Joni Mitchell: Blue (180g, 2021 remaster) [RHINO]

Why you'll love it

This is the 180-gram pressing of the 2021 remaster, made for the album's 50th anniversary. Blue topped NPR's list of the 150 greatest albums made by women and sits near the top of every greatest-albums list going, the Canadian songwriter at the height of her powers.

This edition

• 180g vinyl
• 2021 remaster for the 50th anniversary
• Single LP, 10 tracks

About the album

There are confessional albums, and then there's Blue. Written and produced by Joni Mitchell herself and recorded at A&M Studios in Hollywood over the winter of 1970 and '71, in the wake of her breakup with Graham Nash and in the thick of a romance with James Taylor, it's a record of almost unbearable openness: just Joni, her acoustic guitar, piano and Appalachian dulcimer, and a handful of friends (Taylor and Stephen Stills among them) adding the odd touch.

Every song is a classic. "A Case of You" might be the greatest love song ever written by a Canadian, "River" became a Christmas standard almost by accident, "California" is the sound of homesickness in sunshine, and "Carey" swings with a bohemian Greek-island grin. Mitchell bristled at the "confessional" label, but half a century on, Blue still feels like being let in on a secret.

Also at Kops: more Joni Mitchell on vinyl · browse CDN Pop / Rock

Tracklist

Listen

On Rhino, a reissue of the 1971 album.