Joni Mitchell - Hejira
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Free Music Notes for Hejira
Free Music Review: Unique, seemingly not of this world
Hit: 5 Stars
In her early days Joni Mitchell was purely a songwriter for other artists such as Judy Collins and pre-Sandy Denny Fairport Convention, before she began recording in the late 1960s with a series of simple folk albums based around acoustic guitar which won her considerable critical and popular acclaim. From 1971's Blue she moved gradually towards more jazzy and piano-based work and became less derivative with each album, and on 1975's Hissing of Summer Lawns she synthesised her folk and jazz approaches into her finest work yet with "Shadows and Light" and the cerebral lyrics of such songs as the title track.
Nothing, though, could prepare the listener for "Hejira" released at the tail end of 1976 as the "punk revolution" was tightening radio playlists. Although Joni goes back to her early acoustic work for "Hejira", rather than repeat those works she does something totally different and quite unique. Aided by Larry Carlton on electric guitar and Jaco Pastorius on fretless bass, she turns simple poppy folk songs into epic feasts of free-form melody based around her dense guitar network. The opener "Coyote" is the easiest listen here and sets the tone perfectly. Its verses are so stretched out that Mitchell is able, like a poet, to make each one an intense work of drama by itself in a remarkable way with so little instrumentation. "Amelia" has a most unusual arrangement accurately described as "pointillist" - and which predates 1990s post-rock bands aim of getting value out of every note that was being lost in "Hejira"'s day.
"Furry Sings The Blues" and "A Strange Boy" (which I have felt at times could be about myself) show Mitchell's talent for epic storytelling and jazzy arrangements, but it is the sixth track "Song For Sharon", that really stamps "Hejira" as one of the truly great albums. An almost weightless epic of over eight-and-a-half minutes, "Song For Sharon" combines a truly touching tale of two incompatible people with some really passionate guitar work and mysterious, chant-like backing vocals. "Black Crow" is much faster but still beautiful, whilst the title track almost matches "Song For Sharon" in its otherworldly weightlessness. This "otherworldliness" is not feminine like Nyro but far more subtle and dark like Mark Hollis on Spirit of Eden many years later. The last two tracks are the least startling, being a little like generic vocal jazz, but they are still worthwhile.
"Hejira" was where Joni Mitchell turned her folk influences into something utterly unlike anything else at the time. Like music moving through space, "Hejira" packs a great deal of touching emotion beneath its sparse arrangements. It is no wonder critics took time to give it respect, especially when they were obsessed with the "punk revolution", but its influence is undoubted - for instance, Slint's "Don, Aman" borrows (unconsciously) from "Coyote" quite heavily. Her next album Don Juan's Reckless Daughter has some brilliant material but is marred by experiments with "world music", so that "Hejira" stands as her true masterwork.
Free Music Review: What Can You Say?
Hit: 5 Stars
There are dozens of reviews here which more than adequately celebrate this album-- its haunting lyrics--its recurring theme and its unsurpassed musicianship. Joni has at times seemed the most underrated artist in the history of rock. Although Zappa, Fagan, Becker and Sting are known for their collaborations with jazz musicians, people forget that Joni Mitchell made musical history with musicians from jazz who crossed over. Hejira is one of them- due in no small part to the presence of Jaco Pastorius (perhaps the most influential musician in our culture since 1970).
But Jaco was only part of the magnificence of Hejira--Joni's lyrics rival anyone's, her best albums hold together with songs that make unified, lyrical and emotive statements. Anyone who has witnessed the life-changing experience that a journey can bring--they will know the meaning of Hejira. It is an album of the American Road that has coherence like Bruce Chatwin's Song Lines or Kerouac's On the Road--in forty years there is simply no finer example of a "road" album.
Sometime after this session Mitchell was contacted by Charles Mingus. Notably, Mingus wasn't looking for Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Van Morrison or anyone else to compose words for his songs. Joni got the call. The fact that Mingus did this when his time was running out was a supreme vote of confidence for her and her lyrical abilities --More than whatever grammies and other awards she received in her career-- getting the nod from Mingus was an "award" of the highest order.
