“Hejira” by Joni Mitchell - album review

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TJR says

The 8th album from the newly turned 33-year-old, considered by critics and fans as one of her very best. The album's name stems from the Hegira i.e the journey of exile taken by the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his followers from Mecca to Medina, in the year 622, after being warned of a plot to assassinate him. Somewhat fittingly, the album was written during or after three long journeys she took in late 1975 and the first half of 1976. Joni herself sees the album as being really inspired: “there is this restless feeling throughout it… the sweet loneliness of solitary travel. I suppose a lot of people could have written a lot of my other songs, but I feel the songs on Hejira could only have come from me.” Continuing an ongoing trend in her work, the album moves further away from her folk roots, although the light-of-touch songwriter style remains the play, informed by jazzy flourishes. Speaking of her previous works with session men, Joni said: “There were grace notes and subtleties and things that I thought were getting kind of buried”. Playing a part in combatting this, her new love, Jaco Pastorius, brings his fretless bass to the party. Er, yeah, smooth. That said, it's Chuck Domanico's double bass on “Blue Motel Room” which steals my utmost affection, a song about wanting to rekindle a love on the rocks: “Tell those girls that you've got German Measles, honey tell 'em you've got germs.” Despite our building musical differences I'm still not immune to Joni's charms.

The Jukebox Rebel
02–Mar–2016

Tracklist
A1 [05:01] 6.1.png Joni Mitchell - Coyote (Joni Mitchell) Jazz
A2 [06:01] 5.5.png Joni Mitchell - Amelia (Joni Mitchell) Folk Rock / Americana
A3 [05:07] 5.1.png Joni Mitchell - Furry Sings The Blues (Joni Mitchell) Jazz
A4 [04:15] 5.4.png Joni Mitchell - A Strange Boy (Joni Mitchell) Blues / Rhythm n Blues
A5 [06:42] 4.7.png Joni Mitchell - Hejira (Joni Mitchell) Jazz
B1 [08:40] 4.6.png Joni Mitchell - Song For Sharon (Joni Mitchell) Jazz
B2 [04:22] 5.2.png Joni Mitchell - Black Crow (Joni Mitchell) Cerebral Pop
B3 [05:04] 6.4.png Joni Mitchell - Blue Motel Room (Joni Mitchell) Jazz
B4 [06:42] 4.1.png Joni Mitchell - Refuge Of The Roads (Joni Mitchell) Jazz

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