Don Juan's Reckless Daughter ate all of my Doritosby Anonymous

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March 04, 2004: Experimentation in music is certainly not an easy taste to acquire, particularly if it's a singer who made the public smile in the early 70's. That singer is Joni Mitchell, the female singer-songwriter best known for her much-covered song "Both Sides Now." When she hit the big time with her 1974 album Court And Spark, it was her most commercial (and commercially successful) album. Just like three three albums David Bowie recorded in the late 70's under the guidance of Brian Eno, Ms. Mitchell had a trilogy of albums under her belt that had uncommercial sound. If Low, Heroes and Lodger were the three Bowie albums frequently misunderstood by fans and critics, then Hejira, Don Juan's Reckless Daughter and Mingus would be Joni's equivalents. (She returned to her popular form in 1982 with Wild Things Run Fast---a big seller---and about a year later, Bowie released his biggest-selling album Let's Dance, which was full of pop songs.) If there's anybody else on this album who deserves second credit, it would definitely be Jaco Pastorius. The former bassist from Weather Report plays on many of the songs, and practically dominates the album itself. The opening track, titled "Overture-Cotton Avenue," has about three minutes of guitar licks and wordless vocals, and some fretless bass playing from Pastorius. Other noteworthy tracks include the male-female conversation theme of "Talk To Me" (which consists of only Mitchell and Pastorius) and the title track, which might be considered the best Joni Mitchell song the public has never heard. The ambitions build on a 16-minute opus, which took up the entire side 2 on the vinyl release, entitled "Paprika Plains." With a piano and orchestral accompaniment, the lyrics and long instrumental section paint a vivid picture in the listener's mind of peace and happiness, which is why most of the printed lyrics are not sung. The seven-minute, percussion-laden "The Tenth World" is a fantasy sequence that somewhat sounds like Afro-Brazilian exorcism. The following track, "Dreamland," has Joni waking up from her dream in the last cut and explaining what she had seen. The album starts to run out of gas near the end, particularly on "Off Night Backstreets" (which is probably only notable for its backing vocals from the Eagles' Glenn Frey). "The Silky Veils of Ardor," the closing song, is a return to her popular form, since it's basically Joni and her guitar, and it contains one of her most aweing lyrics: "In my dreams, we fly." All in all, even though it is the most ambitious Joni Mitchell album yet, Don Juan's Reckless Daghter never got the respect or attention it deserved from fans and critics; it's not a flawless album, but it has enough high points to make it one of her best.