10 Greatest Acoustic Rock Albums
1. Joni Mitchell - Blue
Mitchell’s albums up to this point had been a wild melange of styles, with reserved, minimalist numbers and sprawling, jazz-influenced tracks sharing record space. 1971’s Blue was a more focussed affair; it’s one of the best break up albums ever made, and with the mournful palette that suggests.
“All I Want” opens things in familiar fashion, with unusual instrumentation (here a dulcimer) and melodic choices. The first truly heartbreaking track is “Little Green”, a song of loss and longing for the past, with Mitchell keeping to an uncharacteristically low register, her voice strong and strident.
“California” opens side two on a more hopeful note, with James Taylor enlisted to help fill the sound on guitar and a far more playful performance from Joni as she free-associates about her adopted home state. But then there’s “River”, the most devastating Christmas(ish) song put down on wax, with a delicate but thumping piano performance and mystical but mournful lyrics.
It’s not a sad album per se - it’s much more textured than that - but it’s about as ripe with feelings as a record can get, and whatever moon you happen to find yourself in, somehow it’s fit for purpose.