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Joni Mitchell, Court and Spark


Chicago_Pete

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Of all the female singer/songwriters, Joni Mitchell has ALWAYS been my favorite! Court and Spark is a great effort by her. If you look at her albums in chronological order you will see that she progressed from basically just her own voice and piano and/or guitar in the beginning to the addition of more and more varied instrumental composition and more complex arrangements, such as in Blue and For the Roses, but by the time she came out with Court and Spark, she had pretty much incorporated a most complete arrangement catalogue on that album. Her singin style is unique to say the least, and doesn't always show off her extremely large vocal range very well. Of all the more recent artists of the last twenty or so years, the one which reminds me most of Joni is Jewel...although their singing styles are different, their uniqueness in songwriting and instrumental/vocal presentations have a similarity in that uniqueness. Joni is a Canadian, and Jewel is an Alaskan...maybe the farther northern reaches of this contient tend to produce more uniqueness of style!?? The only real complaint I have ever had about Joni's music is that I feel she overdoes the "lost love" routine, since so very many of her songs have those types of lyrics.

"Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got til it's gone...they pave paradise, put up a parking lot!"

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Of all the more recent artists of the last twenty or so years, the one which reminds me most of Joni is Jewel...although their singing styles are different, their uniqueness in songwriting and instrumental/vocal presentations have a similarity in that uniqueness. 

Check out Devon Sproule. I think you'd like her too. Less glam and more music than Jewel IMHO, very Joni like in her unique folk/rock/bluegrass sound and songwriting.
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Mine is an NM copy from the original Reprise. In what ways does the 180g Rhino sound better? I may have to spring for it as "Blue" is my fav JM album for sure.

Mark,

It beats it in every way possible. More detail, transparency, clarity, tightness of bass, depth of soundstage, imaging, etc., etc., etc. You hear stuff you've never heard in the 1,000 times you've played the album. You know, the usual stuff a great reissue brings to the table. California is just amazing. The improvement in vocals alone are worth the price.

Buy it Mark! You won't be disappointed! What else do you have to do with your retirement money? hahaha

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I have a number of original pressings that "spank" the reissues. A lot of original Columbia 2 and 6 Eyes come to mind. I just sold my original NM 6 Eye Stereo pressing of Miles Davis, Kind Of Blue (bought for $15, sold for $292). The original blew away the new 180 gram reissue but the money was just too good.

Blue is NOT one of those. The reissue is WAY better. I have about 4 originals, none of which are in great condition but you can tell anyway.

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I suppose you just need to go lp by lp....but I found that most of the jazz originals are the best (well the AP 45's are awesome)

Rock/Pop it's hit or miss....Santana Abraxis original is better than any of the re issues IMO.....but JW Famous Blue Raincoat 45 is so good I want to cry every time I hear it. BLAH BLAH

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I borrowed Larry's copy of Famous Raincoat over the weekend and I must say I wasn't overly impressed. I'm a big fan of the new 45 reissues but this one, while good, certainly didn't make me cry. Maybe I would have shed a tear or two had I actually shelled out the bucks for that LP instead of Larry. [:'(]

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I borrowed Larry's copy of Famous Raincoat over the weekend and I must say I wasn't overly impressed. 

Lots of folks love this recording but for me I was never wowed by the music so I guess I've always wondered what the fuss was about. But then I've heard many say that about recordings I hold near and dear. Great to hear about the Blue reissue being the real deal though.
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Wow thats a shocker to me.....the copy I have is suburb...dead quiet, inky black quite passages, very dynamic, holographic....you know the drill.....

I have actually returned and exchanged 2 AP blue note 45s because they weren't up to snuff and the replacements were worlds better.....Acoustic Sounds knew something about certain serial numbers in the run......I've never had a problem with the Music Matters BN 45's though.......Same thing on 200 gram Kinda Blue...1st copy was awful, 2nd wasn't great but acceptable

you never know

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