A Tribute to Joni Mitchell

by

Various Artists

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I came across this CD at a listening station at Virgin Megastore in Chicago. I LOVE this CD. To me the worst crime of a tribute CD is to impersonate the artist being featured. All of the artists on this CD bring their own strange beauty to these songs. My favorites -- Prince's A Case of You (I'm surprised some object his to take on this song. His falsetto combined with his multi-tracked lower notes is lovely). Bjork's Boho Dance (Makes the lyrics totally come alive; the clarity of Bjork's voice matched by the lyrics makes me appreciate Bjork's voice in a whole new way, this is a warmer more accessible Bjork). Emmylou Harris' Magadalene Laundries (Much has been said about this version; and I agree it is sad and heartfelt). Elvis Costello's Kingpin (I really like the smooth sound of Costello with the vibraphone -- very film noir). And all throughout Robert Hurwitz' musical production choices are stunning, surprising and fresh. Musical settings that are both modern and evocative at the same time. Joni should be smiling. This will hopefully bring her music to a younger generation, and lead them back to her originals. Also it's cool to have an instrumental cover in here (piano by Bard Mehldau).

This tribute was announced almost ten years ago, and it seems to have undergone a transformation since then. To be fair, there are some interesting additions such as the Sufjan Stevens and Brad Mehldau tracks. And Emmylou Harris is brilliant. But Sarah McLachlan's "Blue" has been heard before as has Prince's "A Case of You." Earlier reports indicated contributions from heaviweights like Steely Dan and Lindsey Buckingham. I sure would like to have heard what they would have done. Even more disappointing is that Joni's Hejira-Mingus era albums are mostly ignored - and that was her best music, in my opinion. As a final indignity, it sounds to me that too much compression was added in the mastering phase, and hence the overall sound quality of the CD is lacking in dynamics.