IDS CLASSIC ALBUMS:

In the eighth grade, I remember sitting in my room and hearing a beautiful alto voice crooning "Help me. I think I'm falling in love again," from my living room. I can still remember how those words struck a chord with me. I later stole that CD from my dad and Joni Mitchell's Court and Spark became my all-time favorite album. Her raw voice delivers the kind of song that makes you feel her pain as she sings every note. \nAt the risk of sounding clichéd, not many female artist since Mitchell, Carly Simon and Carole King have been able to capture such emotion and wittiness in their songs. Mandy Moore recently tried to cover Mitchell's "Help Me," but it was unsuccessful to say the least. \nCourt was Mitchell's sixth album and is arguably the one she exposed her true colors on. The album is rooted in folk-style music but Mitchell added a hint of jazz. You can hear at the end of "Troubled Child" with the saxophone solo, which leads into "Twisted," a pure jazz song. \nRolling Stone magazine lists this album No. 111 on the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time." But despite Mitchell's ability to make such great music, she has always said that her first love was painting and second was music. Either way, Mitchell has a way of painting a vivid reality with her words.\nMitchell had three hits with Spark: "Help Me," "Free Man in Paris" (supposedly about her close friend and music agent David Geffen) and "Raised on Robbery." "Help" and "Free Man..." both have a soft and easy ambience, while "Raised" is the most intense song on the album and definitely the only song that has a rock/pop feel. \nThe song from this album that stuck with me the most is "Down to You." The most thoughtful lyrics on the whole album come from this song with lines like, "Everything comes and goes / Marked by lovers and styles of clothes / Things that you held high / And told yourself were true / Lost or changing as the days come down to you." \nThis album offers a mixture of emotions of falling in love with "Help Me," anticipation of a lover with "Car on the Hill" and heartbreak and disappointment with "Down to You."\nFor those who are foreign to the works of Mitchell, this album is the best way to be introduced to this artist who paints emotions with words.