Inner Spark

Joni Mitchell - Court And Spark

...and tonight begins my romance with Joni Mitchell. I've never really listened to her before. I've had Blue on my ipod for quite some time now, perhaps a year or two, and I've been listening to it completely quite a few times to chill-out. On further listening, I listen to it to feel emotionally at ease. For whatever reason, to end my weekend I listened to the album twice over last night and wanted to listen to it again today. The lyrics are so beautiful for me, and then SPARK, I begin to willingly and lovingly look through her discography to see "how it all began".

You can't mistake that wonderful late sixties / early seventies sound that was popular at the time. I'm usually a techno / house / dance kinda guy, always opting for beats, but this kind of music is calling me, beckoning me to surrender to human spirituality and something real.

I must say that all music is spiritual and energetic, but not in the same way as music from this period. Reading the latest US Rolling Stone, with Jack White on the cover, there's a lot of talk about festivals, VIP areas and new Woodstock. Rather interesting that there's a need to go back to an idealized time. Am I just floating in line with fashion, or am I craving something that has become a reborn necessity?

Soundgarden was also mentioned in the magazine, this year marking the 20th anniversary of Superunknown, one of my favourite albums of all time. I used to listen to it so much during high-school. It's still fresh in my head, I remember opening it for the first time and sitting through its mammoth running time trying to decode the sound. Obviously I was too young to truly understand the lyrics, but I suppose I'm at an age now where natural experience has led me to administer a different perspective on things. I was listening a lot to the grunge sound out of fashion, I bought Nirvana's Nevermind because of that reason, but something inside me was more drawn to Soundgarden and Pearl Jam. I hold a lot of emotional attachment to the two bands.

For some strange reason, despite Joni Mitchell being "before my time", I'm majestically drawn to the sounds and surrendering my emotions to the drama. I know that new music, Avicii, Afrojack, etc. does not have "that sound" but it's making emotional headways for many, and after a number of years or decades, people will look back lovingly on their initial surrender to the music they love. I despise EDM music. I have a hard time enjoying it, but it makes people happy. I know Soundgarden had some flack, but I love'em. ...and right now I'm in completely lost in Joni Mitchell.