Joni Mitchell - Hissing of the Summer Lawns

[mavertron]

Hi there,

just been listening to this album, wow, its beautiful, one of prince's fave albums, and i can see why.
apart from fantastic perfomances from joni and many great musicians (the jazz crusaders, larry carlton etc) its sounds amazing, anyone know anything about it...??

anyone on here work on it ?

(you never know)

mavertron.

[Dave Peck]

The entire Joni Mitchell catalog was remastered with HDCD a while ago. I think it sounds great (but I'm a little biased). Are you listening to the HDCD version?

DP

[lucidproduction]

One of my all time favs as well. Boho Dance/Centerpiece is my favorite 'come home drunk in the middle of the night and wallow' suite...

I only listen on vinyl.

[Fast Castle]

Mike Shipley (shipshapely ?) shows up on the forum now and then. He's worked, if you don't know, on some of Joni's albums, as well as a tonne of other good stuff. We'd have to ask him. I'd be curious about this too.

[mavertron]

hey guys thanks for the reposnses

yes i had a vague memory of there being someone the board who was invloved on mitchell stuff, id love to hear anything about those sessions (esp the mid 70s jazz period)
Its great drunk and wallow music..it can make you very emotional, i hadnt heard it for a couple of years and put it on during a bad hangover, i can't say i was 'having a laugh' but it was a good experience, my personal faves are 'edith and the kingpin' (the way the horn holds the root note of the song is beautiful) and the title track,( i think these two tracks are basically wilton felder and the other crusaders guys) tho there isnt a track i dont like.
ive got the cd version...dont actually know much about sacd

gonna get it on vinyl tho, i bet it sounds great...

mavertron.

[sedohr]

I love the Joni stuff, expecially her first albums right up to Mingus. I know that´s a classic and is very much loved but my connection with Joni fades away from there.
I have only be able to enjoy those earlier albums on vinyl, haven´t cared for the sound on the cd's. Great news that they have recently been remastered. So bring on the info about Summer lawns and other goodies from Joni

Kalli

[OVERNIGHT]

Beautiful album. My friends thought I'd gone to the gay side when I started listening to this a lot in in the summer of 99. But I was also really into Reign in Blood that summer so whatever. I'm sometimes suprised by the wide variety and even treatment artists get in this forum.

[Sharp11]

Joni got a lot of heat for this album, she was essentially lampooning the successful suburban lifestyle.

The musicians on the record is a mix of Crusaders and LA Express band members.

The sound was light years better than the prior "Court & Spark".

It was released in 1975, when she was at the top of her game.

Ed

[Dave Peck]

Originally Posted by mavertron

ive got the cd version...dont actually know much about sacd

mavertron.

Not SACD - it's HDCD, which is a standard red book audio CD that plays on any CD player. If you bought it recently it's probably the HDCD remaster. It should have a small HDCD logo in a rectangle, somewhere on the jacket or on the disc.

DP

[somedude74]

I saw a live performance video of her with Pat Metheny and Jaco Pastorious backing her up. Damn, she just emits musical class.

[Open Sky]

Joni.

[themaidsroom]

the jungle line &
don't interrupt the sorrow are my favs.....

one of the first cd's i ever bought......
something i only listen to on vinyl.......

i love that mingus record too
and i love whatever late eighties-early
nineties summer it was that i bought
that cd

"the dry cleaner from des moines" resurfaced some months ago and i
heard it five times in a row.......i'd love to have a 12" of that cut from the
master tape......


i love joni



i just got a german "night ride home" on vinyl

but, pulling this thread way into otherness, after a five year search,
i just found a mint copy of ketty lester's original "loveletters" lp !


be well


- jack



everyone here could learn something beautiful from the hissing of summer lawns.......

[sedohr]

Originally Posted by GTR

I saw a live performance video of her with Pat Metheny and Jaco Pastorious backing her up. Damn, she just emits musical class.

