Joni Mitchell Shin

The acclaimed trumpeter has been inspired by the quirky, romantic, disillusioned and joyful tunes written by one of the greatest songwriters of the past 50 years, Joni Mitchell. Steele’s approach is to savour the simplicity; not stray too far from the melody; look for beauty; and create tunes that glow and sparkle with warmth and affection.

The 5-CD collection includes a 40-page booklet that features many unseen photos from Mitchell's personal collection as well as new liner notes featuring conversations between writer/filmmaker Cameron Crowe and Mitchell, who recently spent a couple of Sunday afternoons together discussing her archives. Crowe will continue to provide liners for future releases in the series.

Like most live albums, this two-record set was a profit-taking release on which the artist re-presented many of her old songs for a new acceptance now that she had a larger pop audience. Backed by the pop-jazz ensemble the L.A. Express Mitchell reprised the best from her first five albums, pointedly ignoring Court and Spark, and including two new cuts, "Love or Money" and "Jericho."

Volume 2 in the Joni Archive series - this one explores the period leading up to Blue through nearly six hours of unreleased home, studio, and live recordings. The tracks on Archives Vol. 2 have been sequenced chronologically to follow Mitchell in real time through one of the most creative periods of her career. The collection uncovers several unreleased Mitchell originals, including “Jesus” recorded in 1969 at her friend Jane Lurie’s New York apartment in Chelsea, which also served as the setting for the song “Chelsea Morning.” Other highlights include Mitchell’s performance at Le Hibou Coffee House in Ottawa on 19 th March 1968 that was recorded by Jimi Hendrix and a concert at the Paris Theatre in London on 29 th October 1970 that was broadcast on the BBC. The latter includes several songs destined to appear on Blue the following year: “Carey,” “River” and “My Old Man.”

Sad, spare, and beautiful, Blue is the quintessential confessional singer/songwriter album. Forthright and poetic, Joni Mitchell's songs are raw nerves, tales of love and loss (two words with relative meaning here) etched with stunning complexity; even tracks like "All I Want," "My Old Man," and "Carey" – the brightest, most hopeful moments on the record – are darkened by bittersweet moments of sorrow and loneliness. At the same time that songs like "Little Green" (about a child given up for adoption) and the title cut (a hymn to salvation supposedly penned for James Taylor) raise the stakes of confessional folk-pop to new levels of honesty and openness, Mitchell's music moves beyond the constraints of acoustic folk into more intricate and diverse territory, setting the stage for the experimentation of her later work. Unrivaled in its intensity and insight, Blue remains a watershed.

Brilliant album from Joni Mitchell confirming her status as one of the best songwriters around.