The Boston Globe | Boston, Massachusetts | Sun, Mar 31, 1968

The Boston Globe | Boston, Massachusetts | Sun, Mar 31, 1968

Closeups of the photos by Steve Hansen included in the article:

Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter, Joni Mitchell (1977)

Just to be contrary, I’d love to argue against consensus here; to pitch that Joni Mitchell’s Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter simply didn’t deserve such a mixed critical response – and that it should stand as one of her peak period classics. But I can’t. Not seriously, anyway. Not only was Don Juan bad; it was the record Mitchell lost her touch – and from which, in hindsight, she never came back from. 

So what went so wrong with Don Juan? A few things, I suppose. Instrumentally, Mitchell urged towards whatever she believed was jazz, growing increasingly indulgent but near-totally lacking in reward. Even without the lyrics and vocals, Don Juan was lengthy and dull in particularly uninspiring ways.

But it was in the lyrical realm that Don Juan suffered most. Having apparently lost her poetic touch – but, judging from references to her own esteemed poeticism, unaware of it – Mitchell gave off shoddy parody. The stories weren’t there, but neither were the one-liners, the deft poignance, the vivid metaphors. In short, pretty much everything I loved about her previous records was amiss, replaced by tired scenes and silly references.

Add all that together (plus the blackface cover, a dash of Islamophobia and several instances of cultural appropriation and awkward white ignorance) and one is left with a severely unflattering portrait of an artist. Unflattering enough to retroactively dismantle the air of genius of earlier Mitchell works? Perhaps not. But the very idea that this record could dare to call into question Mitchell’s prior untouchability gives you an idea of just how poor it is and remains.

Pick: ‘Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter’

phil ochs. the New york public library digital collection

An Album a Day 2024: Day 262

Sep. 18, 2024

Tracy Chapman - Matters of the Heart (1992)

Folk rock, Pop rock, Singer-songwriter

YouTube

Matters of the Heart

please listen to albums someitmes youll be amazed at what an artists songs do when theyree in an order they made. for you to listen to. etc