It’s hard to believe it’s been 50 years since Joni Mitchell’s classic Court and Spark (1974) became Mitchell’s most successful album. It’s also my favorite Joni Mitchell album.
In the summer of 1973, Joni Mitchell hired the L.A. Express, a jazz-rock group of studio musicians, to back her in the studio. She had its leader, Tom Scott, who played on “For the Roses,” arrange the instrumental and orchestral accompaniment. Tom Scott would go on to write the TV theme songs for Baretta and Starsky & Hutch.
When “Court and Spark,” her sixth studio album, came out 50 years ago this month, Joni Mitchell’s voice and songs seemed energized by a new jazzy backdrop tailored to her approach. Mitchell’s strong vocals and bold lyrics, enhanced by L.A. Express and Tom Scott’s arrangements, gave her songs a new sound.
Court and Spark sold 500,000 copies just over a month after its release and peaked at No. 2 on Billboard’s Hot 200 chart for four weeks. The single “Help Me” climbed to No. 7 and became her biggest career hit, and Joni Mitchell and Tom Scott shared the Grammy for Best Arrangement Accompanying a Vocalist for the song “Down to You.” The LP was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2004.
Are you a fan of Court and Spark? What were you listening to 50 years ago? GRADE: A
TRACK LIST:
| Court And Spark | 2:46 | ||
| Help Me | 3:22 | ||
| Free Man In Paris | 3:02 | ||
| People’s Parties | 2:14 | ||
| The Same Situation | 2:56 | ||
| Car On A Hill | 2:59 | ||
| Down To You | 5:38 | ||
| Just Like This Train | 4:23 | ||
| Raised On Robbery | 3:06 | ||
| Trouble Child | 3:59 | ||
| Twisted | 2:24 |
Yes. Big fan of Joni Mitchell…as someone who, in 1974, mostly in music was listening to my folks’ jazz, classical, rock, comedy and MOR (Tijuana Brass and the like) records as well as mostly Top 40 radio (and starting to borrow music LPs and cassettes from libraries along with the drama and spoken word items…as mentioned here before, I think, my first 45 was “Smokin’ in the Boys’ Room” (and “Barefootin’) by the Brownsville Station, and my first albums included the Count Basie Orchestra’s Chairman of the Board (a number of Quincy Jones’s charts), and a Pickwick Beach Boys anthology. While my favorite radio tracks included “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number” by Steely Dan (and Horace Silver).
Despite JM’s cover of Annie Ross’s “Twisted” getting some play, it took me another six years to catch up with Lambert, Hendricks and Ross (and then Bavan).
Todd, you grew up with a lot of music! My parents listened to the radio constantly and played LPs frequently. I head a lot of songs from Broadway musicals! I got a transistor radio for my 10th birthday and listened to our local Rock’n’Roll station, WKBW, for hours each day.
Most of my radio listening was while doing chores, or the clock radio in the mornings (AM only, and the options were WTIC-AM the newsradio at that time in Hazardville, CT, or top-40 stations), but sometimes I would listen to the FM radio in the stereo, when I could wrestle it away from the ‘rents indulging their Difficult Listening obsession in the early ’70s.
Todd, I had a mile walk to school each day (and a mile walk back home) so I listened to my transistor radio on both ends of that journey.
Correction–Bob Steele on WTIC was playing (often annoying) music whenever he’d stop talking, which, given the music he liked, was happily less often than one would think.
In her pre-“Court and Spark” days, Kitty and I would catch Joni Mitchell’s show whenever she would appear at Club 47 in Cambridge. She shared the show with her then-husband, Chuck Mitchell, although they would do separate sets. Fantastic music. Fantastic talent. Those Club 47 days were very special…Richie Havens, The Staples Singers, Carolyn Hester, Kweskin’s Jug Band (where I invariably ended up sitting next to the stage about three feet from Maria Muldaur’s excessively short skirts — yowza!), Tom Rush, even Grandpa Jones, and so many more…When I think really great music, I think Club 47 and when I think Club 47, I think Joni mitchell.
Jerry, that’s a rich musical experience listening not only to Joni Mitchell but all those other fabulous artists! Lucky you!
