Maps of Music

Ladies of the Canyon (1970)

Where the lyrics of Ladies of the Canyon take you, and where it was really made.

The album's title names Laurel Canyon, and Joni Mitchell wrote it in the house that is the subject of Graham Nash's Our House.

Key places

Recorded at A&M Studios (1970)

Recording site A&M Recording Studios — The album was recorded at A&M Studios in Hollywood, California. Henry Lewy is credited as engineer. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Big Yellow Taxi and Foster Botanical Garden (1970)

In the lyrics Foster Botanical Garden — Big Yellow Taxi refers to the Foster Botanical Garden in Honolulu, and the song has been used to call attention to environmental injustices. Google Maps · Apple Maps

Big Yellow Taxi and Royal Hawaiian Hotel (1970)

In the lyrics Royal Hawaiian Hotel — Big Yellow Taxi refers to the Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Honolulu, and the song has been used to call attention to environmental injustices. Google Maps · Apple Maps

Album story

Overview

• Ladies of the Canyon is the third studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell
• Released in 1970 on Reprise Records
• Peaked at No. 27 on the Billboard 200 and certified platinum by the RIAA
• All tracks written by Joni Mitchell
• Includes Big Yellow Taxi, Woodstock and The Circle Game

Background

• The title refers to Laurel Canyon, a center of popular music culture in Los Angeles in the 1960s
• Mitchell lived and wrote the album at 8217 Lookout Mountain Avenue, the house that is the subject of Graham Nash's Our House
• Mitchell was living with Graham Nash while much of the album was written
• Often seen as a transition between her folky earlier work and the more sophisticated albums that followed
• For Free foreshadows the isolation triggered by success that she later explored in For the Roses and Court and Spark

Recording

• Recorded at A&M Studios in Hollywood, California
• Henry Lewy engineered the sessions and gave production advice
• Don Bagley arranged the cello parts
• Crosby, Stills & Nash sang as the Lookout Mountain United Downstairs Choir on The Circle Game

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · ja.wikipedia.org · pt.wikipedia.org · www.discogs.com

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

• Reviewing for The Village Voice in 1970, Robert Christgau found Ladies of the Canyon superior to her previous work, richer lyrically and more compelling musically
• Christgau said the second half was almost perfect and the arrangements intelligent throughout, but found Mitchell's voice weak and her wordplay inconsistent

Reappraisal

• Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981): despite occasional high school wordplay, Mitchell's reliance on piano reflected a move from open air to the drawing room, reflected in richer, more sophisticated songs
• Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000): voted number 731

Records

• Billboard 200 peak: No. 27
• RIAA platinum certification
• French Wikipedia gives the RIAA platinum certification date as 13 October 1986

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

Trivia

• Annie Lennox performed Ladies of the Canyon in 1995 and released it as the B-side of her single No More I Love You's
• Jess Walton of The Young and the Restless said she owned one of the houses shown on the album cover
• The Circle Game first appeared on Ian and Sylvia's album So Much for Dreaming in 1967, before Mitchell's own version
• Henry Lewy is credited as engineer on the album

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · fr.wikipedia.org · ja.wikipedia.org · www.discogs.com

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