Shadows And Light - Joni Mitchell best albums #5

Most of the albums I've chosen are studio recordings; Shadows is a live double CD from a concert, at the Santa Barbara County Bowl, September 1979, with Jaco Pastorius, Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays. If you've listened to any of the tracks above you'll know what a great live performer Joni has been and this is her at her best. There aren't many artistes who transfer lush and complex studio arrangements so successfully to live performances - she does.

There are a few great concerts I can almost literally say I'd kill to have been there -- this is one of them, along with Woodstock and a certain Captain Beefheart night where bad things were thrown to the audience. Seriously, glorious music. If you want an extra treat, there's a DVD of the concert on Amazon.

Disc: 1

1. Introduction

2. In France They Kiss On Main Street

3. Edith And The Kingpin

4. Coyote

5. Goodbye Pork Pie Hat

6. The Dry Cleaner From Des Moines

7. Amelia

8. Pat's Solo

9. Hejira

Disc: 2

1. Black Crow

2. Don's Solo Paco

3. Dreamland

4. Free Man In Paris

5. Band Introduction

6. Furry Sings The Blues

7. Why Do Fools Fall In Love?

8. Shadows And Light

9. God Must Be A Boogie Man

10. Woodstock

---