#67 JONI MITCHELL - The Hissing Of Summer Lawns Demos (Flac)

Joni Mitchell
Hissing Of Summer Lawns Acoustic Demos

Unreleased studio recordings
Spring 1975
Venue unknown, possibly A&M studios, Hollywood, CA
Running time 36:43

This is a repost, if you downloaded originally from here this is the same version. If you have downloaded this from elsewhere, check you have this upgraded version as it is superior quality compared to previous editions.

These unreleased demos and working versions appeared in a radically different finished form on the Hissing Of Summer Lawns released in November 1975.  On the album Joni had continued her change in musical direction begun on Court And Spark (1974), away from her folk stylings towards jazz and what we would now label world music. 

The tracks recorded on these demos are performed mainly on acoustic guitar and piano, giving these stripped down versions a feel similar to the albums Blue, For The Roses (1972) and Hejira (1976). Missing from this collection of demos are The Jungle Line, Don't Interrupt The Sorrow and the album's title track The Hissing Of Summer Lawns. Of the nine tracks, two did not appear on the finished album, Dreamland was omitted and finally appeared on Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter (1977) in its completed form, Hunter is an outtake from perhaps Joni’s most famous and deeply personal album Blue (1971).

These demos also circulate as the Seeding Of Summer Lawns; same track-listing, different artwork, the version included here was pitch level and phase corrected by the Remasters Workshop, November 2009

1. Harry's House
2.  Edith and the Kingpin
3.  In France They Kiss on Main Street
4.  Sweet Bird
5.  Shades of Scarlett Conquering
6.  Shadows and Light
7.  Dreamland
8.  Boho Dance
9.  Hunter (The Good Samaritan) from Original Blue 

original notes below:

 

Joni Mitchell

Hissing Of Summer Lawns Acoustic Demos

Unreleased Studio Recordings

Lineage: Unknown, believed to be a bootleg LP pressing or sourced from a low gen cassette tape copy > DL'ed FLAC files > WaveLab 5 (fixed a few very small pops (skips) in a couple of tracks, smoothed and evened out the lead-in between a couple of tracks) > WAV > FLAC (level 8, align on sector boundaries) > TLH > Upload

From jmdl site:
Joni went into the studio in the spring of 1975 to record acoustic demos of some songs she'd written. These tapes included an early version of "Dreamland," a song that 2 years later would appear on the album 'Don Juan's Reckless Daughter'.

A few months later she recorded band versions of the tunes with most of the same musicians she employed on 'Court And Spark'. This song cycle was released in November 1975 as the album 'The Hissing Of Summer Lawns'. The LP was a big seller and peaked at #4 on the Billboard album charts.

But, generally, the album was greeted less than enthusiastically. The fact that Joni had ceased being the confessional sin-eater, and had turned her razor sharp observations outwards to society, was not what fans and critics expected or wanted from her. This was probably the first time that an musical direction of Joni's had been questioned, and it really wounded her. She still talks today of the sting she felt at those bad reviews. But. in reality, there were also quite a few good notices for the album.

Joni joined up with Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Review as it traveled thru North America, and she performed at a few shows in late November and early December including stops in Boston and Toronto.
Before Christmas 1975, plans began for a tour to promote 'The Hissing Of Summer Lawns', which was selling briskly. The L.A. Express were grabbed up and convinced to embark on a second tour with Mitchell to begin in January 1976.

often packaged with filler on bootleg versions, these are the demos only and they sound wonderful. I have included as a bonus the song "Hunter (The Good Samaritan)" originally scheduled for 'Blue' here, because it is the only track from "The Original Blue" that was never released. "Dreamland" later appeared on 'Don Juan's Reckless Daughter' in a studio version, but the stripped down version here is especially appealing. The official album is one of Joni's underrated gems. Buy it and give it a second chance.
Thanks to Les Irvin webmaster at Joni Mitchell Discussion List for the files and for good trading and conversation.

***

All tracks pitch, level and phase corrected at Remasters Workshop, November 8, 2009.

A reviewer commented:

One thing that I thought was pretty neat was that in these original demos, Joni sings parts that would eventually be played by horns, and there’s no place more evident than in the demo of Edith and The Kingpin, where each verse is punctuated by an echoing chorus, harmonizing to simulate the horns to come!" 

 

LINK