Miles of Aisles

Miles of Aisles is the first live album by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, released in 1974 on Asylum Records. It is a double album documenting her concerts in support of the Court and Spark album with her backing band for the tour, the L.A. Express. It reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and became one of her biggest-selling records, certified a gold record by the RIAA.[6]

Miles of Aisles
Live album by
Joni Mitchell
ReleasedNovember 1974
RecordedMarch 2 and 4, 1974; August 14–17, 1974
The Universal Amphitheatre, Los Angeles Music Center and Berkeley Community Center
GenreJazz, rock, pop
Length78:01
LabelAsylum
ProducerJoni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell chronology
Court and Spark
(1974)		 Miles of Aisles
(1974)		 The Hissing of Summer Lawns
(1975)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Christgau's Record GuideB–[2]
MusicHound[3]
Rolling Stone(not rated)[4]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[5]

Content

This was Mitchell's first tour with backing musicians; prior to this she had generally performed solo, and had never organized a tour with a band.[7] She hired an already existing group, the jazz fusion band L.A. Express, members of which had appeared on her previous studio album, Court and Spark, the biggest commercial success of her career. A track from this live album, "Big Yellow Taxi", was released as a single. Four years after the studio version had stalled at No. 67 on the Billboard Hot 100 as a single, this live version reached No. 24 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts, becoming Mitchell's fourth Top 40 hit single and third in a row.

The album contains many of her best-known songs up to that time, but only one track derived from her recent album and neither of its two hit singles, "Help Me" and "Free Man in Paris". It also includes two brand new songs "Love Or Money" and "Jericho" – the latter of which she would record a studio version of for her 1977 album Don Juan's Reckless Daughter. All tracks except two were recorded at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles, August 14 to 17, 1974. "Cactus Tree" was recorded at the Los Angeles Music Center on March 4, and "Real Good for Free" at the Berkeley Community Theater on March 2. The cover photo was taken at the Pine Knob Music Theater in Clarkston, Michigan.[8]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Joni Mitchell.

Side one
  1. "You Turn Me On, I'm a Radio" – 4:09
  2. "Big Yellow Taxi" – 3:09
  3. "Rainy Night House" – 4:04
  4. "Woodstock" – 4:29
Side two
  1. "Cactus Tree" – 5:01
  2. "Cold Blue Steel and Sweet Fire" – 5:23
  3. "Woman of Heart and Mind" – 3:40
  4. "A Case of You" – 4:42
  5. "Blue" – 2:49
Side three
  1. "The Circle Game" – 6:29
  2. "People's Parties" – 2:42
  3. "All I Want" – 3:21
  4. "Real Good for Free" – 4:27
  5. "Both Sides Now" – 4:14
Side four
  1. "Carey" – 3:30
  2. "The Last Time I Saw Richard" – 3:35
  3. "Jericho" – 3:26
  4. "Love or Money" – 4:50

Personnel
The L.A. Express
Technical
  • Henry Lewy – sound engineer, mixing
  • Ken Caillat – assistant engineer
  • Anthony Hudson – art direction
  • Mobile Recording: Wally Heider Recording
  • with Jack Crymes, Biff Dawes

References
  1. Ruhlmann, William (2011). "Miles of Aisles – Joni Mitchell | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved July 19, 2011.
  2. Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: M". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved March 8, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
  3. Graff, Gary; Durchholz, Daniel (eds) (1999). MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Farmington Hills, MI: Visible Ink Press. p. 769. ISBN 1-57859-061-2.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  4. Davis, Stephen (2011). "Joni Mitchell: Miles Of Aisles : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone". web.archive.org. Archived from the original on January 24, 2009. Retrieved July 19, 2011.CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  5. Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian, eds. (2004). "Joni Mitchell". The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. London: Fireside. pp. 547–548. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8. Retrieved September 8, 2009. Portions posted at "Joni Mitchell > Album Guide". rollingstone.com. Archived from the original on July 31, 2011. Retrieved June 2, 2015.
  6. RIAA database retrieved 13 August 2014
  7. Joni Mitchell website Chronology retrieved 13 August 2014 Archived April 19, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
  8. Blackburn, Dave (September 12, 2011). "A Conversation with Max Bennett". jonimitchell.com. Retrieved September 3, 2014.
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