JONI MITCHELL – COURT AND SPARK LP – Nr MINT A1/B1 UK 1974 ORIG

Joni Mitchell – Court & Spark
(Asylum Records   1974   SYLA8756)
Matrix No’s: A1/B1 – UK Pressing

G&L Gatefold Sleeve in Excellent+ condition
– a few light foxing marks, some light ringwear on back and small price sticker on back

Vinyl in Nr MINT 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 the odd light pop/crackle)

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”.

Court and Spark is the sixth studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell. Released in January 1974, the album saw Mitchell infusing her folk-rock style, which she developed throughout her previous five albums, with jazz inflections. A very accessible and commercially appealing album, Court and Spark was Mitchell’s commercial and popular triumph—it was not only praised by critics but was also received very warmly by the public, becoming her most successful album. It reached No. 2 in the United States and No. 1 in Canada and eventually received a Double Platinum certification by the RIAA, the highest during Mitchell’s career. It was voted the best album of the year for 1974 in The Village Voice Jazz & Pop Critics Poll.. In 2003 it was listed at No. 111 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

Track listing

All tracks composed and arranged by Joni Mitchell; except where indicated.

Side one

1. “Court and Spark” – 2:46
2. “Help Me” – 3:22
3. “Free Man in Paris” – 3:02
4. “People’s Parties” – 2:15
5. “Same Situation” – 2:57

Side two

6. “Car on a Hill” – 3:02
7. “Down To You” – 5:38
8. “Just Like This Train” – 4:24
9. “Raised on Robbery” – 3:06
10. “Trouble Child” – 4:00
11. “Twisted” – 2:21 (Annie Ross/Wardell Gray)

Personnel

• Joni Mitchell – Vocals, including background; acoustic guitar; piano; clavinet on “Down to You”
• John Guerin – Drums and percussion
• Wilton Felder – Bass
• Max Bennett – Bass on “Trouble Child”
• Jim Hughart – Bass on “People’s Parties” and “Free Man in Paris”
• Milt Holland – Chimes on “Court and Spark”
• Tom Scott – Woodwinds and reeds
• Chuck Findley – Trumpet on “Twisted” and “Trouble Child”
• Joe Sample – Electric piano, clavinet on “Raised on Robbery”.
• David Crosby – Background vocals on “Free Man in Paris” and “Down to You”
• Graham Nash – Background vocals on “Free Man in Paris”
• Susan Webb – Background vocals on “Down to You”
• Larry Carlton – Electric guitar
• Wayne Perkins – Electric guitar on “Car on a Hill”
• Dennis Budimir – Electric guitar on “Trouble Child”
• Robbie Robertson – Electric guitar on “Raised on Robbery”
• José Feliciano – Electric guitar on “Free Man in Paris”
• Cheech Marin – Background voice on “Twisted”
• Tommy Chong – Background voice on “Twisted”
• Joni Mitchell and Henry Lewy producers
• Henry Lewy and Ellis Sorkin engineers