But the reason that happened is likely twofold. He knew and loved her lyrics and he knew she had chops. Mingus heard Hejira and knew some of the finest young jazz musicians on the circuit in the mid-70's had already made astonishing contributions to her art.
Jaco would go on to appear on several more of her albums but appeared here first. His playing on this album was some of the finest ballad playing in his career. This was not Jaco trying to blow you away with fast or funky licks--which he certainly was capable of. This is not Jaco jamming. During this recording he had the instincts to play deep, resonant, poetic and warm toned lines that provide an uncanny sympathy for both to lyrics and singer. Listen to Hejira if you want to know why Jaco Pastorius was without peer on electric bass. And you need not go to any other Joni Mitchell album for examples of how she can sing lines that go to the deepest places in the human condition.
The other material on Hejira--the tunes without Pastorius ---are also of the highest order. Amelia is a classic. The thematic content of the album moves seamlessly, with or without Jaco. But it is those four songs, in my opinion, where she has perhaps reached some of her most magnificent heights in a long and spectacular career:
Coyote, Hejira, Song For Sharon and Refuge of the Roads.
On those songs the two mesh as brilliantly as any vocalist and musician ever has-- They are, perhaps, the finest examples of interaction between a vocalist and a musician since Billie Holiday and Lester Young played together in the 1930's.
Free Music Review: A marvelously poetic album by her generation's supreme female performer
Hit: 5 Stars
I don't want to denigrate all the other great female performers of the rock age, but no one surpassed Joni Mitchell as a songwriter, and most of her competitors for the crown were in turn profoundly influenced by Mitchell. To this day no female songwriter comes close to her output or the quality of her songs. HEIJIRA was the last of a string of absolutely stunning studio albums that provided a roadmap for all the women who came after her wanting a female rather than male model. Her lyrics are so strong that perhaps only Bob Dylan clearly surpassed her, and never were her lyrics stronger on this album. Indeed, while most of her previous albums were filled with clearly structured songs, here we have loosely constructed songs that serve more as a platform for serving her poems up to the public. As other reviews here show, these songs are filled with marvelous, wonderfully crafted lyrics. I personally believe that as songs they are somewhat below those found on BLUE and COURT AND SPARK, but lyrically this album is easily the strongest in her career.
The songs are throughout profoundly introspective and self-searching. Unlike her previous albums, the songs here all focus on particular individuals, almost as if she were an analyst attempting to understand people through her music. Many deal with the strain between commitment to the relationships she finds impossible to live without and the independence that she feels to be essential. She poses no answers to such dilemmas and she certainly senses that in the end the inability to live on her own or with another is self-destructive. She wants to be her own woman but finds that "all I want to do right now is find another lover." She applauds independence, but fears it is "Like Icarus ascending on beautiful, foolish arms," knowing that coming too close to the sun will send her crashing back to earth. She also doesn't like her taste in men. "Strange Boy" is one of the most believable portraits of a bad relationship I know; you feel almost like you know the poor guy, and one of the reasons she hasn't found the relationship she both yearns for and wants to avoid: she is a fool where love is concerned.
I don't a single song on the album anything less than fascinating. My favorite is definitely "Amelia," where she constructs an ahistorical Amelia Earhart as a metaphor for all she mourns over in her own life. "Coyote," "Song for Sharon," "Black Crowe," and the quirky portrait of Furry Lewis "Furry Sings the Blues" are all unforgettable. The back up musicians are marvelous, most thoroughly schooled in jazz. Of course, special mention must be made by the remarkable playing of the astonishing Jaco Pastorius, one of the forces behind the Weather Report.
Unfortunately, after HEIJIRA, Joni's studio output became more and more personal and intimate in a way that could not be communicated with the public as a whole. It didn't merely become "difficult," it largely became inaccessible. She isn't the first artist to take this path, and she won't be the last.
Free Music Review: "Shine on your witness, taking refuge in the roads..."
