WIWS Banner

The Second Disc

Expanded and Remastered Music News

  • Home
  • News
    • Classic Rock
    • Rock
    • Pop
    • Jazz
    • Popular Standards/Vocal
    • R&B/Soul
    • Country
    • Folk
    • Cast Recordings
    • Soundtracks
    • Everything Else
      • Classical/Opera
      • Disco/Dance
      • Funk
      • Gospel
      • Rap/Hip-Hop
  • Features
    • Release Round-Up
    • Giveaways!
    • Interviews
  • Reviews
    • Classic Rock
    • Rock
    • Pop
    • Jazz
    • Popular Standards/Vocal
    • R&B/Soul
    • Country
    • Folk
    • Cast Recordings
    • Soundtracks
    • Everything Else
      • Classical/Opera
      • Disco/Dance
      • Funk
      • Gospel
      • Rap/Hip-Hop
  • Release Calendar
    • Coming Soon
    • Now Available
  • About
  • Second Disc Records
    • Full Catalog
  • Contact

/ News

Review: Joni Mitchell's "Shine" Arrives on Vinyl

March 31, 2020 By Sam Stone 1 Comment

JoniMitchell Shine LP disc

PRE-ORDER FROM AMAZON.COM

This Friday, Craft Recordings will release the vinyl debut of Joni Mitchell's most recent studio album, Shine.  With excellent music that carries even more weight in 2020, RTI-pressed 180-gram vinyl, and beautiful packaging, this LP is one for Joni's many fans to treasure.

Mitchell's artistry proved prescient on Shine, originally released in 2007 on the Hear Music label.  Thematically, Shine is not far removed from Dog Eat Dog, her searing critique of Reagan-era policies and corporate greed.  Twenty years later, she tackles similar themes - war, political corruption, the dwindling capacity for empathy.  Some listeners have opined that the lyrics aren't always as ornate or allegorical as they once were.  Sure, there are no shades of "Scarlett," but that's not due to any dulling of her gifts.  The subject matter of Shine, and the urgency with which the message is delivered, lends itself to direct storytelling.

But that's not to say that Shine is icy or detached.  Lyrically and musically, it feels organic.  Where Dog Eat Dog alluded to big business with an array of synths, there's a certain natural quality to the arrangements on Shine as Mitchell returned to acoustic guitar and even piano after a long absence. The band of like-minded collaborators soar as well.  Building the atmosphere are Larry Klein on bass, Brian Blade on drums, Greg Leisz on that shimmering pedal steel, and Bob Sheppard on soprano sax evoking the strains of Wayne Shorter.  James Taylor even shows up to contribute guitar.  Each adds a special ingredient to the many memorable songs on the album.

Though a sense of foreboding imbues much of the album, Joni always finds a way to balance her warnings and observations with some levity.  The lively "This Place" - another "get back to the garden" anthem - pieces together visions of paradises not just paved over but sold to California, with humorous anecdotes about a wild bear rummaging through trash cans and a neighbor who'd hop a cloud back from the Heavens if they didn't compare to the peaceful BC wilderness.  Elsewhere, Joni warns of egomaniacal warmongers ("Strong and Wrong"), genocides, and a planet beyond repair ("If I Had A Heart").

She offers glimmers of hope with "Hana," a character study inspired by the 1938 film White Banners.  The housekeeper in that movie not only pitches in to help a needy couple, but she offers her tested but positive outlook on life.  Joni also serves up an updated version of "Big Yellow Taxi."  Tree museum costs soared since 1970, from a dollar and a half to 25 bucks, and now an innumerable "arm and a leg," and though the accordion and guitar play a jaunty calypso-ish arrangement, there's a weariness - but no resignation - to her vocal three decades after the original recording.

Shine borrows from Kipling, whose "If" is adapted here, still inspiring generations to maintain their virtues.  Then there's the vast, almost hymnal "Shine."  "Oh, let your little light shine..." she sings. On Vegas, Wall Street, on the struggling fishermen, science, technology, rising oceans, and all the dazzling darkness in our world.  It's an inspiring and hopeful epic sung by a narrator determined to see this planet survive for future generations.  And hasn't that been Joni's role since her debut?  On Shine, the singer-songwriter continues examining that delicate balance between humans and nature - our personal greed and its effects on the planet and our fellow man - as only she can.

For its vinyl debut, Shine has been given the deluxe treatment.  While many vinyl reissues of mid-2000s titles seem to be no more than CD rips pressed to a new medium,  Shine has been expertly handled.  The music has been remastered from high-resolution digital sources by Bernie Grundman.  And to these ears, his sweetening makes for a more enveloping listening experience than the original CD, with better bass response and more detail across the frequency spectrum. It's all pressed on dead-quiet, 180-gram vinyl and housed in a gorgeous gatefold package.  What's not to love?

Joni Mitchell has always been with us in trying times to offer keen observations, wisdom, and more than a little heart and humor. These days, Shine is a prophetic gift, a new lesson in survival in the times of COVID-19 that reminds us to keep our hopes up, to empathize, and to pitch in to help our dying planet and each other.  "You've got the fight, you've got the insight," Joni sings in her interpretation of "If."  And, thankfully, she shares some of hers with us once more...

