Maps of Music

Court and Spark (1974)

Where the lyrics of Court and Spark take you, and where it was really made.

Mitchell released no album in 1973, the first such year of her professional career, and spent it making the record that became her most successful album.

Key places

Recording studio in Los Angeles (1974)

Recording site A&M Recording Studios — Mitchell spent most of 1973 in the recording studio creating the album. The record was made with a number of top Los Angeles musicians. A&M Studios is listed as the recording place. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Court and Spark is the sixth studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell.
• Released by Asylum Records in January 1974.
• It mixes the folk rock style of her earlier albums with jazz elements.
• It is her most successful album.

Background

• Mitchell did not release a new album in 1973, the first year she had not done so in her professional career.
• Her previous album, For the Roses, came out in November 1972.
• She decided to spend the whole of the next year writing and recording a new album that showed her growing interest in new sounds, jazz in particular.
• She performed less often on stage in 1973: a benefit concert in April, then two shows at The Corral Club in August, accompanied by Neil Young.

Recording

• Mitchell spent most of 1973 in the recording studio.
• She worked with engineer Henry Lewy.
• A number of top Los Angeles musicians took part, including members of the Crusaders and Tom Scott's L.A. Express.
• Robbie Robertson, David Crosby and Graham Nash made cameo appearances.
• Cheech & Chong added a touch of comedy.

Cover

• The cover painting is by Joni Mitchell.
• The photography is by Norman Seeff.
• Anthony Hudson handled the art direction and design.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · pt.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

• Canadian and American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and painter, born Roberta Joan Anderson in 1943 in Fort Macleod, Alberta.

Formation

• Began singing in Saskatoon nightclubs, then performed in Calgary and Toronto before moving to the United States in 1965.
• Her songs were first recorded by other singers, which helped her sign with Reprise Records.
• Debut album Song to a Seagull was released in 1968.

Career

• Blue (1971) is often cited as one of the greatest albums of all time.
• Court and Spark (1974) moved toward jazz influences and became her best-selling album.
• Collaborated with jazz musicians including Jaco Pastorius, Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny, and Charles Mingus.
• Won eleven Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997.
• Returned to live performance in 2022 at the Newport Folk Festival after a 2015 brain aneurysm.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Immediate commercial and critical success on release.
• The Village Voice Pazz & Jop critics poll voted it the best album of 1974.
• Its success was reaffirmed when the follow-up single Help Me was released in March 1974.

Reappraisal

• Rolling Stone: ranked number 110 in its 2020 revised list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
• Rolling Stone: ranked number 111 in 2003 and number 114 in its 2012 revised list.
• Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums: voted number 116 in 2000.
• Inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2004.

Records

• Billboard album chart: peaked at No. 2 and stayed there for four weeks.
• Canada: No. 1.
• US Cashbox and Record World charts: topped each for one week.
• RIAA: gold on 27 February 1974; platinum and double platinum on 12 December 1997.
• The double platinum certification is the highest of Mitchell's career.
• Help Me reached No. 7 on the Hot 100 and No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org · fr.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The single Raised on Robbery came out on 1 December 1973, her first single in over a year, and reached No. 65 on the Billboard Singles Chart.
• Help Me became her first and only top 10 Billboard single.
• At a playback in 1979 for Rolling Stone's Cameron Crowe, Mitchell said Bob Dylan fell asleep while hearing the newly finished album.
• Stevie Nicks recalled taking LSD to the album and called it a pretty dynamic experience.
• Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong provided background voices on Twisted.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org

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