Hats off to barnstorming Barney Hoskyns for compiling new Joni Mitchell anthology Reckless Daughter, which is published in November.

I fell under Mitchell’s spell in my early teens at the behest of an older brother and was lucky enough to see her live in the gig-crowded year of 1974 at London’s New Victoria Theatre.

Even while punk raged I kept the faith; 1975’s The Hissing Of Summer Lawns and the following year’s Hejira are stone classics to which I constantly return, and not just for the peerless music. The designs by her own hand (Mitchell is an accomplished visual artist) and the fashion-sheen photography of Norman Seeff add to the allure.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Barney HOskyns, Court & Spark, Free Man In Paris, Joni Mitchell, Leonore Fleischer, New Victoria Theatre, Norman Seeff, Reckless Daughter, Rock's Back Pages, The Hissing Of Summer Lawns

//Clockwise from top left: William Blake; Jah Wobble; King Tubby; Miles Davis; The Stooges; Jimi Hendrix Experience//

An essential element of the current group exhibition The Conformist is the companion soundtrack selected by Jah Wobble.

This blends Wobble’s take on William Blake’s Tyger, Tyger (from the great 1996 album The Inspiration Of William Blake) with tracks to be expected from one of the world’s greatest dub, jazz and soul fiends – including King Tubby & Augustus Pablo, Big Youth, Miles Davis and the Isley Brothers – and some surprises, such as Joni Mitchell’s Big Yellow Taxi.
Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Alice Coltrane, Belmacz, Big yellow Taxi, Big Youth, Bob Marley & The Wailers, Buzzcocks, Gil Scott-Heron, Isley Brothers, Jimi Hendrix Experience, Joni Mitchell, King Tubby, King Tubby & Augustus Pablo, Mayfair, Miles Davis, Spiral Scratch, Stevie Wonder, The Inspiration Of William Blake, The Stooges