Released - March 1968
Genre - Folk
Producer - David Crosby
Selected Personnel - Joni Mitchell (Vocals/Guitar/Piano); Stephen Stills (Bass); Lee Keefer (Banshee)
Standout Track - Cactus Tree
As I get on into the late 60s, it increasingly begins to see the emergence of artists who would go on to become my all-time favourites. My whole "project" of working to appreciate more 60s music is an ongoing thing, and has helped me to discover some truly great music that perhaps a few years ago I would have been quickly dismissive of, but I do still believe that it's in the late 60s that we begin to see true artistry and craft and innovation creeping into music. For me, I believe that increasing technological developments in the early 70s meant that artists, for the first time, had more than just a guitar and a reel of tape to create the musical landscapes they envisioned in their minds. It was increasingly possible to use the recording studio itself as an instrument, and this capability had an inherent effect on the kind of music that was written for it. It became more ambitious and, in many ways, more emotional and intimate because it was increasingly unnecessary for artists to make any compromises. I also feel that in the late 60s and the early 70s things were at a tipping point with regard to creativity. As time goes by, it's always the case that it's increasingly difficult to innovate and to do things that hadn't been done before. Around that time, I feel that this was a challenge that artists took very seriously, and gave serious thought to in order to maintain freshness and interest in their work. If only this were a dynamic that continued throughout history, but sadly I feel that some time ago things reached saturation point and these days it's become increasingly difficult to innovate to the point that the majority of mainstream popular music makes for pretty depressing listening. People are still making excellent music, but it takes more effort to find it these days. But back to the point in hand, which is to say that starting in the late 60s, music began to become more artful and more expressive than it ever had been.
So 1968 sees the arrival of, in my opinion, the greatest folk musician the world has ever seen, in the form of the Canadian Joni Mitchell, who would go on to inherit Joan Baez's crown as the Queen of Folk Rock. Mitchell quite simply defines folk music in my mind, her songs among the most beautiful ever written and her voice capable of being, by turns, both more assured and more fragile than any other. Her debut album Song to a Seagull is no match for the phenomenal work that was to come, but it's also notable just how assured and impressive it is for the label debut of a young artist. So many young female folk singers would announce themselves to the music industry with an album of uninspired covers or traditional songs (Joan Baez's fairly unimaginative self-titled debut album springs to mind, though it maintains its quality by virtue of her magnificent voice). But Mitchell's debut is a remarkably assured and characterful collection of original compositions, clearly demonstrating that her role in the future would not just be as a honey-voiced interpreter of the works of others, but as a truly great songwriter and artist in her own right.
She had already written songs for others, including Judy Collins, prior to Song to a Seagull, having begun to foster a love of music that grew out of her earlier obsessions with dance and painting (Mitchell's love of painting would continue throughout her career, with many of her album covers being self-portraits). But it was David Crosby of the Byrds who first began to champion her as performer in her own right, having seen her singing at the Gaslight South, and went on to oversee and produce this first album, featuring songs that truly began to demonstrate her songwriting ability. "Michael From Mountains" is an astonishingly mature and heartbreaking account of her failed marriage to Chuck Mitchell, endlessly questioning the possibility of making a union work between two people who don't know one another. The other highlight of side one is "Nathan La Franeer," a song about a taxi driver Mitchell had once run into punctuated by the haunting screeches of Lee Keefer's "banshee" (presumably some sort of blues harp). The two sides are loosely themed around the city (side one) and the sea (side two), although these themes only apply directly to the lyrics of a handful of tracks, and also doesn't seem to have much bearing on the musical styles of each side as well, but it's interesting to note that Mitchell already had an understanding of the album as a coherent piece of art rather than just as a collection of disparate songs.
The music, too, is remarkably complex for such a young and new musician, and owes as large a debt to Mitchell's love of classical music as to her love of folk music. A number of the complex and unusual harmonies owe tribute to classical music rather than to the folk music of the time, with "Sisotowbell Lane" being particularly unusual compared to other 60s folk songs. Mitchell's vocal delivery ranges from hushed, soft intonations to delicate trills, never wavering and always utterly in touch with the emotions at the core of these songs. It's also impossible to write anything about this album without mentioning "Cactus Tree," without which I'd be tempted to perhaps leave this one off the list and wait until Clouds to discuss Mitchell properly. But the album closer is an astoundingly beautiful song, and to date one of her finest. Perhaps it's because it chimes so specifically for me with regard to a girl I was once briefly involved with, and the songs that tug at very specific personal heartstrings are always going to be the ones we remember, but it's also just a remarkably poignant and masterful depiction of a woman who adores her freedom and lives in fear of committing to any one thing or person. The imagery of it is spectacular, with each and every man who attempts to court her rendered as completely and honestly and clearly as the woman herself. It's one of the best examples of image-based storytelling through song in the history of music, and even if every other song here were tedium made flesh, this album would still find a place on my list thanks to including that unforgettable classic.
Track Listing:
All songs written by Joni Mitchell.
1. I Had A King
2. Michael From Mountains
3. Night In The City
4. Marcie
5. Nathan La Franeer
6. Sisotowbell Lane
7. The Dawntreader
8. The Pirate Of Penance
9. Song To A Seagull
10. Cactus Tree
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