal turbulence for Mitchell.[1]
The album's personnel is strikingly spare. Most tracks feature Mitchell alone on piano or dulcimer, with limited contributions from James Taylor (guitar on several tracks), Stephen Stills (bass and guitar on "Carey"), and drummer Russ Kunkel. During the same sessions, Carole King was recording Tapestry in the adjacent Studio B, occasionally competing with Mitchell for access to the same red Steinway piano.[2]
The album emerged from a confluence of romantic heartbreak (the recent end of Mitchell's relationship with Graham Nash, and a new and emotionally fraught involvement with James Taylor), the unresolved grief of having placed a daughter for adoption in 1965, and a psychological state Mitchell described as close to breakdown. She said she felt like a cellophane wrapper -- transparent, with no defenses.[3]
Mitchell called Blue "probably the purest emotional record that I will ever make in my life." Rolling Stone placed it third on its 2020 list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, the highest ranking achieved by any female artist. Pitchfork awarded it a perfect score, calling it "possibly the most gutting break-up album ever made."[4]
Songs
References
- Blue (Joni Mitchell album) - Wikipedia — Overview of album recording, personnel, and reception
- Her Kind of Blue: Joni Mitchell's Masterpiece at 50 - NPR — 50th anniversary retrospective on the album's context and significance
- Joni Mitchell Dug Deep to Make Her Dark Masterpiece Blue - Joni Mitchell Library — Mitchell's psychological state during recording
- Blue - Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums (#3) — Rolling Stone ranking and critical assessment