Album: Hissing Of Summer Lawns
Artist: Joni Mitchell
Born: Fort Macleod, Alberta
Released: November 1975
Genre: Jazz Rock
Influenced: Steely Dan, Björk, Tori Amos, Feist, Joanna Newsom
Joni Mitchell is more often associated with the music of Laurel Canyon hippies and confessional singer-songwriters, but my favourite of all her albums is Hissing Of Summer Lawns. The stripped-down folk sound of her earlier work was ditched in the mid-70s as she experimented with jazz and other musical forms, while the lyrics became more abstract, feminist and politically aware. Though I do enjoy many of her earlier albums, especially Blue, there's an earnest quality to the songwriting and singing that I still find a little off-putting. On 1974's Court & Spark, she had already gravitated towards jazz, but this album takes a more radical approach, moving further away from folk and pop and exploring themes of adult love in the lyrics. This was all a long way from the playfulness and sweetness of her early 70s songs like California, which celebrate west coast alternative culture and touch on, rather than explore in depth, themes of lost love and political unrest.
On opener, In France They Kiss On Main Street, the mood is full of nostalgia for a youth spent listening to 50s rock & roll, falling in love and learning the "latest dance craze". This mood is quickly shattered by The Jungle Line, with its sound of African drums and Moog synths, along with highly impressionistic lyrics that link primitive forms of art (Henri Rousseau's paintings, Harlem jazz) with a society that allows men to sate their desire for women, war and drugs without check. Many of the songs explore how women must try and make their way in this world, whether as a gangster's moll (Edith & The Kingpin), by marrying into wealth (Harry's House - Centerpiece) or by sacrificing their integrity (The Boho Dance). On the title track, one of my favourites on the album, that hissing on summer lawns is the sound of sprinklers "voicing" their disapproval at a woman who gave up her freedom and independence to become a stale housewife. Other highlights for me are Shades of Scarlett Conquering and Shadows & Light, the latter a philosophical companion piece to folk ballad Sweet Bird, which mixes gospel and synths to create a strange sermon on how fallible men stand in judgment of society. In the mid-70s, both Dylan & Mitchell hit their songwriting peaks aged over 30, a musical anomaly in this day & age when much of the music industry's focus is on teenage bubblegum pop.
Joni Mitchell is more often associated with the music of Laurel Canyon hippies and confessional singer-songwriters, but my favourite of all her albums is Hissing Of Summer Lawns. The stripped-down folk sound of her earlier work was ditched in the mid-70s as she experimented with jazz and other musical forms, while the lyrics became more abstract, feminist and politically aware. Though I do enjoy many of her earlier albums, especially Blue, there's an earnest quality to the songwriting and singing that I still find a little off-putting. On 1974's Court & Spark, she had already gravitated towards jazz, but this album takes a more radical approach, moving further away from folk and pop and exploring themes of adult love in the lyrics. This was all a long way from the playfulness and sweetness of her early 70s songs like California, which celebrate west coast alternative culture and touch on, rather than explore in depth, themes of lost love and political unrest.
On opener, In France They Kiss On Main Street, the mood is full of nostalgia for a youth spent listening to 50s rock & roll, falling in love and learning the "latest dance craze". This mood is quickly shattered by The Jungle Line, with its sound of African drums and Moog synths, along with highly impressionistic lyrics that link primitive forms of art (Henri Rousseau's paintings, Harlem jazz) with a society that allows men to sate their desire for women, war and drugs without check. Many of the songs explore how women must try and make their way in this world, whether as a gangster's moll (Edith & The Kingpin), by marrying into wealth (Harry's House - Centerpiece) or by sacrificing their integrity (The Boho Dance). On the title track, one of my favourites on the album, that hissing on summer lawns is the sound of sprinklers "voicing" their disapproval at a woman who gave up her freedom and independence to become a stale housewife. Other highlights for me are Shades of Scarlett Conquering and Shadows & Light, the latter a philosophical companion piece to folk ballad Sweet Bird, which mixes gospel and synths to create a strange sermon on how fallible men stand in judgment of society. In the mid-70s, both Dylan & Mitchell hit their songwriting peaks aged over 30, a musical anomaly in this day & age when much of the music industry's focus is on teenage bubblegum pop.
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