Yeah, they did a live album, Shadows and light in 1980. There where more heroes aboard: Lyle Mays, Michael Brecker, Don Alias. I know I said I don´t care much for her after '75 but this concert is great. Pastorius was amazing!

Kalli

[DonPedro]

Not to be missed is "Travelogues". I thought to myself, so everybody is doing it, so now Joni gets a big orchestra too, but the quality of the stuff and the arrangements are out of this world.

All time favorite for me is and will always be Mingus.

[doorknocker]

Originally Posted by DonPedro

All time favorite for me is and will always be Mingus.

....which sounds great on the remastered CD, huge dynamics that show what a CD can sonically do when the goal isn't 'stupid loud'.

Speaking of the 'Shadow + Lights' DVD, a few years ago I searched hi and lo for this and finally bought some import from Thailand or something, though I think it's been properly released now.

The concert/band is great. Hearing and especially watching Jaco play is just amazing, his 'Third Stone from the sun' solo spot is insane.

The editing suffers from Mrs. Mitchell's art ambitions though. As much as I love her, I do NOT want to see kitschy skating scenes while Jaco and a very young Pat Metheney are playing their hearts out.

It's annoying really, as this would be a total killer if they'd issued it as a 'pure' concert document.

[scuzzywuzzy]

I hear ya themaidsroom!!...

hissing is the greatest album ever, and the greatest sounding. The thought of remastering this stuff strikes fear into my soul. Leave it alone for gods sake


1975 rocks

[jlsgear]

My 02 ...

HDCD won't give you any improved quality over regular CD's ... UNLESS your player specifically has HDCD processing in it spec ... this will be labelled on the front of the cd player will all the other features.

It's the licenced HDCD processing ... in combination with the HDCD disc s/w that gives you something extra.

This hdcd thing never really took hold for various reasons ...

jls

Originally Posted by Dave Peck

Not SACD - it's HDCD, which is a standard red book audio CD that plays on any CD player. If you bought it recently it's probably the HDCD remaster. It should have a small HDCD logo in a rectangle, somewhere on the jacket or on the disc.

DP

[twotracker]

I read at another forum that an expanded release is due out soon along with Court and Spark and Hejira, hopefully not hdcd.

[mavertron]

wow , im glad im not the only one one who likes this album !
looks like we got a lot of joni fans on the board, which is nice, sometimes it feels the only things that get talked about are the beatles, led zepplin, phil collins and steely dan...(though i must say that aja is one of the most *perfect* sounding recordings ever made)
Anyone know who engineered the hissing album ?
the sound/ mixing /verb everything are perfect. Im also in love with the bass sound.

the album hejira is also fantastic, great playing by jaco..

the tron.

[doorknocker]

Originally Posted by Bryan Talbot

Any thoughts on her much later releases?

I really liked 'Wild things run fast' when it came out, Steve Lukather and Mike Landau did some guitar work there. But I haven't heard that album in ages.

[Open Sky]

Some of her more recent stuff is really great, too. Taming the Tiger has got some fantastic songwriting. Plus, it has the amazing Brian Blade on drums.

Anyone know what kinds of acoustics she played on her classic records?

[mavertron]

hi there, i know that the buzzy string machine is a solina / arp sting ensemble.
when you play the bottom octave, they sound like that. fantastic sound. used on lots of disco records / bowie was a fan...

[Dave Peck]

Originally Posted by jlsgear

My 02 ...

HDCD won't give you any improved quality over regular CD's ... UNLESS your player specifically has HDCD processing in it spec ... this will be labelled on the front of the cd player will all the other features.

It's the licenced HDCD processing ... in combination with the HDCD disc s/w that gives you something extra.

This hdcd thing never really took hold for various reasons ...

jls

Actually, that's not true. If you're starting with a high quality analog master tape, converting it through a Pacific Microsonics Model One or Model Two HDCD processor will often give better results than converting it through other converters even if you're not playing the disc back through an HDCD-equipped player. This is partly because the HDCD converters are just very very good converters.

