TS: Joni Mitchell - 'Hissing of Summer Lawns' vs 'Hejira'

She does that, though, she gets you used to being uncomfortable, to the point of gaining a taste for it. The first time I played myself her Mingus album, the group chorus on 'boogeyman' was so howlingly contrived I felt myself trying to draw a line, "no no no, this is objectively bad, I musn't follow her here..." A day later, sure enough, the verse melody had hooked itself in my head... listening to these records can be complicated.

i am sick of a lot of "Don Juan's .." but that's because i used to be hooked on it and play it all the time. Sprawling and again somewhat formidable at first i suppose. I like what Tim said about it feeling a bit like that beaut. bass-heavy funky stuff that you might have expected given the collision of the open spectrum of "Hissing.." with the bass-led fluid funk of her live outings, about how you wanted it to be another advance/continuation, and so were left maybe a bit dissapointed that the tunes weren't as good. I can relate to Sean's fondness for it, but since it was the first mitchell album i got into, i moved on to those (for me) better tunes.

"court .." has that then-new slick sound and immediate social politics and feeling of being "in on it" that i suppose meant it was lapped up by the public,
but "hissing .." shows she was prepared to then push things into those interesting sonic areas. I love its opening of "france kiss mainstreet"/ "jungle line", and even occasionally fantasize as to those songs being a pop-shot at the rolling stones. For me, "hissing .." is the one, even if it's promises have largely been left un-followed-up.

(so i never liked "Heijra" as it seemed too pop and easy and musically obvious, but maybe i should just enjoy the words. Anecdotal evidence from the vinyl second-hand stores of the '80s seems to indicate that it was bought and flicked, lots. "Hissing of Summer Lawns" was much more expensive to obtain. Did people hang onto that one or just not buy it ? and I love the funky "Hissing .." cover cf: the monochromatic "Heijra", yet both those album covers are accurate approximations of contents.)

i'd pick hissing (again)

"...and any eye for detail caught a little lace around the seams"

1. Court and Spark.
2. Hissing.
3. Héjira.
4. For the Roses.
5. Don Juan. (Some crap on it, but an album's worth of good stuff also.)
6. Blue.
7. Mingus.
8. Clouds.

I've heard some others but wasn't so struck on them.

I'm listening to it on headphones tonight, just for context.

The guitar tone at the opening of Refuge of The Roads is perfect.

it paints such a vivid worldview, complete with ambivalence, which enables me to...not overlook, but perhaps appreciate the more self-serving parts in context.

what's most impressive is the evident respect joni has for her friend. surprisingly there's not a strong sense that joni is insisting that she took the right path... just her path. but there's just enough contempt in there to make it interesting.

it's not too early here, it's 11:30 AM

On the whole, I see the lyrics of Hissing as always revolving around the same theme of free spirits of the 60ies trapped in the numbing dullness of 70ies suburban apathy. On Hejira, Joni would turn the mirror on herself and realize that she's also stuck in a dead-end.

I agree that it's not entirely successful in vindicating her; I suspect she knew that and that makes it even more involving.

Still and all, I like "For the Roses" the best; something about the sound of "Court and Spark" grates on me, it just seems awfully trebly or something, but the songs are classic. I have a problem with this kind of '70s production, I'm afraid--Tom Scott gets on my nerves in a major way. I'm not often in the mood to hear Joni Mitchell any more, I feel the same way about her I do about James Taylor, who I admit I enjoy for about two songs--then the self-involvement kicks in and I have to go listen to something else.

I'm not so sure. To me it feels more like an offhand dismissal of hipsterism as a solution to the dullness she describes in the rest of the album ("Jungle Line" could also be seen as such), or at least as a universal one. Neither attitutes, street hipness or glamorous frivolity, would work, if they don't stem from the person inside (70's belief in self-development and all...).
What's interesting in the song is that she doesn't really know herself what exactly would be the path for her. There's some doubt, and maybe some envy, when she dismisses her friend's obscurity as something for her.

uh no way. the lyrics and the music are intertwined anyway. summerlawns works here to, ah, whats that when the sum is greater than the parts? hejira is all parts. and rhythmically? lawns has jungle line. and centrpiece. and shadows and light.

Having to choose between her two best albums, I will go for "Summer Lawns", for its more varied sound. On "Hejira" that chorus guitar becomes a bit weary on you after having been used on every single track.

-- Geir Hongro (geirhon...) (webmail), February 16th, 2004 4:27 PM. (GeirHong) (link)

vs.

I prefer "Summer Lawns" for its somewhat more varied production. "Hejira" has interesting songs too, but you do get tired of that chorus guitar after having listened to it for an entire album.

-- Geir Hongro (geirhon...) (webmail), June 11th, 2004 4:12 AM. (GeirHong) (later) (link)

Stand by the lyrics bit - Summer Lawns has the rather enjoyable but trite morass of its title track to answer for. Hejira leads off with one of J.M.'s best lyrics EVAH. For me Hejira is second only to Blue.

NB I used to really represent hard for Summer Lawns but then I joined the Hejira cult

I think the lyrics on Hissing are generally pretty great, and they're often very powerful because - under the sumptuous imagery - they're pretty pointed. But I think she was mainly
working with tighter song structures on that album so there's nothing as, yeah, decadent as "Song For Sharon" or "Hejira" or "Amelia". I half-agree with Geir that the basic sound of Hejira is very repetitive (or, rather, consistent), but I happen to love its sound so I don't mind at all.

at the time it exerted a powerfully strange hold over me. and even now i cannot hear it any other way - it may be pretentious - certainly my love of it is grounded in mystery.

court and spark passed me by somehow. have to rehear that.

(shameful middle class admission: joni was the first "intelligent" woman i ever heard say "fuck")