Album Review: The Studio Albums 1968-1979 [Boxset] by Joni Mitchell

From Laurel Canyon to jazz-rock’s far outposts – the suffragette of sensuality’s stunning first decade…Joni Mitchell may be the most influential female artist in music history. While there have undoubtedly been more impressive singers, from Billie Holiday to Aretha Franklin to Dusty Springfield, prior to Mitchell’s emergence female performers were largely restricted to interpretive roles. Even the formidably talented Carole King had to wait until the ’70s for significant success as a singer-songwriter with Tapestry.

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Joni Mitchell once called fame "a glamorous misunderstanding." As America's finest living Canadian songwriter (tied with Neil Young), few musicians have understood its nature so well. In the 1960s and 70s, Mitchell was Mary Magdalene to Dylan's folk-rock messiah, making music that was bittersweet and relatable, carrying what Dylan begat even further. Her work helped birth a new idiom that was personal and poetic, creating a new space for songs that made artistic statements, unbound by cliché and tradition.

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