This is going to be an expensive fall/winter, this looks like a must buy.

I've also been feeling a Joni listening fest coming on the last week or so..........

From Joni's Official Site:

"Jun 25: New boxed set due in November
In November 2009, Rhino Entertainment will be releasing a Joni Mitchell box set. The 4 CD and 1 DVD package will have over 85 songs, from the mid-sixties up to Joni's last album "Shine". Several unreleased songs and alternate versions will be included, plus very rare and previously unissued video performances spanning Joni's incomparable career. Joni will be contributing notes to the package and overseeing the photo edit and design.

Instead of traditional liner notes, Joni would like to invite the community to send in a statement of why they enjoy the music. It can be one sentence or a short paragraph and the best will be chosen for the liner notes for the project. It can be a personal experience with the music or why in general you like it.

An example of which might be...
"Joni, you make race-less, gender-less music."
"Girl, you make me see pictures in my head."

Joni feels it might be more interesting to hear from the people who truly like the music rather than from a critic or PR person. Submit your liner notes here. http://jonimitchell.com/linernotes.cfm "

Meh. We can easily get the albums that will make up what sounds like a lion's share of this set. I'm not paying for a 5 disc set just to get a measly handful of unreleased songs.

I'm in for the dvd, remasters & unreleased.

I hate her whiney voice.

But she paved paradise!

The box set should be titled Parking Lot and only be available in the largest shopping malls.

guess you haven't heard her lately, eh?

Is that in response to my Roy Orbison comment?

She's probably got a cigarette rasp by now.

I can't stand her music at all, but she is a good writer and different, so I respect her talent and dislike her music. That's possible right?

Joni Mitchell is awesome. Her voice is distinctive and her songs are moving and inspiring. She is the model for generations of female singer-songwriters, and her style is echoed by recent talents such as Regina Spektor. I prefer her earlier more traditional music, but have to admire her experimental forays into jazz. In her early years, she could hit high notes few others could hit, but I would never characterize her voice as whiny. Blue, Ladies of the Canyon, and Court and Spark are three of the best albums ever recorded. I am looking forward to the release of the boxed set, and hope there are at least a few undiscovered gems.

I was listening to Blue in the car earlier today, & thinking about Joni. Her popularity has dropped quite a bit over the years. I suspect it's largely because from Don Juan's Reckless Daughter on, her work has been almost always esoteric & at times uneven (though IMO, Shine is her best since Hejira).

Imo, there are very few singer-songwriters who can equal the combined strength of the back to back "trilogy" of Blue, For The Roses & Court & Spark. For that matter, it would be easy to add Ladies Of The Canyon & Miles Of Aisles & call it 5.

The only solo singer-songwriters I can think of with an equally strong 3 or more albums in a row are:

Tori Amos (Little Earthquakes, Under The Pink, Boys For Pele)
Bruce Cockburn (In The Falling Dark, Circles in The Stream, Further Adventures)
Dan Fogelberg (Home Free, Souvenirs, Captured Angel, Netherlands)
Neil Young (Everybody Knows, After The Goldrush, Harvest)

I think the same of Bjork and Meat Loaf.

And for the record, I am a huge Joni fan, and I look forward to this box set (but not necessarily the sycophantic scrawls that Joni's requesting).

Bingo.

don't forget lucinda, she had 5 in row, and if you don't count her live album, it's 7!

Steve Forbert has never made a bad album, and his first 6 in a row, at least, are excellent.

I would add The Hissing of Summer Lawns and call it 6.
(It might be my favorite Joni album)

Um, I'll give you Warren Zevon, Jackson Browne, Cat Stevens, Bruce Springsteen (that's what he is), Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan and a fella named Tom Waits and plenty more who have had at least 3 gems in a row equal to those people, although I do like Bruce Cockburn and he's an amazing acoustic guitarist.

Mind you I wasn't referring to his lyrics (which I've pretty much ignored), but to the tone of his voice.

Jackson Browne's first 3 is a very good point. I don't agree on the others.

A Joni box is way overdue, and should be super kool. Isle bee waiting on it, ole.

As for 3 s/s albums in a row, it's tough to top Laura Nyro's Eli & 13th Confession, New York Tendaberry, and Christmas & the Beads of Sweat, followed by one of the best ever covers albums in Gonna Take a Miracle (with the Labelle trio). And her debut More Than A New Discovery/The First Songs is nothing to sneeze at either. 5 in row...

And Rickie Lee Jones (Rickie Lee Jones, Pirates, Girl at her Volcano).

And while not as wild as Joni or Laura or Rickie Lee, you can throw in there Carole King (Writer, Tapestry, Music), and Carly Simon (Carly Simon, Anticipation, No Secrets).

I'm seeing a pattern there, early stuff rules...