Court and Spark

Court and Spark
Studio album by Joni Mitchell
Released	January 1, 1974
Recorded	1973
Genre	Folk rock, jazz pop[1]
Length	36:58
Label	Asylum
Producer	Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell chronology
For the Roses (1972) Court and Spark (1974) Miles of Aisles (1974)

Court and Spark is a 1974 album by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell. It was an immediate commercial and critical success—and remains her most successful album. Released in January 1974, it was Mitchell's sixth studio album; it infuses her folk rock style, which she developed throughout her previous five albums, with jazz inflections.

It reached No. 2 in the United States and No. 1 in Canada and eventually received a Double Platinum certification by the RIAA, the highest of Mitchell's career.^[2] It also reached the Top 20 in the UK and was voted the best album of the year for 1974 in The Village Voice Pazz & Jop Critics Poll.^[3] In 2003 it was listed at #111 in Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.^[4]

History

1973 was the first year since she began recording that Mitchell did not release a new album. Her previous offering, For the Roses, was released in November 1972 to critical and commercial success, and Mitchell decided to spend the whole of the next year writing and recording a new album that revealed her growing interest in new sounds—particularly jazz. During 1973, her stage appearances were fewer than in previous years. She performed in April in a benefit concert at the Sir George Williams University Auditorium and then appeared live again in August, twice at The Corral Club, accompanied by Neil Young.

Production

Mitchell spent most of 1973 in the recording studio creating Court and Spark. Mitchell and producer/engineer Henry Lewy called in a number of top L.A. musicians to perform on the album including members of The Jazz Crusaders, Tom Scott's L.A. Express, cameos from Robbie Robertson, David Crosby & Graham Nash and even a twist of comedy from Cheech & Chong.

In December, Asylum Records released a single, her first in over a year, "Raised on Robbery". The single reached No. 65 on the Billboard Singles Chart.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[5]
Robert Christgau	A[6]
MusicHound	5/5[7]
Pitchfork Media	10/10[8]
Paul Roland	[9]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[10]
Slant Magazine	[11]
Martin C. Strong	9/10[9]
Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[9]

Court and Spark was released in January 1974. Critics and the public enthusiastically embraced the album, and its success was reaffirmed when the follow-up single, "Help Me", was released in March. It received heavy radio airplay and became Mitchell's first and only Top 10 single in the Billboard charts, peaking at No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the first week of June, and reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary charts. Court and Spark went on to be a big seller that year, peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard album charts^[12] and staying there for four weeks. The album became the pinnacle of Mitchell's commercial success. The album was kept from the top spot by three No. 1 albums—in order Bob Dylan's Planet Waves, Barbra Streisand's The Way We Were and John Denver's Greatest Hits.^[13]

In a July 1979 interview with Cameron Crowe for Rolling Stone, Mitchell recounted an anecdote of when she had played a copy of the then-just completed Court & Spark to Bob Dylan, during which Dylan fell asleep.^[14] Mitchell later suggested that Dylan was probably trying to be "cute" in front of label boss David Geffen, who was also present.^[14]

Honors

• February 27, 1974 Court and Spark certified Gold.^[15]
• In 1974, Court and Spark was voted the 'Best Album of the Year' in The Village Voice Pazz & Jop critics poll.^[3]
• In 2003, Court and Spark was ranked No. 111 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.^[4]
• In 2006, Court and Spark was included in 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

Grammy Awards

Track listing

All tracks written by Joni Mitchell, except where noted. 

Personnel

• Joni Mitchell – vocals, including background; acoustic guitar; piano; clavinet on "Down to You", cover painting
• John Guerin – drums, percussion
• Wilton Felder – bass on "People's Parties" and "Free Man in Paris"
• Max Bennett – bass (on all tracks except "Free Man in Paris", "People's Parties" and "Trouble Child")
• Jim Hughart – bass on "Trouble Child"
• Milt Holland – chimes on "Court and Spark"
• Tom Scott – woodwinds, reeds
• Chuck Findley – trumpet on "Twisted" and "Trouble Child"
• Joe Sample – electric piano, clavinet on "Raised on Robbery"
• David Crosby – background vocals on "Free Man in Paris" and "Down to You"
• Graham Nash – background vocals on "Free Man in Paris"
• Susan Webb – background vocals on "Down to You"
• Larry Carlton – electric guitar (on all tracks except "Car on a Hill", "Raised on Robbery" and "Trouble Child")
• Wayne Perkins – electric guitar on "Car on a Hill"
• Dennis Budimir – electric guitar on "Trouble Child"
• Robbie Robertson – electric guitar on "Raised on Robbery"
• José Feliciano – electric guitar on "Free Man in Paris"
• Cheech Marin – background voice on "Twisted"
• Tommy Chong – background voice on "Twisted"

Technical

• Joni Mitchell and Henry Lewy - producers
• Henry Lewy and Ellis Sorkin - engineers
• Anthony Hudson - art direction, design
• Norman Seeff - photography

Charts

References