Shine (Joni Mitchell album)
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This article contains information about a scheduled or expected future album. It may contain information of a speculative nature and the content could change dramatically as the album release approaches and more information becomes available. |
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| Shine | ||
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| Studio album by Joni Mitchell | ||
| Released | Fall 2007 | |
| Genre | Pop | |
| Label | Unknown | |
| Joni Mitchell chronology | ||
|---|---|---|
| Songs of a Prairie Girl (2005) |
Shine (2007) |
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Shine is a new studio album by Joni Mitchell that will be released in Fall 2007.[1] It is the singer-songwriter's first album of new songs in nine years, after 1998's Taming the Tiger.
[edit] History
In 2002, Joni Mitchell famously left the music business. The public first learned that she had returned to writing and recording in October 2006, when she spoke to The Ottawa Citizen. In an interview with the newspaper, Mitchell "revealed she's recording her first collection of new songs in nearly a decade," but gave few other details.[2] Four months later, in an interview with The New York Times, Joni said that the album was inspired by the war in Iraq and "something her grandson had said while listening to family fighting: 'Bad dreams are good--in the great plan.'"[3] Though in The New York Times Mitchell said the album's title would either be Strange Birds of Appetite or If, the title Shine was confirmed by her official website on March 15.[1]
The Sunday Times wrote in February 2007 that the album has "a minimal feel, a sparseness that harks back to her early work," adding that "rest and some good healers" had restored much of the singer's vocal power.[4] Mitchell herself described Shine as "as serious a work as I've ever done."[4]
The label at which Shine will be released has not been announced; Mitchell stated, "My manager is looking at it because the business has fallen apart and there a lot of ways to enter back into the game,"[5] perhaps alluding to online music publishing.
[edit] Track listing
The titles of several of Mitchell's new songs are known.
- "If I Had a Heart, I'd Cry"
- "If I Had a Heart, I'd Cry" is a reaction to the state of the environment and what Mitchell called the current "holy war." In February 2007, The New York Times described the song as "one of the most haunting melodies she has ever written." Of the impetus that inspired her to write the song, Mitchell explained, "My heart is broken in the face of the stupidity of my species. I can't cry about it. In a way I'm inoculated. I've suffered this pain for so long. …The West has packed the whole world on a runaway train. We are on the road to extincting ourselves as a species."[3]
- "Shine"
- Toronto Globe and Mail described this song as "a lush lullaby for the soul."[6]
- "Bad Dreams Are Good"
- "Bad Dreams Are Good" was inspired by a comment Mitchell's grandson made at the age of three: "Bad dreams are good, in the great plan." In a March 2007 BBC2 radio interview with Amanda Ghost, the singer jokingly said she'd promised to "cut him in" on the song's profits.[7]
- "Big Yellow Taxi"
- In March 2007, The Guardian reported that Shine will feature a "new version" of Joni's 1970 environmentally-themed hit single.[8]
- untitled mountain guitar song
- In a recent interview, Mitchell referred to a "second guitar song [inspired when] they decided to whittle down this mountain behind my sanctuary and sell it to California as gravel for Mac Mansions."[5]
- "If"
- This song, which will be the last on the album,[5] is based on the poem of the same name by Rudyard Kipling. The jazz-inflected piece features the legendary Herbie Hancock playing piano.[9]
[edit] References
- ^ a b JoniMitchell.com Latest News (update refers to March 27 BBC broadcast of new songs "six months before her first LP in ten years is released," implying a release date in or around Fall)
- ^ Fischer, Doug. "The trouble she's seen: Doug Fischer talks to Joni Mitchell about her seminal album, Hejira", The Ottawa Citizen, 2006-10-08. Retrieved on March 9, 2007.
- ^ a b Yaffe, David. "DANCE: Working Three Shifts, And Outrage Overtime", The New York Times, 2007-02-04. Retrieved on March 9, 2007.
- ^ a b Eggar, Robin. "The Renaissance Woman" (reprint), Sunday Times, 2007-02-11. Retrieved on March 9, 2007.
- ^ a b c Eggar, Robin. "Both Sides Now" (reprint), Word, April 2007. Retrieved on March 18, 2007.
- ^ Gill, Alexandra. "Joni Mitchell in person" (reprint), Toronto Globe and Mail, 2007-02-17. Retrieved on March 11, 2007.
- ^ Come In From the Cold: The Return of Joni Mitchell, BBC2 radio programme, 2007-03-20.
- ^ Sexton, Paul. "'I came to hate music'" (reprint), The Guardian, 2007-03-19. Retrieved on March 20, 2007.
- ^ Gumbel, Andrew. "The protest goes on: They bombed paradise (and I put up a multimedia extravaganza)" (reprint), London Independent, 2007-02-09. Retrieved on March 18, 2007.