Joni Mitchell, Shine (originally Hear Music CD HMCD-30457, 2007 - reissued on LP by Craft Recordings, 2020) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Side 1:

  1. One Week Last Summer
  2. This Place
  3. If I Had a Heart
  4. Hana
  5. Bad Dreams

Side 2:

  1. Big Yellow Taxi (2007)
  2. Night of the Iguana
  3. Strong and Wrong
  4. Shine
  5. If

Categories: News Formats: Vinyl Genre: Everything Else, Folk, Pop Tags: James Taylor, Joni Mitchell

Avatar photo

Sam Stone

Sam Stone has been obsessed with catalog music ever since his folks gave him a Contours best-of collection for his fourth birthday. He quickly began to learn all he could about rock and roll history and beyond, a passion that continues to this day. Sam followed his love for music to the classroom, earning a B.A. from Towson University in Electronic Media and Film, concentrating on radio and audio production, as well as an M.A. in Audio Arts from Syracuse University. He has put his knowledge and skills to work at prominent reissue labels and is excited to bring his perspectives on catalog music to a broader audience. When he’s not writing for The Second Disc, Sam can be found researching about music, talking about Joni Mitchell’s career, and adding another box set to his Amazon wish list.

Connect With Sam: Twitter

You Might Also Like

  • gold cd2The Year In Review: The 2022 Gold Bonus Disc Awards, From A to Z - Part One
  • Joni Mitchell Asylum AlbumsHoliday Gift Guide Review: Joni Mitchell, "The Asylum Albums (1972-1975)"
  • Joni Mitchell Asylum AlbumsRelease Round-Up: Week of September 23
  • Kinks Muswell and Show Biz BoxRelease Round-Up: Week of September 9

Comments

  1. Kris says

    March 31, 2020 at 6:59 pm

    Love this! Have on CD. Looking forward to vinyl. And that it is pressed at RTI - ohhh will be perfection!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Upcoming Releases

  • Carole Bayer Sager Sometimes Late at Night
    Sometimes Late at Night: Expanded Edition
    Carole Bayer Sager
    February 03, 2023
  • Carole King Home Again
    Home Again: Live in Central Park
    Carole King
    February 10, 2023
  • Robert Palmer Island Years
    The Island Records Years
    Robert Palmer
    February 17, 2023
See Full Calendar

Connect

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 4,545 other subscribers

Popular

  • Bob Dylan Fragments Bootleg 17 Cover
    Release Round-Up: Week of January 27 posted on January 27, 2023 | under Release Round-Up
  • Nancy and Lee Again
    Got It Together: "Nancy and Lee Again" Debuts on CD in March posted on January 27, 2023 | under News
  • Honky Chateau
    Get Back to the Woods: Elton John's 'Honky Château' Gets New Deluxe Edition in March posted on February 1, 2023 | under News

Comments

  • small faces here come the nice2
    Return To Itchycoo Park: Small Faces' "Here Come The Nice" Deluxe Box Set Arrives In January [UPDATED 12/3] 84 comments | by Joe Marchese | posted on December 3, 2013 | under News
  • the beatles u s albums box2
    British Invasion! The Beatles Unveil "The U.S. Albums" Box Set in January 69 comments | by Joe Marchese | posted on December 12, 2013 | under News
  • Rolling Stones in Mono
    Out of Their Heads: Stones Plan Mono Box Set 47 comments | by Mike Duquette | posted on August 10, 2016 | under News

Music Resources

  • Addicted to Vinyl
  • Crap from the Past
  • Discogs
  • Film Score Monthly
  • IMWAN Forum – From the Vaults
  • MusicTAP
  • Musoscribe
  • Pause & Play
  • Popblerd
  • Popdose
  • Record Racks
  • Slicing Up Eyeballs
  • Steve Hoffman Music Forums
  • Ultimate Classic Rock
  • Vintage Vinyl News
  • Viva La Mainstream
  • Wolfgang's Vault

Labels of Note

  • Ace Records
  • Analog Spark
  • Bear Family
  • BGO Records
  • Big Break Records
  • Blixa Sounds
  • Cherry Red Label Group
  • Craft Recordings
  • Demon Music Group
  • Friday Music
  • Funky Town Grooves
  • Iconoclassic Records
  • Intervention Records
  • Intrada
  • Kritzerland
  • La La Land Records
  • Legacy Recordings
  • Light in the Attic
  • Masterworks Broadway
  • Now Sounds
  • Omnivore Recordings
  • Real Gone Music
  • Resonance Records
  • Rhino Entertainment
  • Rock Candy Records
  • SoulMusic Records
  • Sunset Blvd. Records
  • Supermegabot
  • Varese Sarabande
  • Vinyl Me, Please
  • Wounded Bird
Copyright © 2023 The Second Disc. All rights reserved. · Site by Metaglyphics

The Second Disc is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com, amazon.ca and amazon.co.uk.

Terms and Conditions - Privacy Policy