Court and Spark
	no production credits
	Released on February 1974
	UK CHART POSITION #14 . . . US CHART POSITION #2 . . . 2x PLATINUM RECORD
	Find it at GEMM
7E-1001 cover [high resolution photo]

T he lady blooms on Court and Spark as jazz, pop and poetry converge to create a rainbow. Though her most challenging work to date, Court and Spark is also her most accessible to pop fans. Songs like “Down To You,” which would have been bone-dry piano recitals in the past, are colored with clever orchestration. And songs that once included a bass or drums for a skeletal frame (“California,” “Electricity”) are now supple, sultry, fleshy beauties: “Help Me,” “Just Like This Train.” As much as the Seventies is stained by disco, it was also a time when musical styles really swung, which is to say changed partners often. So you might find country and rock together, jazz and pop, folk and rock. The idea, in part, was to elevate the popular medium of music (the other part was to look smart and still sell records). With Court and Spark, Joni Mitchell began to let go of folk’s frail hand and embrace jazz as the higher expression. Not everybody was willing to make the journey with Joni, especially on “difficult” albums like Mingus, but Court is an album where everyone can meet. Steely Dan fans in particular (who often suffer from a dearth of anything else to listen to) should accept this album’s invitation. In fact, a lot of these players did accept the invitation to play with Dan later on: Wilton Felder, Larry Carlton, Chuck Findley, Joe Sample, Tom Scott. You’ll hear the same kind of great music slip past you on the sides, eyes forward on the lyrics of a “People’s Parties” while beautiful shapes pass by in the periphery. As much as folks champion Blue, Court and Spark is the masterpiece simply because it’s eminently more listenable. In fact, I probably listen to this album more than all my other Joni Mitchell albums put together.

7E-1001 inner gatefold	7E-1001 back cover

TRACK LISTING

1. COURT AND SPARK    2:46
2. HELP ME    3:22
3. FREE MAN IN PARIS    3:02
4. PEOPLE'S PARTIES    2:20
5. SAME SITUATION    3:05
6. CAR ON A HILL    2:58
7. DOWN TO YOU    5:36
8. JUST LIKE THIS TRAIN    4:23
9. RAISED ON ROBBERY    3:05
10. TROUBLE CHILD    3:57
11. TWISTED    (Annie Ross/Wardell Grey)    2:18
    
    All songs composed by Joni Mitchell unless noted

CREDITS

JONI MITCHELL -- vocals, piano, clavinet, background voices, cover painting
MAX BENNETT -- bass
LARRY CARLTON -- electric guitar
JOHN GUERIN -- drums and percussion
JOE SAMPLE -- electric piano
TOM SCOTT -- woodwinds & reeds, string arrangement
Dennis Budimir -- electric guitar (10)
Cheech & Chong -- background voices (11)
David Crosby -- background voices (3,7)
Wilton Felder -- bass (3,4)
Jose Feliciano -- electric guitar (3)
Chuck Findley -- trumpet (10,11)
Milt Holland -- chimes (1)
Jim Hughart -- bass (10)
Graham Nash -- background voices (3)
Wayne Perkins -- electric guitar (6)
Robbie Robertson -- electric guitar (9)
Susan Webb -- background voices (7)
Henry Lewy -- sound engineer
Anthony Hudson -- art direction/design
Norman Seeff -- photography

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