Maps of Music

Wild Things Run Fast (1982)

Where the lyrics of Wild Things Run Fast take you, and where it was really made.

The concert footage on the tour video was not played before a live audience: it was recorded in a studio after the tour ended, and the applause was dubbed in later.

Key places

Recorded at A&M Studios (1982)

Recording site The Music Grinder (Hollywood) — The album's recording credits list A&M Studios in Hollywood. The pin is set at the city centre, not at the exact building. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Recorded at Devonshire Sound Studios (1982)

Recording site Devonshire Sound Studios — Devonshire Sound Studios in North Hollywood is also listed as a recording place for the album. The pin marks the studio building. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Wild Things Run Fast: eleventh studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell
• Her first of four releases for Geffen Records
• Released 1982; marks her move to a more 1980s pop sound
• First album she made with bassist Larry Klein, whom she married in 1982
• Klein played bass on and co-produced her next four albums

Background

• Inspiration: a 1981 Caribbean trip, where she heard Steely Dan, Talking Heads and The Police at a discothèque
• Mitchell said The Police affected her sound most, especially their rhythmic hybrids and drum sound
• The Police pushed her toward a more rhythmic album
• The resulting world tour went through the U.S., Europe, Asia and Australia

Recording

• Recorded at A&M Studios and Devonshire Studios
• Mixed at Paramount Recording Studios
• Tour performances were recorded live in a studio after the tour was over
• Applause was added in post-production

Cover

• Cover painting by Mitchell herself

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

• The Boston Phoenix: critic Ken Emerson said the album was Mitchell's finest since Hejira
• Emerson also called it her most commercial work since Court and Spark (1974)
• He credited her belated rediscovery of heart, humor and humility as the reason for the record's strength
• He wrote that the album is by no means a regression
• He saw it as a rejection of the false sophistication that made Don Juan and Mingus off-putting
• He said Mitchell was once again confronting life and herself face to face

Records

• Released October 1982 by Geffen Records (Korean Wikipedia)
• Billboard 200: number 25 (French Wikipedia)
• Pressing note: Made in Holland on the center labels (Discogs)

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

Trivia

• The 1983 video of the tour was titled Refuge of the Roads
• The tour performances had no live audience; they were recorded in a studio after the tour, with applause dubbed in
• Mitchell's Super 8 footage shot on the road was later released on DVD, in 2004 according to French Wikipedia
• The center labels of the pressing read Made in Holland

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

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