“Rudely dismissed”: the album Joni Mitchell called her major breakthrough
Various genres and musical styles witnessed an emergence or resurgence during the counterculture era of the 1960s, but the folk revival provided some of the era’s defining voices. Spearheaded by figures like Bob Dylan, this resurgence in the age-old storytelling of folk music paved a path for some truly incredible songwriters to establish themselves in the musical mainstream. Among those musicians was Joni Mitchell, whose distinctive vocal style and penchant for timeless songwriting made her a definitive voice of the 1960s.
Although Mitchell has been active as a performer since 1964, those early years were predominantly spent in local venues around her native Canada. It was not until 1968 that the folk artist released her very first record, the groundbreaking—if largely ignored—Song to a Seagull. Her early albums failed to properly capture Mitchell’s unique talents, but she still managed to amass a dedicated following with her emotive vocal style and universal songwriting.
The lasting success of later records, like 1971’s Blue, certainly marked Mitchell’s emergence as a commercially successful artist, firmly in the mainstream of North America and the wider world. In opposition to many of her folk-revival contemporaries, though, the Canadian songwriter had an endless desire for sonic diversity. As her discography progressed, Mitchell began to explore a wide range of styles, and although she always remained close to her folk ties, this exploration led to some of her most accomplished efforts.
Namely, the 1974 album Court and Spark was a major breakthrough for Mitchell. Combining her timeless folk styling with elements of jazz and soft rock, the record saw the songwriter at her most productive and profound. Not only was the album a creative triumph for Mitchell, but it also became her most commercially successful by far, reaching number two in the US charts and 14 in the UK. The songwriter herself was all too aware of the album’s importance for her career, but Asylum Records weren’t quite as excited about the release.
When Mitchell first played the record to label boss David Geffen, along with fellow folk star Bob Dylan, the pair didn’t seem too fussed about Court and Spark. Recalling this disappointing meeting, Mitchell once recalled to Rolling Stone, “There was all this fussing over Bobby’s project, ’cause he was new to the label, and Court and Spark, which was a big breakthrough for me, was being entirely and almost rudely dismissed.”
Not only was the record dismissed by Geffen, but Dylan fell asleep when he listened to it. “Geffen’s excuse was, since I was living in a room in his house at the time, that he had heard it through all of its stages, and it was no longer any surprise to him,” Mitchell explained. “Dylan played his album [Planet Waves], and everybody went, ‘Oh, wow.’ I played mine, and everybody talked and Bobby fell asleep. [laughs] I said, ‘Wait a minute, you guys, this is some different kind of music for me, check it out.’”
Despite this insulting reception to her magnum opus album, Mitchell remained undeterred, confident in her ability. “I knew it was good,” she said, adding, “I think Bobby was just being cute.” Clearly, Mitchell did not harbour any resentment towards Dylan for falling asleep during her record, and the intense level of success that Court and Spark brought both her and Asylum meant those initial receptions were proven wrong almost immediately.
Not only did Court and Spark mark the commercial peak of Mitchell’s career, but it also provided a new avenue of exploration for her music. From that point on, she was not tied solely to the world of folk, free to explore a range of other styles. Jazz went on to become particularly influential in her work, as marked by her collaborations with Charles Mingus and endless adoration for Miles Davis.
