On 22^nd June, 1971, Joni Mitchell released Blue, concluding her prolific four album run for Reprise Records with an album considered by many to be one of the greatest of all time. Its stirring, confessional songs have been celebrated by music lovers and critics alike for decades while inspiring a wide variety of artists as diverse as Prince and Taylor Swift. Even today, its stature as a masterpiece continues to grow. Just last year, the album was named #3 on Rolling Stone’s list of the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time.”

To celebrate the album’s 50th anniversary, Rhino is releasing THE REPRISE ALBUMS (1968-1971), the next installment of the Joni Mitchell Archives series, featuring newly remastered versions of Blue (1971) and the three albums that came before it: Song To A Seagull (1968), Clouds (1969), and Ladies Of The Canyon (1970). In the case of Song To A Seagull, the original mix has been recently updated by Mitchell and mixer Matt Lee. “The original mix was atrocious,” says Mitchell. “It sounded like it was recorded under a jello bowl, so I fixed it!” 

The cover art for THE REPRISE ALBUMS (1968-1971) features a previously unseen self-portrait Mitchell sketched during the time period. The collection also includes an essay by GrammyÒ winning singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile, another artist who’s been influenced greatly by Mitchell. She writes: “In my opinion Blue is the greatest album ever made. Blue didn’t make me a better songwriter. Blue made me a better woman… No matter what we are dealing with in these times we can rejoice and know that of all the ages we could have lived through, we lived in the time of Joni Mitchell.”

Tracklist

4LP Box Set
LP1 / CD1
Song To A Seagull (1968) – New Mix (Produced By Joni Mitchell, Mixed By Matt Lee)
I Came to the City
“I Had A King”
“Michael From Mountains”
“Night In The City”
“Marcie”
“Nathan La Franeer”
Out of the City and Down the Seaside
“Sisotowbell Lane”
“The Dawntreader”
“The Pirate Of Penance”
“Song To A Seagull”
“Cactus Tree”

LP2/CD2
Clouds (1969)
“Tin Angel”
“Chelsea Morning”
“I Don’t Know Where I Stand”
“That Song About The Midway”
“Roses Blue”
“The Gallery”
“I Think I Understand”
“Songs To Aging Children Come”
“The Fiddle And The Drum”
“Both Sides, Now”

LP3/CD3
Ladies Of The Canyon (1970)
“Morning Morgantown”
“For Free”
“Conversation”
“Ladies Of The Canyon”
“Willy”
“The Arrangement”
“Rainy Night House”
“The Priest”
“Blue Boy”
“Big Yellow Taxi”
“Woodstock”
“The Circle Game”

LP4/CD4
Blue (1971)
“All I Want”
“My Old Man”
“Little Green”
“Carey”
“Blue”
“California”
“This Flight Tonight”
“River”
“A Case Of You”
“The Last Time I Saw Richard”

Soundwave

https://youtu.be/2595abcvh2M