Court and Spark

Court and Spark

Court and Spark sits halfway between Joni Mitchell’s folkie past and her jazz-rock future. Yet the album is no mere transitional affair—not by a long shot. On “Help Me” and “Just Like This Train,” she displays a master’s touch, weaving romantic insecurities into arrangements that, decades later, haven’t surrendered their sophistication. The versatile singer-songwriter also finds the time to cut loose, which she does in typically elegant fashion on the wah-wah rocker “Raised on Robbery.” Try not listening to this album a dozen times in a row.

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