Transmission Impossible: Joni Mitchell

This three CD boxed set features a number of live recordings of Joni from concerts and sessions recorded for FM Broadcast in the 1960s, 70s, 80s and 90s. Starting with a number of live cuts from shows she performed in the mid to late 1960s, her full set from the Newport Folk Festival in 1968, and a couple more cuts recorded in the early 1970s, Disc One provides an excellent introduction to the girl’s live material from that early era. Moving on to Disc Two we are now in the early 1980s. This, of course, does not infer that Joni’s 1970s work should be glossed over, and indeed anyone who knows anything about the lady would be aware this was her golden decade. However, there is a notable shortage of good quality recordings of previously unreleased live performances in existence from this era. So, back to 1983 and we find Joni in concert in the Netherlands performing an excellent set of songs, new and old, six or so months after the release of her first album of the decade, the often under-appreciated but nevertheless superb, Wild Things Run Fast. Disc Three concludes the set and jumps forward another decade, bizarrely catching Joni playing at the Gene Autry Museum in LA. Performing a marvellous set, albeit one replete with any number of cowboy jokes and stories between numbers, this ’95 gig proves that Mitchell had lost none of the old magic, even after a full 30 years in the game! Track Listing: Disc 1: Chelsea Morning 03:16 Cactus Tree 04:50 Night In The City 03:00 For Free 04:08 Willy 03:38 The Fiddle And The Drum 03:06 Both Sides, Now 04:31 Get Together 05:06 Gift Of The Magi 05:37 Eastern Rain 05:28 Brandy Eyes 02:39 London Bridge 05:44 Sugar Mountain 03:40 You Can Close Your Eyes 02:13 Mr Tambourine Man 03:49 Disc 2: Coyote 06:47 For Free 04:25 Big Yellow Taxi 03:50 A Case Of You 05:11 You Turn Me On I'm A Radio 03:12 You're So Square 04:15 Solid Love 03:08 Love 04:24 Ladies Man 02:47 Don't Interrupt The Sorrow 03:53 Refuge Of The Road 06:45 You Dream Flat Tires 02:50 Disc 3: Refuge Of The Roads 07:33 Being Roy 04:11 Sex Kills 04:07 Moon At The Window 04:01 Night Ride Home 04:53 The Crazy Cries Of Love 05:09 Yvette In English 06:05 Cherokee Louise 05:29 Sunny Sunday 02:53 Hejira 07:28 Just Like This Train 06:50