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The Hissing of Summer Lawns

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Untitled

The Hissing of Summer Lawns (1975) is a musical album by Canadian songwriter and musician Joni Mitchell.

Reception

The album was not as radio-friendly as Mitchell's earlier work, and although the album achieved initial commercial success, reaching number four on the charts and quickly going gold, contemporary reviewers were not entirely kind.[citation needed]

Prince was quoted in a 1985 Rolling Stone interview that this album was "the last album I loved all the way through." Mitchell herself reported that she got a big kick out of that, because he said it in the same magazine that called it the worst album the reviewer ever heard.[citation needed]

At the 19th Grammy Awards, Mitchell was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for The Hissing of Summer Lawns.

Songs

The first track, "In France They Kiss on Main Street", is a jazz-rock song about coming of age in a small town in the 1950s rock & roll era. (The song was released as the single from the album and reached number 66 on the Billboard charts.) "The Jungle Line" uses a field recording from Africa of the Drummers of Burundi (mistakenly called 'warrior drums' in the credits), onto which Mitchell dubs guitar, Moog synthesizer and her vocal line. The lyrics pay homage to the works of the French Post-Impressionist painter Henri Rousseau. Mitchell blends details of his works with imagery of modern city life, the music industry and the underground drug culture.

"Edith and the Kingpin" marks a return to jazz in a story of a gangster's new moll arriving in his home town. "Don't Interrupt The Sorrow" is an acoustic guitar-based song with stream-of-consciousness lyrics. "Shades of Scarlett Conquering" is an orchestral based piece about a southern belle. The title track, "The Hissing of Summer Lawns", is about a woman who is treated as part of her husband's portfolio, with the central image an imagining that the lawn sprinklers hiss their disapproval of the materialistic culture of the houses.[citation needed]

"The Boho Dance" comments on people who feel that artists betray their artistic integrity for commercial success, with an ironic glance at those who said this of Mitchell herself.[citation needed] "Harry's House/Centerpiece" concerns a failing marriage and is based on the old jazz standard, "Centerpiece", by H. Edison and Jon Hendricks. "Sweet Bird" is a sparser acoustic track that is a slight return to Mitchell's more confessional singer-songwriter style. The final track is "Shadows and Light", consisting of multiple overdubs of her voice and an ARP String Machine (credited as an ARP-Farfisa on the album sleeve).

The African theme of "The Jungle Line" also features on the album sleeve, with an image of natives carrying a large snake (both were embossed on the original vinyl album cover). Both men and snake are superimposed on the Beverly Hills suburbs, with Mitchell's own house marked in blue on the back cover.

Track listing

All tracks composed by Joni Mitchell; except where indicated

  1. "In France They Kiss on Main Street" – 3:19
  2. "The Jungle Line" – 4:25
  3. "Edith and the Kingpin" – 3:38
  4. "Don't Interrupt the Sorrow" – 4:05
  5. "Shades of Scarlett Conquering" – 4:59
  6. "The Hissing of Summer Lawns" – 3:01 (Joni Mitchell, John Guerin)
  7. "The Boho Dance" – 3:48
  8. "Harry's House/Centerpiece" – 6:48 (Joni Mitchell/Jon Hendricks, Johnny Mandel)
  9. "Sweet Bird" – 4:12
  10. "Shadows and Light" – 4:19

Personnel

  • Joni Mitchell : vocals, acoustic guitar (01, 02, 03, 04, 09), Moog (02), piano (05, 09), keyboards (07), Arp (10), Farfisa (10)
  • Graham Nash : background vocals (01)
  • David Crosby : background vocals (01)
  • James Taylor : background vocals (01), guitar (06)
  • Robben Ford : electric guitar (01), dobro (04), guitar (08)
  • Jeff Baxter : electric guitar (01)
  • Larry Carlton : electric guitar (03, 04, 05, 09)
  • Victor Feldman : electric piano (01, 05), congas (04), vibes (05), keyboards (06), percussion (06)
  • Joe Sample : electric piano (03), keyboards (08)
  • John Guerin : drums (01, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08), arrangement (06), Moog (06)
  • Max Bennett : bass (01, 05, 06, 07, 08)
  • Wilton Felder : bass (03, 04)
  • The Warrior Drums of Burundi (02)
  • Chuck Findley : horn (03), trumpet (06, 08), flugelhorn (07)
  • Bud Shank : saxophone and flute (03, 06), bass flute (07)
  • Dale Oehler : string arrangement (05)
  • Henry Lewy : engineer
  • Ellis Sorkin : engineer and assistant engineer

References

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