Track Listing

1. Court and Spark
2. Help Me
3. Free Man in Paris
4. People's Parties
5. Same Situation
6. Car on a Hill
7. Down to You
8. Just Like This Train
9. Raised on Robbery
10. Trouble Child
11. Twisted - Cheech & Chong, Joni Mitchell

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2402 in Music
• Released on: 1990-10-25
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .37 pounds

Amazon.com essential recording
Painter-turned-folksinger Joni Mitchell had slipped stark saxophone solos into her prior album, For the Roses, and her singing had often hinted at a capacity for bluesier fare than her guitar- and piano-framed confessional ballads offered. None of those hints prepared fans for this sudden, expansive shift toward a much larger canvas--a sleeker, orchestrated pop style pulsing with jazz elements. Court & Spark found Mitchell casting aside her earth mother affectations and revealing herself as the thoroughly modern, thoroughly complicated woman she is; the songs sustained familiar preoccupations with relationships but replaced courtly settings and naturalistic imagery with recognizably modern locales. Deeply romantic, constantly questioning, classic tracks like the title song, "Help Me," "Free Man in Paris," "Same Situation," and "Raised on Robbery" display a more liberated Mitchell, ready to rumble with unbridled electric guitars (guest Robbie Robertson on "...Robbery"), even willing to poke fun at her own oh-so-sensitive rep with a hip cover of Annie Ross's hilarious "Twisted." --Sam Sutherland

Customer Reviews

The album on which the "real" Joni Mitchell fully emerges
The verdict of history is the "Court & Spark" is the album where the "real" Joni Mitchell let loose. On previous albums like "Clouds" and "Blue" she had played piano and guitar, certainly appropriate for her folk roots. But for this album Mitchell brought in Tom Scott's jazz-rock band the L.A. Express. "Raised on Robbery" was the first single released from the album and certainly introduces the "new" Joni Mitchell to the world. How many other songs do you know with hockey references? But notice how the title song opens the album with just the sound of a piano, making the listener think this is still the "old" Mitchell. Of course, "Help Me" and "Free Man in Paris" are the best-known tracks (I consider the latter the quintessential Joni Mitchell song), representing the fact that Mitchell's romantic side tended to be more popular than her quirky fun side (although who can forget "Twisted" once they hear it?).

The final pair of lines of the chorus from "Help Me"--"We love our lovin'/But not like we love our freedom"--may well be the most insightful into Mitchell's work. Maybe it is because I have been looking over sonnet forms lately, but it suddenly strikes me that Mitchell is one of the premier writers of couplets in American music. Think about it: "We are stardust we are golden/And we've got to get ourselves back to the garden"; "They paved paradise/Put up a parking lot"; "Stoking the star maker machinery/Behind the popular song"; "I wish I was a river/I could sail away on."

Mitchell is a singer/songwriter's singer/songwriter. This is why there are so many covers of songs like "River" and why David Crosby, Graham Nash, Robbie Robertson, Jose Feliciano, and even Cheech & Chong show up for this one. It goes without saying that the cover painting for "Court and Spark" is done by Joni Mitchell.

The hidden bittersweet beauty of "Court And Spark"
"Court And Spark" is most definitely Joni Mitchell's transitional album, from wistful and haunting songstress/writer to edgy, bittersweet visionary. At first listen, it's so musically melodic and catchy you can pass it off as great dinner music. But once the reality sets in at the appropriate time, this album rubs your face in the sand. There is cynicism here. "Trouble Child" is one of the most haunting and bitter songs I have ever heard. The title track is almost a last flirtation with her "Blue" period. "Help Me" is beautiful pop about blissful confusion. "Free Man In Paris" is great tale about a mogul's exaustion and cravings of personal freedom (Geffen, perhaps?). "People's Parties", "The Same Situation", "Down To You" & "Car On A Hill" are all self-explanatory. "Raised On Robbery" and her cover of Wardell Gray's (via Annie Ross) "Twisted" pre-date punk rock with plenty of attitude and "don't **** with me" vibes. I first had this album when I was nine, then got back into it during my early 80's punk era. Now I've rediscovered it with new eyes. She's up there with people like Black Sabbath and Iggy Pop...people that you wish you could hear more of on the radio (besides the hits), but these days are sadly underplayed. Make a difference and buy this timeless scripture. Then buy "Hissing of Summer Lawns" and "Hejira" and you'll round up a trio of highly appreciated and misunderstood 70's Joni Mitchell masterpieces. There's more to the story behind the lilt!!

Ahead of its time, and still a wonderful experience
If there is one Joni Mitchell album to own this is likely it. Her singing, writing, and playing are all terrific. This music marked a break with her past work and with the pop trends of the time, and alluded to her future work. Even today it remains a timeless album. People sometimes lament that Joni has never written another "C and S". Well, that come from then, no other time. Her other work has been different, and remarkable, it is just not the unique product of those incredible times, and one moment of an artist's journey as is "Court and Spark".