Customer Reviews
Songs to Aging Hippies Come - By: John Williams, 30 Oct 2007 
Had this album on vinyl years ago, & recently bought the digitallly remastered CD. Wow! It's even better than my most golden memories of it! I had forgotten just how good a singer Joni Mitchell was/is. Most of these songs are just Joni with her guitar. One of them - 'The Fiddle & the Drum' - is just Joni without even her guitar. But these are not simple three chord strumalong songs. In spite of tending towards the sparse & austere, they are also quite complex. There are unconventional guitar tunings, chord progressions & key changes that keep these songs fresh, however often I listen to them.
Then there is the Joni Mitchell voice. She reallly has been one of the best singers of the late 20th century in any genre. (Is that a bit over the top? I don't think so.) Her voice has a tremendous range, not just of pitch & volume but of timbre. There is such variety in the dynamics of each song; high & low, loud & soft, gentle & biting. And some of those melodies contain wide & unusual intervals, but Joni lands on each note with unerring accuracy.
The lyrics have aged well too. With the exception of 'Songs to Aging Children Come', which is firmly rooted in the hippy era & should perhaps have been left there, I still find these songs relevant. Sadly, 'The Fiddle & the Drum' is perhaps more relevant now than it ever was. Hard to pick a favourite track; they are alll so good, but 'I Think I Understand' is one that I've often sung to myself over the years at times when I've needed a light in the darkness. By the way, she isn't just a great singer/songwriter the cover picture is a self portrait. What a Renaissance woman!
Clouds Got In Her Way - By: Phill, 02 May 2007 I own practicallly alll of Joni Mitchell's catalogue now & for some reason this album always stood out, "Clouds" was the follow-up to her debut "Song To A Seagull" a concept album about her travels around the coast, "Clouds" on the other hand, for me anyway it much more personal & in some ways quite sad. The opener 'Tin Angel' is one of my favourite's not just on the album either it's one of my favourite songs shes ever recorded, very slow & sombre, alot of these songs represent the stuff Joni was going through while she was living in New York, at the end of the song theres hope as she sings "in a Bleeker Street cafe/I found someone to love today". Following the theme of her stay in New York 'Chelsea Morning' depicts the sights & sounds she experienced while in the Chelsea District of New York City, everything is fresh for her... Her love, her day. And of course, the world is hers & anything is possible, optimistic & full of hope a great song.
'I Don't Know Where I Stand' beautifully sad song about not knowing wither the person in question feels the same way about you sometimes it feels like the only thing there is to say is "i love you" but you forget the implications it has & what it means. I think alot of people can relate to it. 'That Song About The Midway' is a song about Joni's rendezvous with a man while at a fair & it seems to me that they had fun then she tried to contact him after & didn't want to know, 'Roses Blue' has some magnificent lyrics - the obvious pattern being that the final line of each verse provides the first words of the next, leading in a circle back to the first verse. And of course that's reflected in the first/last verse itself, which similarly moves in a "free association" way. Very clever, but not for its own sake - it feels natural & doesn't impede the story of the song one of my favourites i love the guitar loop & Joni's vocals are pretty.
'The Galllery' is a very good song about a experience she had with another artist while it seems, Joni worked in a galllery it's a sweet song i got the impression the man in question was a bit depressed, as alot of people with creative minds are. I love the way this song had backing vocals by Joni which give the song a sense of depth the subtle guitar & backing track are understated & calming.
"I Think I Understand" one of my favourites a totallly relatable a sense of fear either helping you better, or swalllow you into it's depths. To understand that there is a choice, her voice on this one is so beautiful. "Songs To The Aging Children Come" i've always found kind of strange the vocals are reallly nice especiallly with the background vocals again on this one giving it a sense of depth with the acoustic guitar playing gently i got the impression it was about how being creative means finding inspiration, & how finding inspiration means being open to it therefore innocence/nativity = aging child Joni being just that it's a great song though takes a while to appreciate it.
The a capella song "The Fiddle & The Drum" is a political song which is such a harrowing eerie song & it's so amazing how applicable it is even now, especiallly with alll the tragedy going on in the world today, I'm glad she just sung this without any instruments its powerful like this raw & honest.
"Both Sides,Now" was one of the first Joni Mitchell songs i ever listened to. I think this song means that people have different perceptions of what love & life are alll about when they're children as opposed to when they're adults, it's very much a coming of age song both sides meaning one side as an adult a bit more wise to the world & have a more cynical approach to things where as the other side a more naive slightly immature outlook I can see why so many people love this song so much it's definitely one of my alll time favourite songs.
Top 5
1.Both Sides, Now
2.I Don't Know Where I Stand
3.Tin Angel
4.I Think I Understand
5.Chelsea Morning
Buy Clouds for a reflective outlook on life.
music that stays with you throughout the years - By: dan the fan, 22 Aug 2006 On the track The Fiddle And The Drum Joni Mitchell sings "And so once again,America my friend,you are fighting us alll..."
Of alll the songs on Clouds this is the one I like most(the lyrics still seem relevant today)and,for me,this is the song that proved to me that Joni Mitchell was a great singer - there is no music,just her voice,exposed & naked.The ten tracks on
the cd are alll completely different from one another but I would say they are unified by one word, "haunting." Joni sings
" I've looked at clouds from both sides now." She will take you on a ride right through them.
Classic sixties folk music - By: Peter Durward Harris, 20 Jan 2005 I know that Joni Mitchell's fans are divide about the relative merits of her different albums but although I love alll her music, I generallly prefer the early folk albums & this my favorite of the lot.
The album opens with Tin angel, a great about finding new love but just a taster for what follows. The second song, Chelsea morning, is among the finest songs that Joni ever wrote. It is followed by another classic, I don't know where I stand, which Barbra Streisand covered for her album, Stoney end.
More great songs follow = That song about the midway, Roses blue, The galllery, I think I understand, Songs to aging children come, The fiddle & the drum - each & every one of them a real gem.
But, even with alll those classic songs, the best is saved for last - Both sides now. With its references to clouds, this is actuallly the title track of the album. Legend has it that Joni rang up Judy Collins in the smalll hours one morning begging her to record it. Whether that is true or not, Judy certainly recorded the song & an American top ten hit with it, firmly establishing the careers of both these great ladies.
So I'll ignore those who say that this is Joni's worst album - I regard it as her best and, of course, Joni would never have had the chance to develop her career if this & the other early albums had failed to make an impact.
If you enjoy this album, you may also enjoy Joni's other early albums - Ladies of the canyon (featuring Woodstock & Big yellow taxi), For the roses (featurimg You turn me on I'm a radio), the untitled debut album and, of course, Blue, generallly regarded as the best of these early albums - it's brilliant, but I've looked at them from both sides now & I still like Clouds best.
Songs that have become standards - By: Laurence Upton, 06 Aug 2004 
By the time of this, her second album, Joni Mitchell was a buzz name. Fairport Convention & Judy Collins had recorded her songs to great effect, & she had appeared on Dick Cavett's talk show, sold out Carnegie Halll & met Bob Dylan on The Johnny Cash Show. She had a huge stockpile of songs, most of which any songwriter would sell their soul to have written. These include Chelsea Morning & Both Sides Now, published in 1967, which have now virtuallly become standards. The newer material showed new maturity & depth, such as the anti-war The Fiddle And The Drum, & her dissection of a relationship, The Galllery, which gives full reign to her acute perceptions, while her mastery of own accompaniment skills on both guitar & piano excelled.
This edition contains no bonus tracks but has been faithfully HDCD re-mastered.