Hit: 5 Stars
This album, released in 1976, is largely considered to be Joni's best. Joni alienated a lot of people with her previous album, 1975's "The Hissing of Summer Lawns." That album was lambasted by critics, leaving her very bitter. "Hejira" was very experimental but a bit more controlled. Here is a sound that is indigenous to Joni, you will never hear another album that sounds like this. The sound was described as being "as open and free as the Canadian prairies that spawned her." Joni herself says it has an "introspective, Buddhist quality." In late 1975, early 1976, Joni was driving alone from California to New York. Every time she stopped somewhere for the night, she would sit down and write a song. This is a song cycle about traveling, and the tales of the strange and not-so-strange people she met on the road, and also of different thoughts that came to mind. I'll tell you right now, you can sit down and listen to this album and appreciate the talent of the musicians, the beauty of Joni's lyrics, melodies, and arrangements, and the brilliance of her wild, out-there guitar tunings. But in order to really "get" this album, you have to travel a great distance along an unfamiliar route, by yourself, with this record playing. I've done this, and I can honestly say that I now appreciate the album on a great many levels. All of these thoughts really do come into your head. And I'll tell you, I lived parts of "Refuge of the Roads." Read along with the lyrics; I met a guy who drank and womanized but had some smart things to say. I also met a few drifters in a beach town (but I didn't wind up fixing dinner for them and Boston Jim). The title itself is pronounced hee-ZHEER-uh. It is an English word with Arabic roots meaning "leaving the dream no blame." Joni said that she was looking for a word that means the equivalent of "running away with honor." She joked "Exodus was taken, that belongs to Israel," and she found "hejira" while perusing the dictionary. And if you ask me, the album cover itself perfectly suits the album's content. Joni standing alone on an open stretch of land, cigarette in hand. It suits the introspective, solitary, brooding tone of the album. And the image of the road superimposed on her form means this to me: it seems to be Joni saying "You can say the miles I've traveled just by looking at me." Sorry to go on and on like this, but my love for this album knows no bounds. So in short, go buy it. Favorite tracks: "Coyote," "Amelia," "Hejira," "Refuge of the Raods."Free Music Review: Dark, brooding and bleak
Hit: 5 Stars
When Joni Mitchell first started recording in 1967, she was very much regarded as something of a female Bob Dylan, and she firmly fitted into the contemporary folk music scene. If you listen to her early albums up to 'Blue', that's not hard to understand. By the time Hejira was recorded, she had long since left the folk music scene behind, and her musical style was now considered to be more like jazz. Her voice too no longer sounded flowery and had become more mature. 'Mingus' her next album after this only re-afffirmed the idea. Yet unlike the latter album Hejira is still more in the 'rock/blues' genre with jazz overtones.
On Hejira, like her previous album, Joni plays with jazz musicians. Indeed she toured only with jazz musicians by this stage. The album features the late Jaco Pastorius on bass and Larry Carlton on guitar both of whom were well known up and coming young jazz names then. The album includes only 9 tracks, but some of these are quite long. None of the songs portray any light-heartedness or humour, which is evident on some of her earlier recordings. This is one serious album. The whole atmosphere is very dark, brooding and at times menacing. The bluesy track 'Black Crow' particularly emphasises that feel. 'Blue motel room' is bleak and despairing, so you get the general picture. But don't let any of this deter you from listening. Heavy the songs may be, but they are timeless, and amongst Joni's best work. You need to sit down, clear your head from distractions and listen.
It's difficult to recommend any one track. All of them are equally excellent, yet different to each other, apart from sharing that dark mood as described. For me, 'Refuge of the road' is the ideal closing track and is pure brilliance. Those who followed JM's output up to Hejira, it was noticeable that she played no piano on this album, something she always had done since 'Ladies of the Canyon', 8 years earlier. This stripped-down effect also added to the album's mood, particularly when one compared it to her 2 previous albums, also jazz influenced, but a far more full sound.
For anyone unfamiliar with JM perhaps it is better you start with the best of her earlier, more accessible work. Try 'Blue' first then 'Court & Spark' to see how she developed towards Hejira. And if you go further back there was her folksy period. So it entirely depends on your taste. I like all of JM's albums, whatever her mood or style. This album probably represents her musical peak.
Overall, Hejira is musically superb, requires repeated listening and concentration, but believe me it's worth it.