Hot Wax: Joni Mitchell

In 2014, Rhino teamed with renaissance woman Joni Mitchell to celebrate her career with a CD box set entitled LOVE HAS MANY FACES: A QUARTET, A BALLET, WAITING TO BE DANCED. It was a unique collection, one which was curated by Mitchell herself, but it was no easy task to compile.

“I wanted the music to feel like a total work, a new work,” Mitchell said in a statement at the time of the set’s initial release. “No matter what I did, though, at that length, it remained merely a collection of songs. I am a painter who writes songs. My songs are very visual. The words create scenes… What I have done here is to gather some of these scenes (like a documentary filmmaker) and by juxtaposition, edit them into a whole new work. I had 40 years of footage to review. Then, suddenly, scenes began to hook up. Then series began to form. Instead of it being an emotional roller coaster ride as it was before—crammed into one disc—themes began to develop. Moods sustained. I was getting there… When this long editorial process (two years) finally came to rest, I had four ballets or a four-act ballet-a quartet. I also had a box set.”

This year, Mitchell turns 75, and to celebrate both this milestone in her life and her career, Rhino is giving LOVE HAS MANY FACES its first release on vinyl. Limited to 5,000 individually numbered copies, the set comes in a hard-bound deluxe folio package, spreading its 53 songs across eight 180-gram LPs. Etchings of Mitchell’s artwork are featured on four individual album sides, each of which signifies the end of a different act in the ballet.

 

Here’s the full track listing and how the sides are split up:

 

LOVE HAS MANY FACES: A QUARTET, A BALLET, WAITING TO BE DANCED

LP Track Listing

 

Act 1: Birth Of Rock ’n’ Roll Days

Side A

1. “In France They Kiss On Main Street”
2. “Ray’s Dad’s Cadillac”
3. “You Turn Me On I’m A Radio”
4. “Harlem In Havana”
5. “Car On A Hill”

Side B

1. “Dancin’ Clown”
2. “River”
3. “Chinese Cafe/Unchained Melody”
4. “Harry’s House/Centerpiece”

Side C

1. “Shades Of Scarlett Conquering”
2. “Number One”
3. “The Windfall (Everything For Nothing)”
4. “Come In From The Cold”

 

Act 2: The Light Is Hard To Find

 

Side A

1. “Court And Spark”
2. “Not To Blame”
3. “Nothing Can Be Done”
4. “Comes Love”
5. “Trouble Child”

Side B

1. “No Apologies”
2. “Moon At The Window”
3. “Blue”
4. “Tax Free”
5. “The Wolf That Lives In Lindsey”

Side C

1. “Hana”
2. “Hejira”
3. “Stay In Touch”
4. “Night Ride Home”

 

Act 3: Love Has Many Faces

 

Side A

1. “You’re My Thrill”
2. “The Crazy Cries Of Love”
3. “Love Puts On A New Face”
4. “Borderline”
5. “A Strange Boy”

Side B

1. “You Dream Flat Tires”
2. “Love”
3. “All I Want”
4. “Be Cool”

Side C

1. “Yvette In English”
2. “Just Like This Train”
3. “Carey”
4. “The Only Joy In Town”

 

Act 4: If You Want Me I’ll Be In The Bar

 

Side A

1. “Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter”
2. “Two Grey Rooms”
3. “God Must Be A Boogie Man”
4. “Down To You”
5. “A Case Of You”

Side B

1. “The Last Time I Saw Richard”
2. “Raised On Robbery”
3. “Sweet Sucker Dance”
4. “Lakota”

Side C

1. “Cool Water”
2. “Amelia”
3. “Both Sides Now”
4. “My Best To You”