Joni Mitchell-Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter

This is a double album which came out in December of ’77. I remember buying this in ’84 or ’85 when I was living in Hull. I didn’t buy many records the two and a half years I lived there because the two places I knew of to buy music were in Quincy and at the Hanover Mall, both about a half hour drive away. This is her most experimental record going further with the Jazz sound of her last record Hejira. Jaco Pastorius again plays bass on all songs on the first record with the other members of Weather Report also contributing. The first three songs are OK with Jaco’s booming bass.”Paprika Plains”, at 16 minutes, takes up all of side two with interesting instrumental breaks with Joni improvising some piano,Jaco’s bass, and Wayne Shorter playing sax. There is also some orchestration. “The Tenth World” is an instrumental example of World Music featuring Latin percussion and some vocals in another language. The percussion leads into “Dreamland”,the only instruments besides Joni’s singing on this song, with some help from Chaka Kahn. That and “Off Nigh Backstreets” are the only two songs on the record I really liked.

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