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Last year Joni Mitchell and Rhino stunned fans with the announcement of the Joni Mitchell Archives, an ongoing series of releases that look back at the career of the multifaceted songwriter, singer, producer, and visual artist. (Check out our interview with series co-producer, Patrick Milligan, here!)
Today, Joni Mitchell and Rhino announced the next volume in the series: The Reprise Albums (1968-1971), to be released June 25, just fifty years and three days after she released Blue on June 22, 1971. The 4-CD or 4-LP set collects her first four albums, which feature some of her most enduring work: Song To A Seagull (featuring the essential tracks "Cactus Tree" and "Marcie"), Clouds ("Chelsea Morning" and "Both Sides Now"), Ladies of the Canyon ("Big Yellow Taxi," "The Circle Game," "Woodstock") and the timeless Blue (featuring "River" and "A Case of You"), which recently landed on Rolling Stone's list of 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
All the music on The Reprise Albums (1968-1971) has been newly remastered by Bernie Grundman and it also premieres a new mix of Song To A Seagull by Matt Lee and Joni Mitchell. In interviews, Joni has applauded her producer David Crosby's choice to keep her songs sparse as in her live shows, but also expressed dissatisfaction over the chamber reverb that it had been said was baked into the tapes. The new mix honors the sonic fingerprint of the original while dialing back some of that reverb. For fans, it will be a whole new way of experiencing Joni's first artistic statement.
The box set is handsomely packaged in a deluxe slipcase and adorned with a newly discovered self-portrait of the artist from the era. You'll also find new liner notes by Brandi Carlile, a friend and admirer of Joni Mitchell and 6-time Grammy winner in her own right.
If you purchase directly from Joni Mitchell's online shop (in the U.S. or through the new EU storefront launched today), you'll get a 7"x7" print of the album artwork - one per copy purchased, no matter the format. But vinyl enthusiasts will want to act quickly on this one, as the LP edition of The Reprise Albums (1968-1971) is limited to just 10,000 copies.
And speaking of Mitchell's online store, today marks the launch of the first official Joni Mitchell merchandise line. You'll find a plethora of exclusive Joni Mitchell Archives-emblazoned memorabilia, as well as album cover T-shirts.
As for the vault material that fans are craving? Joni and Rhino promise that Joni Mitchell Archives Vol.2: The Reprise Years (1968-1971) will follow later this year with a wealth of unreleased studio and live recordings. "Mitchell continues to be intimately involved in producing these collections, lending her vision and personal touch to every element of the projects," Rhino representatives said in the press release. "Future releases in the Archives series will arrive in a similar manner, with a boxed set focused on studio albums from a specific era, followed by an official Archives release looking at unreleased audio from the same period."
As Brandi Carlile writes in her notes, "No matter what we are dealing with in these times we can rejoice and know that of all the ages we could have lived through, we lived in the time of Joni Mitchell." The four albums on The Reprise Albums (1968-1971) remind us how lucky we are with a stunning portrait of an artist finding her voice.
The Reprise Albums (1968-1971) arrives on 4-CD, limited edition 4-LP, and digital on June 25. [This date has been pushed back one week, to July 2.] You can pre-order your set from the links below and preview the set with the new remaster of "A Case of You."
Watch: "A Case of You (2021 Remaster)"
Joni Mitchell, The Reprise Albums (1968-1971) (Rhino, 2021) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
Music + print bundle: Joni store
CD / LP 1: Song To A Seagull (new mix by Matt Lee and Joni Mitchell) (original mix released as Reprise LP RS-6293, 1968)
I Came To the City:
- I Had A King
- Michael From Moutains
- Night in the City
- Marcie
- Nathan La Franeer
Out of the City and Down to the Seaside: - Sisotowbell Lane
- The Dawntreader
- The Pirate of Penance
- Song to a Seagull
- Cactus Tree
CD / LP 2: Clouds (remastered -- originally master released on Reprise LP RS-6341, 1969)
- Tin Angel
- Chelsea Morning
- I Don't Know Where I Stand
- That Song About the Midway
- Roses Blue
- The Gallery
- I Think I Understand
- Songs to Aging Children Come
- The Fiddle and the Drum
- Both Sides Now
CD / LP 3: Ladies of the Canyon (remastered -- originally master released on Reprise LP RS-6376, 1970)
- Morning Morgantown
- For Free
- Conversation
- Ladies of the Canyon
- Willie
- The Arrangement
- Rainy Night House
- The Priest
- Blue Boy
- Big Yellow Taxi
- Woodstock
- The Circle Game
CD / LP 4: Blue (remastered -- originally master released on Reprise LP MS-2038, 1971)
- All I Want
- My Old Man
- Little Green
- Carey
- Blue
- California
- This Flight Tonight
- River
- A Case of You
- The Last Time I Saw Richard
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This is kinda disappointed. I was hoping for more unreleased material like Vol. 1.
