Joni

May 22, 2017
In this thorough if sometimes repetitious collection of writing about Joni Mitchell, Hoskyns (Small Town Talk) includes album reviews, features, and interviews with the artist that span Mitchell’s career, roughly from 1968 to 2007. The collection opens with a biographical sketch of Mitchell excerpted from Before the Gold Rush, Nicholas Jennings’s history of Canadian music, that tells the well-known story of Mitchell’s move from the prairies of Canada to the folk clubs of New York and her rise to become the leading lady of innovation in folk and jazz. Reviews span her career from her first albums, Song to a Seagull and Clouds (seminal rock critic Paul Williams writes that “Mitchell plays guitar like someone smiling at you”), and her work with jazz musician Tom Scott and the L.A. Express on Miles of Aisles, to her later work, such as Taming the Tiger and Shine. Interviews reveal Mitchell’s wittiness, whimsy, and literariness. As Joel Selvin points out in a review of Mitchell’s 2000 show in Concord, Calif.: “The final four songs pointed to the reasons Mitchell’s fans have followed her wherever she’s gone. She knows the emotional interior of her own songs so well, she can wring them out under any conditions.” Though a few pieces tread the same ground, retelling Mitchell’s biography, for example, this collection will serve as a solid introduction to listeners new to Mitchell.

July 1, 2017
A patchwork collection of writing spanning Joni Mitchell's legendary career.Veteran British music journalist Hoskyns (Lowside of the Road: A Life of Tom Waits, 2009, etc.), co-founder and editorial director of the online library Rock's Backpages, compiles a wide range of journalism about the Canadian-born singer/songwriter, visual artist, and cultural icon. As the editor writes in the introduction, she is "peerless and untouchable as a singer-songwriter of intricate lyrics and swoopingly beautiful melodies." Hoskyns works with a light touch, serving more as a curator than editor (though he includes a couple of his own pieces) in this chronological path through Mitchell's long, respected, but sometimes-bumpy life and career. The pieces run a wide range: reviews of albums and performances, essays and profiles, interviews and features, and even some ad copy. Due to Hoskyns' British roots, the selections show a nice trans-Atlantic bent. However, they are drawn from a somewhat narrow range of publications and feature a roughly 4-to-1 male-to-female ratio of contributors, almost all of whom are white. As with any such anthology, the quality varies. There are some quite excellent contributions and some really lousy ones, but in the aggregate, they provide a strong sense of the artistic, intellectual, and personal development of someone who has always chafed at being branded a folk singer and who grew frustrated with the recording industry and critical reception of much of her work after her late-1960s-to-mid-'70s heyday. Those who choose to read from beginning to end will find a lot of repetition; this is the sort of collection that lends itself to dipping in and out of. The book inevitably creates a desire to hear Mitchell's music and perhaps try to track down some of her artwork, which at the end of the day are the reason the book exists in the first place.

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October 15, 2017
Joni Mitchell is considered one of the great singer-songwriters of the modern era. Veteran author and music journalist Hoskyns has assembled a collection covering (almost) all of Mitchell's albums, reviews of her live appearances in clubs and concert halls, and sit-down interviews. The publications represented include Melody Maker, Rolling Stone, Blender, New Musical Express, Newsday, Variety, MOJO, the San Francisco Chronicle, and pieces from Hoskyns' own Rock's Backpages website. Her songs are reflections of a very feminine way of looking at life, writes Jacoba Atlas in the Guardian. Loraine Alterman in the New York Times declares that Mitchell doesn't write love songs. She writes songs about love. Among the highlights is Hoskyns' 1994 interview with Mitchell published here for the first time. In it, she discusses songwriting ( I'm finally developing enough character in my voice . . . to play the roles that I write for myself ), her bout with childhood polio ( I had my legs taken away and then when I got 'em back, by God I danced my way through my teens ), and the temptations of fame. A must for music lovers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

June 15, 2017

This intriguing anthology captures the essence of award-winning songwriter/performer Joni Mitchell as both individual and artist. Hoskyns (Lowside of the Road: A Life of Tom Waits) meticulously compiles a broad cross-section of writings about Mitchell that appeared over the past several decades (in Rolling Stone, Swank, New Musical Express, New York Times, and others). Commentaries illuminate Mitchell's private life, musical and poetic gifts, challenging road to success, and passion for painting. Detailed reviews of her albums and live concerts offer insight into the components of her signature folk music sound that connected with the spirit of a generation and resonated with audiences and fellow performers alike. There are interviews with Mitchell at various stages of her career, including the previously unpublished "Conversation" with Hoskyns and "The Unfiltered Joni Mitchell" with Mojo magazine's Dave DiMartino--each ably examining many key, complex layers of Mitchell's life and career. This is a distinctive study of the woman who created such enduring songs as "Woodstock," "Chelsea Morning," and "Both Sides Now." The book's concept is singular, and the selection and structuring of the material well done. VERDICT Through the words and varied perceptions of the more than four dozen writers included here, fans and cultural historians will become more clearly acquainted with Mitchell. [See Prepub Alert, 4/24/17.]--Carol J. Binkowski, Bloomfield, NJ

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2017

The great songwriter Joni Mitchell, who has recorded masterpiece albums over the years that still draw gasps, is here profiled in nearly 60 articles that open with a review of her first performance at L.A.'s famed Troubadour in 1968. Compiled by veteran music journalist/author Hoskyns (Hotel California).

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.