Mitchell Unleashes 'Tiger' On Reprise

by Carrie Bell
Billboard
August 22, 1998

Joni Mitchell, who was considering retirement from the vagaries of a fickle music business only a year ago, has invested her latest album, "Taming The Tiger," with a newfound passion and optimism that have her label, retailers, and even the artist herself feeling hopeful about its prospects.

"My prejudices against popularity are many, but I'm trying to get bigger," says Mitchell, the recipient of Billboard's 1995 Century Award for distinguished creative achievement. "I like the way this record turned out, plus my stock has risen lately with Janet Jackson sampling me in her hit ["Got 'Til It's Gone"] and with my becoming a tabloider. More heads are turning at airports these days."

Howie Klein, president of Reprise Records (U.S.), has noticed the difference. "Joni hasn't always been tremendously available for the media or wanted to talk about her work. Like Madonna, she wears the pants in all departments when it comes to her music," he says. "Lately, she has a newfound exuberance and is excited to find ways to get her product to market. It won't be easy, but we are dealing with work of great quality."

The album launches Sept. 29 in the U.S. and Sept. 28 in the rest of the world.

According to Klein, early retail interest is positive, with promises of listening-station placement and wall displays showcasing the album-jacket art that Mitchell painted. Radio is expected to come on board with its support when album track "Crazy Cries Of Love" goes to triple-A and NPR stations Sept. 14.

"Joni has a devoted fan base who won't care what kind of album she makes, because they love her and have been waiting four years for new music," says Eric Keil, VP of purchasing for Compact Disc World, a nine-store chain based in South Plainfield, N.J. Mitchell named one of her four cats after Friedrich Nietzsche, and the philosopher's idealistic sentiments (i.e., "What does not kill me makes me stronger") could be seen as mantras for her musical career to date.

"I'm not a typical artist of my generation, as my driving will isn't broken down. I haven't even peaked yet," Mitchell says. "I'm a serious musician in that I'm in it for the music. Unfortunately, this doesn't always make a record company happy. The pattern is to knock people for trying new things, and I've had my fair share of two-star reviews. I experiment because I'm restless and get bored easily."

After tinkering for 2 years, Mitchell felt ready to unleash "Tiger." Creativity for the project was stoked when director Allison Anders asked Mitchell to write a song for a grieving scene in the film "Grace Of My Heart."

"I told her, 'I want to do it, but I'm not a hack. I can't write on cue, and the only song I have in me now is 'I hate show biz,' " Mitchell says. "She told me to write that song and she'd fit it somewhere.

"Meanwhile, my cat Nietzsche, who my boyfriend called Man From Mars because he walks on two legs and looks like a classic Martian, had taken to piddling everywhere. I got mad and told him, 'If you want to act like an animal, you'll live like one.' I put him outside, and he gave me a look of betrayal before taking off. I was trying to write the song but was going through all the emotions of loss and guilt. I hung fliers and would search the neighborhood at night. After 17 days, I had written the grieving song Allison needed based on my loss."

On the 18th day, Mitchell was reunited with her feline muse, allowing her to refocus on the show-biz-sucks track, "Taming The Tiger."

"It's a racket, a business of wet dreams, and what chance in hell does that leave women in their 50s?" Mitchell says. "Companies hang on to you for prestige but won't do anything to promote your work, especially if the public voice has criticized you. It's like being an athlete all suited up but sitting on the bench. It's hard to endure, but most artists will have to live it. This subject reeks of fogeydom and is hard to write about clearly without sounding like an asshole."

Mitchell says the problem stems from constant pandering to "hip." She explains, "Instead of enthusiasm for something original, you hear, 'Well, what are we going to do with that?' The system trains people to be purchasers manipulated by hip, in and out, hot and not hot. But hip is hindsight, so I stood my ground and plowed on. If you avoid doing what's cool, you won't have bell-bottom pants on your songs down the road."

Mitchell also gets pinned with the unappealing tag of "heritage artist." "I have to compete with myself and often get panned for not playing my old stuff. I was careful to stay out of '60s and '70s repackaging so as not to be wrapped up and kissed off for early retirement," she says. "My chords reflect my complex life, which is why my simple old songs don't suit me. It's good folky pop music, but it's like primary colors when you like aubergine. It's hard to know who I'm addressing, knowing that my generation doesn't buy records and typical younger ones reject me as their parents' contemporary."

And nothing gets her goat more than being "referred to as highminded and dismissed while watching cheap imitations use my name to launch careers and go platinum."

"If you can like them, why can't you like me?" she says. "It's better for you and almost tastes the same. It's provocative and might take a little thinking, but the rewards are limitless when the product is good."

With all these obstacles, it's no wonder that Mitchell almost announced her swan song after 30 years and 19 albums. "I was sitting here [in the Daily Grill in Brentwood, Calif.], and I told the waitress I was going to quit. She burst into tears and told me how much she loved my music and used it to articulate her feelings when she couldn't find the words," she says. "That made me feel good. People on the street have always been where I got my good reviews. It helped me to realize I still had things to say."

ALLUSIONS & METAPHORS

The 11 tracks on "Taming The Tiger" are an extension of Mitchell's longtime love affair with smooth jazz, ambient new age soundscapes, layered sounds, and poetic lyrics chock-full of allusions and metaphors. Opener "Harlem In Havana" invites listeners to step right up to a bouncy tune fashioned after traditional carnival-midway music. "It's quite a dense mix. If you don't pay attention, you'll miss something," Mitchell warns.

