250 Albums- An Arbitrary Rumble Through My Record Collection # 143 Joni Mitchell - Court & Spark

 

I'm tightening my belt. Limiting my expenditure on new records. I've got more than enough records to listen to for the rest of my days. Really listen to them if I can. But yesterday it was a humid, unsettling day in my flat. I needed a break. 

So I took a walk to the record shop across the road. Had a chat with Al. And in the backroom there was a copy of Court & Spark going for a fiver. So I bought it. Listened to it in the afternoon and now I'm listening to it again first thing Saturday morning. It feels a bit cooler. Meanwhie Court & Spark definitely feels like it was worth the investment.

I flit in and out with Joni. Sometimes she fits my mood. She seems to write like  great artists paint. Chord changes lyrical barbs shooting in and out at you. A great sense of colour. There's no point making comparisons with Dylan, Cohen, Reed or anyone else.Joni comes from a time before Pitchfork. When Robert Christgau's main function seemed to be to act as irritant to Rock musicians by giving their records marks. As if he had more ability than they did.  Where on earth did he get that preposterous idea. There's a purity here that I appreciate.