A Case of Joni

For all their snark and hipster than thou bullshit--which ultimately only serves to encourage their sheep-like following to erroneously believe they are both "in the know" and somehow above the contempt of the writers and editors--the folks at the dreaded Pitchfork have a surprisingly knowledgeable and nuanced grasp on the classic rock thingie, as evidenced by their reviews of The Beatles remasters and overview of the Yes catalog.

The batting average continues to rise in this regard with their take on the Joni Mitchell no-frills box set, The Studio Years, 1969-1979 [Rhino-2012], which does little more than compile the particular 10-album, 11 year output of this seminal singer/songwriter, a period considered "a striking reminder [of how] no single artist has had a run like" Mitchell. But whatever the box set may lack in terms of extras--a bold move in these days of ever-dwindling record sales--the Pitchfork overview makes up for with valuable insight on "an innovator of singular talent, whose influence was vast, immediate and long lasting". Indeed.