JONI MITCHELL – CLOUDS LP – Nr MINT/EXC+ A1/B1 UK 1971 FOLK ROCK

Joni Mitchell – Clouds
(Reprise Records  1971  RSLP6341/K44070)
Matrix No’s: A1/B1 – UK Pressing
“RSLP6341” on sleeve – “K44070” on labels

Textured Sleeve in Excellent condition
– some wear to edges, sticker discolouration mark top right & back cover has small tear in bottom left corner

Vinyl in Nr MINT/Excellent+ condition
(there are some surface marks visible on the vinyl when held up to the light but they don’t affect the sound quality apart from some light pops/crackles)

Roberta Joan “Joni” Mitchell, CC (née Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and painter. Rolling Stone called her “one of the greatest songwriters ever”, and AllMusic has stated, “When the dust settles, Joni Mitchell may stand as the most important and influential female recording artist of the late 20th century”.

Drawing from folk, pop, rock and jazz, Mitchell’s songs often reflect social and environmental ideals as well as her feelings about romance, confusion, disillusionment and joy.

Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in Saskatchewan and western Canada before busking in the streets and shoddy nightclubs of Toronto. In 1965, she moved to the United States and began touring. Some of her original songs (“Urge for Going”, “Chelsea Morning”, “Both Sides, Now”, “The Circle Game”) were covered by folk singers, allowing her to sign with Reprise Records and record her debut album in 1968. Settling in Southern California, Mitchell, with popular songs like “Big Yellow Taxi” and “Woodstock”, helped define an era and a generation. Her 1971 recording Blue was rated the 30th best album ever made in Rolling Stone‘s list of the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time”, the highest entry by a female artist. Mitchell switched labels and began moving toward jazz rhythms by way of lush pop textures on 1974’s Court and Spark, her best-selling LP, featuring the radio hits “Help Me” and “Free Man in Paris”.

Around 1975 her vocal range began to shift from mezzo-soprano to more of a wide-ranging contralto. Her distinctive piano and open-tuned guitar compositions also grew more harmonically and rhythmically complex as she explored jazz, melding it with influences of rock and roll, R&B, classical music, and non-western beats. In the late 1970s, she began working closely with noted jazz musicians, among them Jaco Pastorius, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny, and Charles Mingus, who asked her to collaborate on his final recordings. She turned again toward pop, embraced electronic music, and engaged in political protest.

She is the sole producer credited on most of her albums, including all her work in the 1970s. A blunt critic of the music industry, she quit touring and released her 17th, and reportedly last, album of original songs in 2007.

With roots in visual art, Mitchell designed her own album covers. She describes herself as a “painter derailed by circumstance”.

Clouds is the second studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, released on May 1, 1969, by Reprise Records. After releasing her debut album to considerable exposure, Mitchell recorded the album at A&M Studios in Hollywood. She produced most of the album and painted a self-portrait for its cover artwork. Clouds is a contemplative, West Coast-influenced folk-rock album with subtle, unconventional harmonies and songs about lovers, among other themes.

The album charted at number 22 in Canada and number 31 in the United States. It has been certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America, for shipments of 500,000 copies in the US. Clouds was generally well received by music critics.

Track listing

All tracks composed and arranged by Joni Mitchell.

Side one

1. “Tin Angel” – 4:09
2. “Chelsea Morning” – 2:35
3. “I Don’t Know Where I Stand” – 3:13
4. “That Song About the Midway” – 4:38
5. “Roses Blue” – 3:52

Side two

1. “The Gallery” – 4:12
2. “I Think I Understand” – 4:28
3. “Songs to Aging Children Come” – 3:10
4. “The Fiddle and the Drum” – 2:50
5. “Both Sides, Now” – 4:32

Personnel

Credits for Clouds adapted from liner notes.

• Henry Lewy – engineer
• Joni Mitchell – composer, cover art, guitar, keyboards, producer, vocals
• Paul A. Rothchild – producer
• Stephen Stills – bass, guitar
• Ed Thrasher – art direction