Maps of Music

For the Roses (1972)

Where the lyrics of For the Roses take you, and where it was really made.

The cover Mitchell first wanted showed roses sticking out of a horse's rear, and the label refused it.

Key places

Recorded at A&M Studios, Hollywood (1972)

Recording site A&M Recording Studios — The album's recording studio is listed as A&M Studios in Hollywood. The pin sits at the studio building. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• For the Roses: fifth studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell
• Released November 1972, between Blue and Court and Spark, her two biggest commercial and critical successes
• Added to the Library of Congress National Recording Registry in 2007, one of 25 recordings chosen that year
• Mitchell's first overt step into jazz, a genre that would dominate her art for the following several years

Background

• Several songs were inspired by Mitchell's relationship with James Taylor from 1970 to the following year
• Taylor's fame rose sharply in March 1971, which caused friction between them
• Lead single 'You Turn Me On, I'm a Radio' peaked at number 25 on the Billboard Hot 100
• The single was Mitchell's first top 40 hit released under her own name
• 'Cold Blue Steel and Sweet Fire' was also released as a single, with 'Blonde in the Bleachers' and 'Judgement of the Moon and Stars' also popular

Recording

• Recording studio listed as A&M Studios in Hollywood
• Henry Lewy credited as sound engineer and production guidance
• James Burton plays electric guitar on 'Cold Blue Steel and Sweet Fire'
• Graham Nash plays harmonica on 'You Turn Me On I'm a Radio'
• Stephen Stills leads a rock and roll band on 'Blonde in the Bleachers'

Cover

• Final cover shows a conventional picture of Mitchell in a forest setting
• Mitchell first planned an ink-and-felt-pen drawing titled For the Roses, which Asylum Records rejected because it wanted her face on the cover
• Mitchell then offered a full-rear nude photograph of herself on ocean rocks
• That photograph was used for the inner gatefold instead
• Anthony Hudson credited for art direction and design; Joel Bernstein for photography

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · ja.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

• Met with critical acclaim on release
• The New York Times said in 1973 that each song on the album is a gem, and that she is a songwriter and singer of genius
• Rolling Stone's Stephen Davis praised her charm, wit, and vocal acting, and her ability to explore several emotional perspectives
• Arcadia Tribune's Randall Davis found the album hard to analyze but called it a very nice album full of sensitive, meaningful lyrics
• The Michigan Daily's Mike Harper called it the folk rock album of the year, deeply personal and at times self-denyingly severe
• Robert Christgau named it the seventh best album of 1972 in his Newsday year-end list
• In his Creem review, Christgau said the music lacked the liveliness of the 'All I Want' from Blue, but called the album a remarkable work and the year's aesthetically boldest record

Reappraisal

• Christgau wrote that Mitchell integrated the strange shifts of her voice into almost classical-sounding music
• Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums, 3rd Edition (2000) placed it at number 148
• Cary O'Dell's essay for the 2007 Library of Congress selection called it Mitchell's first overt foray into jazz

Records

• Billboard 200: number 11 (French Wikipedia)
• Certified gold by the RIAA on 22 December 1972 (French Wikipedia)
• Lead single 'You Turn Me On, I'm a Radio' peaked at number 25 on the Billboard Hot 100
• Added to the National Recording Registry in 2007

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

Trivia

• The title single was written sarcastically in response to a record company request for a radio-friendly song.
• Mitchell's first cover idea was her own drawing, which Asylum Records rejected because it wanted her face on the cover.
• David Geffen argued that Mitchell would not like a sticker reading 'Only $4.99' across her rear, which led to the nude photograph being moved to the inner gatefold.
• 'Cold Blue Steel and Sweet Fire' is a menacing, jazzy portrait of her then lover James Taylor's heroin addiction.
• Mitchell's first overt step into jazz became a genre that dominated her art for the next several years.

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

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