Throughout the 70s, Joni Mitchell established herself as one of the greatest singer-songwriters of all time, with albums such as Blue, Court And Spark and The Hissing Of Summer Lawns pushing the boundaries of what was expected of the “singer-songwriter”. Moving to a new label, Geffen, at the start of the 80s, and embarking on yet more wide-ranging excursions that took in the burgeoning synth-pop sound, Mitchell staged the Refuge tour of 1983, in support of her then latest album, Wild Things Run Fast. Originally recorded for broadcast on FM radio, Live At The Nippon Budokan Tokyo captures Mitchell in Japan, in March 1983, during the first week of the tour. Fresh arrangements of classic songs such as Big Yellow Taxi, Both Sides, Now and Free Man In Paris sit alongside new tunes, among them Chinese Café, which features her breathtaking interpolation of The Righteous Brothers’ Unchained Melody. Both a victory lap and a snapshot of an artist in perpetual motion, the show is vintage Joni Mitchell: daring, engaging and refusing to be anything other than herself.
1 | Free Man in Paris |
2 | Edith and the Kingpin |
3 | You Dream Flat Tires |
4 | Refuge of the Roads |
5 | Youre So Square |
6 | For Free |
7 | Big Yellow Taxi |
8 | A Case of You |
9 | God Must Be a Boogie Man |
10 | Wild Things Run Fast |
11 | Dont Interrupt the Sorrow |
12 | Solid Love |
13 | Chinese Café / Unchained Melody |
14 | Help Me |
15 | You Turn Me On, Im A Radio |
16 | Love |
17 | Both Sides Now |
18 | Underneath the Streetlight |
19 | Woodstock |