This week we return with another installment of Contrarian's Canon, our semi-regular series with Ryley Walker where we talk about great albums that for some reason have been maligned or forgotten about in the course of music history. This time, we explore an under-appreciated should-be classic by one of the greatest singer-songwriters ever, Joni Mitchell.
While Mitchell is rightly celebrated for landmark '70s albums like Blue, Court & Spark, and The Hissing of Summer Lawns, she continued to put out excellent albums as she entered her 40s. After a fallow period in the '80s, Mitchell forged a comeback with 1991's Night Ride Home, an album that nodded to the jazzy folk sound of 1976's masterpiece Hejira while also reflecting on the changes in her life as a middle-aged artist.
For Walker, Night Ride Home is one of the best albums that Mitchell ever made, and for him the highlight "Come In From The Cold" is one of her best ever songs, with a sophisticated musical and lyrical structure that is communicated with simple, straight-forward grace. We both also confess our love of other early '90s albums by boomer-era rockers, including Jackson Browne's I'm Alive and Van Morrison's Hymns to the Silence. Are these late-career landmarks worth revisiting, or have Ryley and I slipped into an adult-contemporary coma? Step into the smoothness with us!
Season 2 Special Episode: RIP Tom Petty
Season 2 Episode 26: Dan Bejar of Destroyer Loves '80s Dylan and The Doors
Season 2 Episode 25: Are The Killers Good Or Terrible?
Season 2 Episode 25: Mike Gordon of Phish Is A Nice Guy
Season 2 Episode 24: The National Is Back With "Sleep Well Beast"
Season 2 Episode 23: The Rise and Fall and Rise Of LCD Soundsystem
Season 2 Episode 22: How The War On Drugs Became The War On Drugs
Season 2 Episode 21: A Short History of Queens Of The Stone Age
Season 2 Episode 20: 1987 Is One Of Rock's Best Years
Season 2 Episode 19: Top 10 Best Live Albums Ever
Season 2 Episode 18: The New Arcade Fire LP is one of 2017's Biggest Disappointments
Season 2 Episode 17: How Does Mitski Write Such Great Songs?
Season 2 Episode 16: Andy Hull of Manchester Orchestra Was A Teenaged Rock Star
Season 2 Episode 15: Have I Finally Come Around On Nü-Metal?
Season 2, Episode 14: Radiohead's "OK Computer" Is The Best LP Of The Last 20 Years ... Or Not
Season 2 Episode 13: The Return Of '00s Indie Rock in 2017
Season 2 Episode 12:Har Mar Superstar Was Julian Casablancas' Bodyguard
Season 2 Episode 11: The Best Albums Of 2017 So Far
Season 2 Episode 10: The Grateful Dead Are Alive!
Season 2 Episode 9: The National's "Boxer" Just Turned 10
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