Librarian’s Choice Book Club: Music Edition (Reprise)

Have you ever wanted to be a part of a book (or music) club? Are you curious about what your favorite librarians are reading (or listening to)? Join us every fourth Wednesday for our Librarian’s Choice Book Club. Each month, one of our librarians will choose a different book from a different genre and host a casual discussion with light refreshments.

For the Month of July (postponed to 8/12/24), Michael has chosen to discuss the album Blue by Joni Mitchell.

About the Album:

Blue is the fourth studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, released on June 22, 1971, by Reprise Records. Written and produced entirely by Mitchell, it was recorded in 1971 at A&M Studios in Hollywood, California. Created just after her breakup with Graham Nash and during an intense relationship with James Taylor, Blue explores various facets of relationships from love on “A Case of You” to insecurity on “This Flight Tonight”. The songs feature simple accompaniments on piano, guitar and Appalachian dulcimer. The album peaked at number 3 on the UK Albums Chart, number 9 on the Canadian RPM Albums Chart and number 15 on the Billboard 200. Retrospectively, Blue has been widely regarded by music critics as one of the greatest albums of all time; the cohesion of Mitchell’s songwriting, compositions and vocals are frequent areas of praise. In January 2000, The New York Times chose Blue as one of the 25 albums that represented “turning points and pinnacles in 20th-century popular music”. In 2020, Blue was rated the third greatest album of all time in Rolling Stone‘s list of the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time”, the highest entry by a female artist.It was also voted number 24 in the third edition of Colin Larkin’s All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000). In July 2017, Blue was chosen by NPR as the greatest album of all time made by a woman.

This program was originally scheduled on 7/24/24 and postponed due to staff illness.