And it's true that Microsoft (who now owns the rights to HDCD technology) is not doing anything to support HDCD, but all of the mastering studios that have HDCD processors continue to use them so HDCD encoded discs are still being produced at probably the same rate as before the company was sold. It's kinda hard to tell though, because nobody is collecting this information anymore and a lot of labels don't bother to put the HDCD logo on the product anymore even though it is an HDCD disc.

DP

[skopje]

I think she used a Martin D28. There was some story going about, that she bought of a veitnam veteran. He had his tent blown up, and the only thing to survive was his martin D28

stephen

[vernier]

I like when she herself plays all the instruments, like: "Morning Morgantown" or anything from the first four albums. Total genius.

Top fave Joni Mitchell albums:

Ladies of the Canyon
Song To A Seagull
Clouds
Blue

[mikey]

I believe that was the late John Guerin (my favorite drummer) on that album.
He was also Joni's husband.

[Sharp11]

Originally Posted by mikey

I believe that was the late John Guerin (my favorite drummer) on that album.
He was also Joni's husband.

Yes, that's Guerin alright, he also did the arrangement of the instrumental break in the title cut.

He's the sole (soul) drummer behind many of her mid-70's albums.

Ed

[Mike O]

Originally Posted by Sharp11

Yes, that's Guerin alright, he also did the arrangement of the instrumental break in the title cut.

He's the sole (soul) drummer behind many of her mid-70's albums.

Ed

I believe credited as co-writer of title track (Hissing of Summer Lawns) as well. This album is a great example of the best of the system of studio musicians, etc. that was in place at that time. A major part of my record collection was acquired by simply buying albums (yes those) that featured these guys.

Jack mentioned Night Ride Home. A equally great record. Mike Shipley mixed that one for sure. Stellar mix. I would love to hear his comments on the how it came to him, format, etc.

Originally released on CD, I would love to hear Jack's vinyl to compare mastering, especially bass translation.

[shipshape]

I was lucky enough to work with Joni on four records,and I have to say that they were some of the most interesting and creative records I;ve worked on.
Henry Lewy , the engineer who did all Joni's earlier records was a fantastic old school engineer , of a breed that barely exists today. They made such beautiful records. I love all her early records and when I was asked to work with her , I couldnt believe it. I was such a fan .
I ended up putting a studio in her house because she liked to experiment so much , it was crazy to keep going into commercial studios ,so we put a hot rodded trident into the studio space , where we recorded also, we did "Night Ride Home " there first and it worked out fine ,so we did all the rest of the records there.
Mixing them with bare bones automation was a chore but the vibe of the studio was so good , we just recorded and mixed there .
Joni would come up with ideas so fast and we would have to get them on tape immediately because often she couldnt play the part a second time until she heard back what she had played and learnt what she had played !! so that she could replay it for another take , she is so creative , I cant remember how many guitars she had , all in different tunings that she had made up , she really plays guitar like no one else and a lot of fun was when she would tell stories of the early days when Jimi Hendrix would be sitting by the stage with a tape recorder so he could work out her tunings.
I remember when we were in England for a while and we met up with Robert Plant and he went on about how influential she was to Led Zeppelin with her songs and guitar tunings.
I could fill a book with the stories she told about the amazing experiences she has had . the times when all the bands would get together in Laurel Canyon , and Jam.
Of course in the latter years , everyone would just want her to write "like she used to"...... but Joni Just wanted to experiment and some of the later records were no where near as popular ,but she did what she wanted and I had the best time !!! sorry to go on so long but she really is amazing and I learnt a lot from her.
Peace Shipshape

[themaidsroom]

yo shipshape

i love all those records
you do beautiful work.....

we have some mutual friends

i love "stay in touch" from taming the tiger

be well


- jack