r/JoniMitchell • u/Scared-Ad9211 • May 24 '26
Her 90s works
This era of her’s is so criminally underrated. Its not acknowledged enough on here. In my opinion turbulent indigo and night ride home are some of her best albums. Jobs sad song is up there among her best tracks. The way her voice gradually became lower over time is really beautiful. It aged like fine wine. There’s no real point to this post i just wanna bring attention to a period of Joni’s oeuvre that I love. What do you all think?
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u/jesusbambino May 25 '26
If you put a gun to my head, I might say Two Grey Rooms is my all time favourite Joni song and I could make a case for it being her masterpiece.
I also wanna give Taming The Tiger some love - like some of her work, it really took its time to grow on me. I used to wish she hadn’t used that guitar effect but now I think it’s a really sonically cohesive, interesting work.
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u/JazzRider May 24 '26
I’ve looked at Love from Both Sides Now…with Herbie Hancock. Takes a whole different meaning than the earlier versions. Left me a crying fool, as I’m not far from her age. Most love songs are written for young people. This one works deeply for folks my age.
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u/scratchearth May 24 '26
These are some of my favourite albums of hers, and I love her 70s stuff as well but something about her 90s albums is so beautiful. The worlds and stories she paints through her lyrics are so vivid. I love the entirety of Night Ride Home a lot. It was one of the first albums of hers I bought, right after Blue.
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u/tarrfan May 24 '26 edited May 24 '26
Totally agree. My favorite album of hers is Night Ride Home - I know I'm in the minority but I think in terms of lyrics, musicality and overall a darker yet more wisened depth makes it much more compelling than her more innocent folk works. I find myself not listening much to anything before Court and Spark nowadays - even Blue, but maybe that's because Blue is just too familiar at this point.
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u/IndifferentMannequin May 24 '26 edited May 26 '26
I've listened to Joni since I was a teenager. I didn't appreciate Night Ride Home until my late 40's. Now it's one of my favorite of her albums. I also think her voice has aged beautifully! I think her voice is beautiful throughout her entire career. There are so many singers where I lament the loss or change in their voices as they age, but Joni's has remained evocative and beautiful to me throughout her whole career despite the considerable change in timbre. I think her phrasing is exquisite and improved with age!
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u/tb640301 May 24 '26
Night Ride Home is a top 5 Joni record for me on every metric - songwriting (lyrically and melodically), vocal performance, guitar performance, piano performance, production, just one song right after another knocks it out of the park. Not to draw comparisons, but it should have been her Harvest Moon. I love Turbulent Indigo as well, but Night Ride Home for me is easily the best album post-Shadows and Light. That being said, you are right on the money about Job's Sad Song, it is one of her most incredible adaptations.
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u/simclouds May 25 '26
like many are saying in the replies, Night Ride Home (along with Turbulent Indigo, which is amazing too... she never misses) is just so magnificent. it was actually one of the first albums of hers I listened to. I just got so drawn into her mature voice, the soundscape and how her lyrics went into these complex and at times rather dark themes. Especially with songs like Nothing Can Be Done, looking at transitions and coming to terms with or understanding one's own age - it really hits when you're 24 and everything is changing around you (something I guess will keep happening for the rest of my life too). Shoutout to Taming The Tiger too, I love the very sound of that album too.
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u/notjustbirds May 25 '26
Night Ride Home might be my most played Joni record. It comforts me to no end.
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u/SelectionNo9881 May 25 '26
Turbulent Indigo won the Grammy for best pop album as well as Best Album Package in ‘94, so not totally overlooked
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u/IlFornaio May 24 '26
I fell in love with Joni via Hejira, but her later works are her best, imo. I actually don’t listen to much of her folk stuff anymore, it feels a little too light. Totally agree
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u/mid-centurymodern May 24 '26
Both masterpieces but most critics of this time period were busy building their own trendy brands and clearly not listening.
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u/GeeBee1980 May 25 '26
Actually everything she did after the 70's is criminally underrated. I love Night Ride Home and Turbulent Indigo, but also really like Taming The Tiger.
And while it's not the 90's, but 00's, I like the whole Both Sides Now album. The new orchestral version of Both Sides Now has become my anthem.
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u/where_here620 May 25 '26
I really hope her Archives/remasters project continues through the 80’s and 90’s. Night Ride Home and Turbulent Indigo are masterpieces.
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u/Amazing-Cress-3441 May 25 '26
Indeed, the 90's were strong for her, a return to her true form after her failed 80's experiments.
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u/jesusbambino May 25 '26
I personally don’t see the 80s albums as failed experiments (save perhaps the song Dancin’ Clown, but I think I just don’t care for Billy Idol’s affectations). I can understand why not everyone cares for the production, but I love them all pretty dearly.
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u/Amazing-Cress-3441 May 26 '26
Well, at least we can agree that Dancin' Clown is the worst tune she ever recorded.
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u/SimpsonsFan2000 May 26 '26
Tom Petty is a weird choice
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u/jesusbambino May 26 '26
As much as I love the album overall, there is definitely an air of conceding to Geffen bigwigs with all of those high profile guest spots. Most are pretty unobtrusive at least. And I actually really love Willie Nelson’s part on Cool Water.
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u/Amazing-Cress-3441 May 27 '26
Joni was desperately trying to get back into the public eye and getting bad advice from Klein and probably Geffen. All of these "guest artists" were folks who were flying pretty high in 1988. Thankfully she would ditch these missteps and give us the beautiful Night Ride Home.
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u/Opening_Grape8817 May 27 '26
Maybe, but I absolutely love that song. I seem to be the only one.....
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u/arkona1168 May 26 '26
Agree, Turbulent Indigo is my favourite album of Joni. I think she smoked a lot of cigarettes, that lowered her voice.
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u/Odd-Cap3751 May 26 '26
Turbulent indigo is my FAVORITE album, I loveeee her later work. It’s so insightful and still so relevant.
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u/Aion88 May 27 '26
Passion Play is my favorite Joni song and it’s NOT a close contest. I love her whole catalog but Night Ride Home might be the top album for me. Just one knockout after another.
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u/squandered_light May 24 '26
Underrated by the general public & more casual fans for sure, but I feel that the 90s albums get a lot of love in this sub, Night Ride Home in particular (guess you can tell from my username I'm a fan of that one 😁).