"Along with its romantic melancholy, Blue was the sound of a woman availing herself of the romantic and sexual freedom that was, until then, an exclusively male province in rock," the outlet added.

Mitchell herself has acknowledged the quality and impact of Blue, telling Rolling Stone in 1979 that "there's hardly a dishonest note in the vocals."

"At that period of my life, I had no personal defenses. I felt like a cellophane wrapper on a pack of cigarettes. I felt like I had absolutely no secrets from the world, and I couldn't pretend in my life to be strong. Or to be happy. But the advantage of it in the music was that there were no defenses there either," Mitchell added.

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Joni Mitchell channel

"On this day (June 22) in 1971, Joni Mitchell released Blue. It was an intensely honest and emotional release in which Mitchell bared her soul to the world. Songs like "Case of You," "Carey," "California," and "This Flight Tonight" have become cornerstones of her discography."

"In the decades since its release, it has been hailed by multiple critics as one of the greatest albums of all time.

Several life events inspired songs from the Blue. The end of Mitchell's relationship with Graham Nash, her ongoing relationship with James Taylor, and putting her daughter up for adoption in 1965 were the major contributors, though.

"Why I wrote the songs on Blue, the point is that soon after I'd given up my daughter for adoption, I had a house and a car and I had the means and I'd become a public figure," she recalled.

"The combination of those situations did not sit well. So, I kind of withdrew from music, began to go inside, and question who I was. Out of that, Blue evolved.

"We had to close the doors and lock them while I recorded Blue," Joni Mitchell recalled in a 1996 interview.

"I was in a state of mind that, in this culture, would be called a nervous breakdown. In pockets of the Orient, it would be considered a shamanic conversion," she added.

She recalled playing Blue for Kris Kristofferson. "God, Joan, save something of yourself," he exclaimed upon hearing it.

"He was embarrassed by it," she reflected. "I think, generally, at first that people were embarrassed by it, that in a certain way it was shocking, especially in the pop arena."
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#3

You are!

I was expecting the first post to be one of the, "I hate her voice!" posts ;)

Here's a performance at the BBC a year before Blue came out... including the solo piano version of her song Woodstock before CSNY made it famous, and several that were on Blue:

- about six weeks before the draft lottery drawing

My number was 32!

I started college not long after; I had taken the Army physical and tests, scored well enough for Officer training... but I got a 6 mo Deferment because of an ulnar nerve problem; apparently they were afraid I couldn't hold up a rifle.

After that, they never contacted me again, and sure as F didn't contact them!

Officer training was 6 weeks, then being dropped into the front lines to lead experienced Units who were just as likely to shoot the inexperienced Officer than the were the Viet Cong.

Muhamad Ali, who had been a boxing hero of mine, became an antiwar hero to me, too:

- a small life preserver for my psyche then.

Sitting in a park in Paris France
Reading the news and it sure looks bad
They won't give peace a chance
That was just a dream some of us had

- Joni Mitchell, California