In
Kicking And Dreaming, Nancy Wilson tells the story of searching for Joni Mitchell on Sechelt Island off the British Columbia coast. This is years before she became famous herself. Nancy had read that Joni owned an 80 acre farm on the 15 square mile island. The journey proved fruitless. Islanders who could have pointed the way usually sent Nancy in the opposite direction.
Though I can't prove it, I always felt I recognized the backdrop of Joni Mitchell's
For The Roses. It couldn't be anything but an island on the Sunshine Coast, a slightly sunnier cousin of Washington's San Juan Islands.
And the nude gatefold pretty much seals the deal.
But enough about the cover. Released in November of 1972,
For the Roses offers a transition between the stark instrumentation of 1971's classic
Blue and the Tom Scott/ soft jazz explorations of 1974's
Court And Spark. While it may be some people's favorite Joni Mitchell album,
For the Roses doesn't work for me anywhere near as well as the two albums surrounding it. Naturally there are songs that sounds like
Blue ( "Banquet", "For The Roses") and those that sound like
Court and Spark ("Barangrill" and the US#25 hit "You Turn Me On ( I'm A Radio)" which even gives us a glimpse into the forthcoming boho hit "Help Me").
Two of the more interesting cuts, at least to me, are "Blonde in the Bleachers" and "Cold Blue Steel and Sweet Fire". The first one may very well be a message to Graham Nash about those "sweet mysteries" groupies offer but about my half way in it becomes a message to groupies about Graham Nash and all of the other rock n roll men:
You can't hold the hand
Of a Rock'n'Roll man
Very long
Or count on your plans
With a Rock'n'Roll man
Very long
Compete with the fans
For your Rock'n'Roll man
For very long
And the astonishing lyrics of "Cold Blue Steel" relate an urban nightmare from the perspective of a junkie:
A wristwatch, a ring, a downstairs screamer
Edgy-black cracks of the sky
"Pin-cushion-prick-
Fix this poor bad dreamer!"
For The Roses isn't the first Joni Mitchell album you should buy, but you're missing out if you ignore it altogether.
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