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“When I thought life had some meaning / Then I thought I had some choice . . . / And I made some value judgments / In a self-important voice,” Mitchell sings in one of her new numbers,
perhaps speaking for a burned-out generation of angry activists and cynics: “All we ever wanted was to come in from the cold.” Fans may well take this verse as an explanation--if not an
apology--for the caustic, combative social commentary that characterized much of Mitchell’s work over the last decade. But regardless of the intended allusion, the Mitchell of “Night Ride
Home” is certainly a far sight more mellow than the agitated Mitchell of “Dog Eat Dog” and other ‘80s albums. She knows too much to ever again be the sweet lady of the canyon a
counterculture adored, but this is an agreeably peaceful, and surprisingly peaceable, thawing out, characterized by hard-won warmth. Not that the album is without its ominous touches--as in
“The Windfall,” a greed parable about divorce settlements, “Slouching Towards Bethlehem,” an adaptation of a chilling Yeats poem, and “Cherokee Louise,” about a runaway molested child. But
it’s indicative of Mitchell’s sense of renewal that two songs here are written from the perspective of a juvenile, even while her sense of romanticism is most at work in other tracks that
frankly acknowledge middle age: _ Is this just vulgar electricity_ _Is this the edifying fire . . ._ _Are you checking out your mojo_ _Or am I just fighting off getting old?_ With only about
four players per song, the album’s sound is as stripped-down as Mitchell has gotten in a while: lush, smooth sailing of the sort that Joni fans who’ve been away a while will love to come
back to. What they’ll find is an artist who has continued to grow in surprising ways--as opposed to fighting off getting old. _ Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor) to five stars
(a classic.) _ MORE TO READ