Club 47 was a folkie+ mecca. Given the heavily collegiate audience for most of that kind of music at the time, a real pity Boston wasn’t too much of a college town. Koff.
Todd, the suburban community I grew up in–La Salle–didn’t have any clubs like Club 47. There were plenty of old-fashioned bars, though.
Love it, love it, love it!! Every song on it is a gem—although “Car on the Hill” (supposedly inspired by Joni’s brief relationship with Jackson Browne) is my favorite. I remember buying the album then sitting in my room, playing the record over and over multiple times (I must have driven my poor family crazy!) while reading the lyrics (Joni was always good about including the lyrics with her albums). I can still sing every word of every song. “Love came to my door/with a sleeping roll/and a mad man’s soul….”
Yes, Deb, I feel that way too about the lyrics.
“Watching your hairline recede my vain darling” is another.
Jeff, I love the way “Help Me” begins (because I’ve experienced the kind of trouble Joni’s singing about):
Help me
I think I’m falling
In love again
When I get that crazy feeling, I know
I’m in trouble again
I’m in trouble
Deb, like you, I memorized the lyrics to COURT AND SPARK back in 1974. And, like you, I drove my family crazy listening to it over and over again. A great album from a great artist!
Joni wrote a lot of great songs but I can only listen to her in small doses. I just am not crazy about her voice. I had the same problem with Joan Baez and Judy Ciollins. I prefer the pre jazz Joni. I saw her a few times in her early years when she lived in Detroit for a few years.. Her and his husband played a lot at the Raven Gallery in Southfield and the Rathskeller in Detroit. I prefer those shows to her later ones.
Steve, I wish that I had acted like you and Jerry did and seen Joni Mitchell in concert. I bought all of her LPs up to 1980. I wasn’t fond of her later work but I may give those later albums another try.
I find all three female singers very restful to listen to. And Joni was a genius.
Patti, you’re right about Joni Mitchell being a genius. Great lyrics, great melodies, songs that stay with you all of your Life!
Yes, HUGE fan of Court and Spark, my favorite of hers and a CD I still play regularly and sing along to (as best I can). It’s a classic.
Jeff, I find it hard to believe I first listened to COURT AND SPARK 50 years ago! And I still get that thrill every time I hear those songs.
Love Joni but Ladies of the Canyon will always be my favorite.
Beth, I listen to LADIES OF THE CANYON almost as much as I listen to COURT AND SPARK. Wonderful music!
I always liked Joni Mitchell, but oddly enough never bought anything until The Hissing of Summer Lawns. Still buying her, though. I quite enjoyed her new Newport Folk Festival cd.
Right now I’m trying to decide if I can accept Urge for Going as a winter/seasonal/Christmas song or nor. It took me awhile to accept River, but I finally did. Urge for Going is on Mary Fahl’s Winter Songs and Carols cd, and I can’t decide whether to give it *** as a grade (I’ve graded all my Christmas cds to help in making playlists) or a non-seasonal No Grade.
Jeff, I would vote for ***. Are you buying the latest Joni Mitchell set? https://www.amazon.com/Joni-Mitchell-Archives-Vol-1972-1975/dp/B0CFVYPRKN/ref=sr_1_3?crid=3VNPDF10JZCZW&keywords=joni+mitchell&qid=1706824880&s=music&sprefix=joni+mitchell%2Cpopular%2C98&sr=1-3
I’m listening to it now and plan to review it soon.
The trouble with packages like this is I tend to listen to them once. Generally not worth it for me. Nowadays I can listen to them streaming…once. Even then, it’s not something I rush to hear. But someday it might catch my fancy.
Jeff, I’ll be reviewing the 1972-1975 Joni Mitchell package and perhaps that will help you make up your mind.
I’ve never heard Court and Spark ( heard of it, but never listened to it) but I know Help Me from radio play! I like Joni okay and I guess my favorite song of hers is Woodstock! I hear her health is okay now but it was precarious for a time!
Bob, Joni Mitchell was a long-time smoker and had polio as a child, Joni has also dealt with a little-known condition called Morgellons disease over the years. She’s 79 years old and hanging in there.