See Joni Mitchell's (picture) in person on the main Joni Mitchell page!!! Fungus Overall Album Score: 9.1 out of 10 Joni Mitchell and jazz musician Charles Mingus collaborated on this 1979 release. Even if you weren't aware that Charles Mingus wrote all these songs (and Mitchell performed the work and contributed a bit of the instrumentals), you might have guessed that she would have gone in this direction. She's been getting jazzier and artsier for several years prior to this release, and this is probably even artsier than her previous release, Don Juan's Reckless Daughter. This album was a good thing for Mitchell, because her artistic ambitions kind of left her in the dust with her previous album, which was kind of random. This is a much more focused effort, and it's to the album's benefit. The big drawback is Mitchell's desire to put all these soundbytes of Mingus in the years before he died. It's kind of interesting in a way, but it's distracting to the jazz music! Yeah, I'm probably being nitpicky (especially since I don't really like jazz too much), but I'm being serious! If this were just six straight-up jazz songs, this probably would have been a 9.2 or 9.3. But this album does deserve the entire 9.1. What great art-jazz music! Anybody who enjoys such things must give this album a listen. My favorite song on the album is "The Wolf That Lives in Lindsey" mostly because it contains wolf cries in the background. But I like the music that's being played as well! Another one of my favorites is "Coin in the Pocket," but that's mostly because it is upbeat and toe-tapping. Yes, I'm as shallow as that. Yes, it's 1979 and Joni Mitchell albums are still wonderful. Keep it up, please! (I'm pretending that I haven't listened to Dog Eat Dog yet.) Overall Album Score: 9.1 out of 10 (This is another mighty fine Joni Mitchell album. It's one for all you snobby intellectuals to buy so you can be superior to all those damned Aerosmith fans.) Average Song Score: 9.1 (These artsy jazz tunes are a nice listen! I'm not too sure about the weird recordings.) Album Tilt: 8.5 (This is a good album but it is marred by the live recordings.) Artist Rating: 9.5 (Artistic jazz!!! Duhh!!!) Track Reviews Happy Birthday 1975 (Rap) This sounds like it's a live, impromptu version of our world's most overplayed song. I guess the point of including these in the album was because Charles Mingus (who wrote this album's material) died before the album was released. Hmmm... God Must Be a Boogie Man 9/10 This song is strange! The structure of it is quizzical. The guitar is sparsely strummed at seemingly random times, and a fretless bass sounds equally as spased out. Mitchell's singing is jazzy (and not too different from her previous works). And they break into what sounds like a '40s jazz call-and-response style chorus. This is a strange song, but it's also appealing on both the artistic and aesthetic fronts. Funeral (Rap) Why does Mitchell include the word "Rap" in these strange, live recordings? Is that hippie talk for "I went to a party with a bug taped on my chest?" Who knows? This one is a recording of a couple of guys having a conversation in a nightclub. We hear some jazzy sax playing in the background. ... Um, thanks again. A Chair in the Sky 8.5/10 Much more normal this time. Mitchell sings like a typical nightclub singer and the instruments consisting of an electric piano, a saxophone, bass and drums play typical art-jazz style. This is a nice song to sit back and enjoy. Even if you don't necessarily enjoy jazz, I think you'd have to appreciate it here. This is a nice, arty song, although it fails to be truly inspiring. It also gets a bit overbearing once it passes the six-minute mark. The Wolf That Lives in Lindsey 9.5/10 Why is Joni Mitchell being so damned artistic? ... That's not to say that she isn't being interesting! I don't know ... all this artsy jazz really freaks me out, man. This is another spacey jazz song. Yeah, you can listen to this on your iPod in Barnes & Nobles while sipping a cup of coffee, and it'll make you feel pretty smart! This one has a nice dramatic quality about it. It featuring a guitar that was made to sound like a bullfrog and wolves howling away in the background. The end of this song is great. (She goes nuts!!! .... in a strictly art-jazz kind of way.) I's a Muggin' (Rap) Eight seconds. A duet. Sweet Sucker 9/10 The electric piano has such a cheesy sound, and I really wish people would just use a real piano instead. But anyway, this is another jazz song! It starts out sounding about as sparse as "God Must Be a Boogie Man," but it quickly evolves into a typical nightclub jazz tune. It's another nice song to feel intellectual with. I can smell the cafe lattes by just listening to this! The song gradually grows more dramatic, which kind of makes up for the the fact that it's eight-freaking-minutes long. Of course, it's well done. Coin in the Pocket 9.5/10 It took Joni Mitchell more than 25 minutes to sound not-boring. This is a song with a real rhythm to it! OK, she's still sounding like she's finally able to live her fantasy of being a jazz chanteuse, but at least this has something you can tap your foot with!!! (OK, I'm exaggerating, but ... I really do like toe tapping songs.) Lucky (Rap) A four second soundbyte of Napoleon Dynamite. OK, not really. Goodbye Pork Pie Hat 9/10 The sax in this song reminds me a lot of David Bowie's and Brian Eno's "Neukoln!" But anyway, this is another very thoughtful and artsy jazz song. It's very noodly. The definition of "noodly," unfortunately, escapes me, but I think that's a proper word to describe these songs. Send your mingus-ridden comments here!

All reviews are copyrighted by the author, Michael Lawrence. Peanut butter is like the kiss of life.