Blue (Joni Mitchell)

Blue
Joni Mitchell (1971)

Top Tracks: “A Case of You”, “All I Want”, “Blue”

This is one of the best albums of all time, says the guy who thinks Joni Mitchell may be the greatest songwriter of all time. Three of her albums — this one, Court and Spark, and Hejira — could possibly be in my Top 10 list of all time, if such a thing existed. Blue’s beauty is in its sparseness. It’s basically Joni alone in a room with her instrument of choice — usually a piano or Appalachian dulcimer — and just the songs, the songs, the songs. Side note: Blue is the highest-ranked album by a woman on Rolling Stone’s “Top 500 Album” list, and as recently as 2017 was ranked by NPR as the #1 greatest album made by a woman ever (May 2020).

Court & Spark (Joni Mitchell)

Court & Spark
Joni Mitchell (1974))

Top Tracks: “Help Me”, ”Car on a Hill”, “Just Like This Train”

Ah, yes. Another of the best albums of all time. Picking three songs as my “top tracks” was actually laughable. Almost every song on Court & Spark ranks among my favorite of all time. Personal note: This album was on constantly in my house when I was a kid, and then I rediscovered it as an adult and found I loved it even more (June 2020).