But this isn't Archives Vol. 2. Per the article:
"Joni and Rhino promise that Joni Mitchell Archives Vol.2: The Reprise Years (1968-1971) will follow later this year with a wealth of unreleased studio and live recordings."
I can live without the remastered albums, but it's not like her catalogue has been recycled all that much over the years. If remastering and reissuing her main albums helps to subsidize the Archives project, that's great.
If you enjoy her first four albums and have a good audio setup I think the new masterings will be worth buying, if the recent hi-def single release of "A Case Of You" is an accurate indication.
Yeah, I'm dissapointed too.
Does anybody know whether to set will include high-resolution digital downloads?
Not included. There will be hi-res from places like HDTracks, though.
Hopefully these will have been transferred to high def on equipment capable of true 24-bit transfers, which I've read wasn't the case with what's currently available in high def.
i'm very happy. A remastered Joni set .. beam me up Scotty .. i've pre-ordered. Many thanks for your post.
For once I got in in time for the extra stuff. I’m curious how the sound will be on these. Too bad no bonus cuts of any kind.
As Patrick Milligan, the co-producer of the series has indicated, the team has chosen to let the albums be the artistic statement without tacking tracks on at the end. Rarities and unreleased tracks (and apparently there are plenty!) will be on the Archives box sets with original albums getting remastered on future Albums box sets.
"Rarities and unreleased tracks (and apparently there are plenty!) will be on the Archives box sets."
Pretty amazing considering that the only outtake we know of from those first albums sessions is "Hunter" (AKA "The Good Samaritan"), which was supposed to be on the first version of "Blue".
There'll probably be a bunch of live recordings like the 1972 Carnegie Hall show in the second volume of the Archive series, but if they managed to find some studio outtakes or alternate takes that would be great.
I don`t see no links for the EU store. What`s the point in telling us there`s an EU Store but no more info?
If you click on the link provided, you will see that the U.S. currency in the upper right hand corner (represented by a flag) can be switched to GBP or Euros.
For direct access: https://eurostore.jonimitchell.com/UK for the U.K. and https://eurostore.jonimitchell.com/eu for the EU.
Thank you Joe.
Instant purchase.
For someone whose only had the “Hits” album, this seems like a good way to explore more of her classic period instead of searching for the out-of-print first 10 album collection at an affordable price.
I already own the DCC gold remastered Blue CD along with the Japanese HDCD pressings of Song To A Seagull and Ladies Of The Canyon. Any speculation if the sound quality of Joni Mitchell The Reprise Albums (1968-1971) will be a further improvement?
Comparing the high def release of "A Case Of You", the new remaster sounds much better to my ears. Same dynamic range as the original CD (non-HDCD decoded) of 9, yet clearer and more present.
For direct access: https://eurostore.jonimitchell.com/UK for the U.K. and https://eurostore.jonimitchell.com/eu for the EU.
Those links don't work.
Wow! Those are my four very favorite Joni Mitchell albums, and Song to a Seagull is my all-time favorite album by her. It will be interesting to hear the new mix of that album. I'm curious to know how different it will sound from the version that I know and have loved for years. Although I already have these 4 albums on CD, I definitely want to get this collection for the remastered sound. I got the Archives Vol. 1 box set last year and am really looking forward to the upcoming Archives Vol. 2 box set.
Above is a paragraph it read:
In interviews, Joni has applauded her producer David Crosby’s choice to keep her songs sparse as in her live shows, but also expressed dissatisfaction over the chamber reverb that it had been said was baked into the tapes. The new mix honors the sonic fingerprint of the original while dialing back some of that reverb. For fans, it will be a whole new way of experiencing Joni’s first artistic statement.
Can someone explain what chamber reverb, being baked in, means? Also 'Sonic fingerprint'? I am so excited and ready to get my set! Thank you, Joni!!
I don’t Understand what Joni has allowed (if she has) to be done with her in-com-pa-ra-ble debut album Song to a Seagull. The splendidly chiming guitars in Dawntreader are a treat but the voice sounds somehow sweetened, compressed, maybe it’s my speakers. But what I find totally unforgivable is the cavernous vocal track on Pirate, horrendous! Crosby says he busted his guts precisely to keep prodoocers OFF this unparallelled album, but some dumb cluck has finally managed it - apparently with Joni’s collaboration, if so I worry even more about her health. What a bring down. Back to the original I’ve been listening to for over 50 years!