Next is Mitchell's lament for her lost cat, "Man From Mars," followed by a ballad of anguish and love called "Love Puts On A New Face."

Mitchell picks up the pace for "Lead Balloon"--which opens with the brash line " 'Kiss my ass,' I said"--and delivers some of her folk-roots sound on "Facelift."

She scrutinizes a current state of affairs in "No Apologies." "The introspective artist is like a canary in a coal mine in that they are the first to feel things," Mitchell reasons. "If they are worth a salt, they should turn a jaundiced eye toward society and look for a vaccine. That's the difference between artists and stars. Stars are only concerned with twinkling."

The first single, "Crazy Cries Of Love," was penned by Don Freed, who describes the mesmerizing effect of young love. Wayne Shorter's lilting sax helps achieve a misty-eyed, warm, fuzzy atmosphere overall.

A Shorter solo also opens "Stay In Touch," another mellow ballad. Mitchell says, "Wayne is an undervalued, amazing talent. He crawls over notes and has a relationship with them. He is welcome to scribble all over my songs."

Mitchell covers "My Best To You," written in 1942 by Gene Willadsen and Isham Jones. It's accompanied by alt.country pedal steel genius Greg Leisz, who recently cameoed on Grant Lee Buffalo's "Jubilee."

Hidden track "Tiger Bones" is a sparse instrumental version of the title track that showcases the guitar part without all the orchestration.

'HITS' & 'MISSES'

Mitchell's last original album was 1994's "Turbulent Indigo." Besides selling 275,000 units, it reached No. 47 on The Billboard 200 and scored two Grammys.

In 1996, she released the dual retrospective collections "Joni Mitchell Hits" and "Joni Mitchell Misses." "Hits" peaked at No. 161 on The Billboard 200, while "Misses" failed to chart. They sold 150,000 and 45,000 copies, respectively, according to SoundScan.

Her older albums, like 1971's "Blue" and 1974's "Court And Spark," check in with much higher numbers, peaking at No. 15 and No. 2 and having sold 210,000 and 250,000 units, respectively, since SoundScan started charting point-of-purchase sales in 1991.

Compact Disc World's Keil says he is less likely to base orders on past numbers when it comes to icons like Mitchell.

"You just have to carry her records, as she is such a legend and has shaped the female singer/songwriter genre of today," he says. "The catalog sells at a continuous pace."

Internationally, Mitchell's critical reputation runs ahead of her retail profile, as evidenced by an 18-page feature on her in the August issue of Mojo.

In the U.K., both "Hits" and "Misses" failed to reach the 75-position album chart, and "Turbulent Indigo" had only a two-week stay. "Big Yellow Taxi" remains her only appearance on the British singles chart, in 1971.

Monica Keane, rock album buyer for Tower Records' Piccadilly Circus store in London, agrees that older Mitchell albums easily outsell later releases. "We had some of them in a catalog sale recently, and they did remarkably well," she says.

But Keane points to the renewed success of Mitchell contemporaries like James Taylor as a hopeful sign for the latest album. "The new one should do quite well," she predicts. "We'll rack it with the old stuff."

RADIO PUSH

Reprise hopes radio will help introduce new audiences to Mitchell and whisk old fans into record stores with the release of "Crazy Cries Of Love."

Bob Angell, music director for WCLZ Portland, Maine, anticipates the album being a big hit with his listeners.

"Triple-A is one of the places that rewards Joni for evolving," he says. "She is still in regular rotation, with quite a few cuts in the library. Without even hearing the new record, we'd be willing to throw on a track or two."

Mitchell, who is managed by Sam Feldman & Associates and booked by Marty Diamond of Little Big Man, is the subject of a 90-minute live special airing nationally in November. Subsequent airings may be scheduled on VH1 or PBS.

Fans of Mitchell's live show can also catch her Sept. 18 at a benefit for the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago. She also was scheduled to perform a set at A Day in the Garden, held Aug. 14-16 at the site of the original Woodstock in Bethel, N.Y., and did a West Coast mini-tour with fellow rock giants Bob Dylan and Van Morrison.

"It took a great bill like that to get me on the road, because I don't have the appetite for applause anymore," Mitchell says.

She may give in and travel the U.S. in October or November. Meanwhile, other artists sing her praises in interviews and deliver versions of her songs--like Joshua Redman jazzing up "I Had A King" on his upcoming "Timeless Tales"--and turn more consumers on to Mitchell's magic.

Imaginary Road artist Jennifer Kimball gushes at the mere mention of her name. "I don't think there is any female writer/guitar player who has been more influential," she says. "Everything she does is complex and beautiful. Her voice is one of the most beautiful things in the world to listen to."

Regardless of how "Tiger" fares, Mitchell says the acknowledgment of her influence on the modern musical map is proof enough that the hard work hasn't been in vain.

"I don't have a false modesty. I know the work is good, but I appreciate the compliment that covers are. You can never hear enough nice things," she says.

As for the aforementioned retirement, Mitchell says she isn't sure where the music will go from here. She is certain she won't start playing the game now and admits that she is tired of being "told I'm poop when I'm great, and great when I'm poop by the looming public voice."

"Not that anyone should feel sorry for me," she adds. "I'm not a starving artist, and my career let me meet great people and see the world. I've had a hankering to explore my painting more. After all, my music bought a lot of oil paint."