Customer Reviews
She's Got The Sight, We Gotta Fight - By: Jacques BENOIT, 12 Jun 2008 
So here is the new album by Joni Mitchell in ten years.
Let your little lights shine & rejoyce, Joni Mitchell's back.
To me she never was gone though since her records rarely quit my CD player.
Releases by Mitchell are more than albums or just mere new collection of songs, each time they represent first of alll major artistic events, & secondly different milestones in her life, witnesses of where she is versus where she was -sending us back to our own mirrored image-, precious flashes of today where she stands, showing this extraordinary & unique poet, woman, musician & painter -we alll know that she wishes "painter" would be mentionned first since this is what she primarily was & still is, but I'll indulge into the lady's musical side right now since "Shine" is the topic of the day & not canvases -my apologies, Mrs Mitchell!!-
For the real fan-at-heart ones who wish they'd know what "Shine" ressembles before buying it -but any fan at heart would buy it without knowing, wouldn't they?- therefore just for the ones wondering whether "Shine" bears any similarities to previous works -which would be unconceivable coming from an artist who never repeated herself twice-, or how at least it can be positionned in the galaxy of gems that Joni Mitchell released before & so far-, well, it is true that there is an undeniable flavour coming from the Roses, between other things... Let's put it that way: this time the lady from Saskatchewan sent us Roses (tinted with the blues of despair) with a mighty wink from a certain Reckless Daughter, while the latter was drawing Chalk Mark in order to Tame some wild life's Tigers dying under the assaults of modern junk killing Mother Earth. If you don't get the riddle -but I'm sure you will since it's such an easy one-, "One week last summer" has the grace, pensiveness & gentleness from "For the Roses", just as "Strong & Wrong" is close to "Roses" in some ways musicallly speaking, "If" has indeniably be musicallly written by our own Reckless Daughter -even if the lyrics are only partiallly hers, but it is truly amazing to see how Kipling could not have found a better spokeperson, as his words do sound like pure Mitchell's!-, "Night of the Iguana" -besides being one of the album's best track-, wears the energy of some of the "Chalk Mark" era ("Snakes & Ladders"), & "Bad Dreams" (the best track with "Shine" & "If") are a righteous & logical prolongation of some of the most introspective efforts from "Taming the Tiger" ("Stay in Touch", "Face Lift").
This being said, the whole album is like any previous Mitchell's releases: very much her although surprising, musicallly adventurous ("Shine" with its so particular atmosphere & slow tempo is not like anything she has recorded before, even if the writing & structure are unmistakably classic Mitchell's), growing on you just as you listen to it more & more, & aknowledging the fact & certitude that Joni Mitchell, no matter what, in her youngest age or growing older, in revolt, mischievously ironic or just broken-hearted, with something to scream ("Dog eat Dog" album) or with just a desilusionned statement to make (this "Shine" album), with her crystal mellowed voice of yesterday or her husky & half-broken voice of today, remains the greatest & most moving recording artist of our times.
Reading the bad things she got on Amazon from disappointed listeners (not mentionning the editorial review which sounded unbelievably biased & expeditious to me), I was a bit left perplexed by the attacks.
"Shine" is not only a beautiful, elegant, unusuallly creative album on the music side of it, but also certainly one of the most coherent, intelligent, direct, straighfoward, courageous piece for what it says & contains. I was amazed to read people complaining about Mitchell caring for whales declining & not for people dying out (which is not even what she exactly said, plus!), & I certainly will not try to convince here with my own words just how Mitchell's position is right, clairvoyant, lucid & accurate -if her own brillant words failed to do so, mine as poor as they are will have thus still lesser success obviously-, but such responses just show how right she is to be pessimistic about the survival of mankind, as some people don't seem to realize that disappearing whales -between other things- mean a disappearing earth, & that there is no point in making children who will make mankind still heavier on this planet when the very planet on which these children will stand & try to feed from, simply won't be here anymore to sustain them... it's just common sense but apparently Man's egotism & selfishness for his own specy prevent him to use his brain & open his eyes. I am glad Joni Mitchell is wise, simply wise, & has eyes & brain for those who definitely lack both (-the zombies in shopping mallls with their cellular between others / if only for this line, "Shine" merits to be listened to!-)
Joni Mitchell has already opened her mouth in the past ("The Fiddle & the Drum", "Three Great Stimulants", "Ethiopia", "Tax Free", "Lakota", "Sex Kills", "No Apologies", etc), & she continues to do so. People who blame "Shine" would better listen again to her previous recordings that they claim they loved, & would then realize there is just a coherent woman continuing to inform against the disgraces of the world. Except that this time the message is just a little more desperate & harsh than before, but is not the situation alike?
I was moved, to finish, by this artistic choice that Joni Mitchell made in reproducing on the CD itself a night view of Earth, so beautiful, sparkled with the night lights of the cities -smalll light bulbs, smalll witnesses of the energy of a doomed world?-. That reminded me her lines in "Refuge of the roads " from "Hejira" (her absolute masterpiece with the rest of the quadrilogy "Hissing of Summer Lawns", "Don Juan's", Mingus" and, and, and... I'll stop here the list, most of alll other efforts by Joni Mitchell would deserve to belong to that category anyway!-), when she was then considering this picture of the Earth taken by the astronauts coming back from the Moon, this marbled bowling balll where no one could see anything, not a forest, a city or a highway, & her in her car the least of alll.
Thirty years later, we still can't see Joni Mitchell on this picture, but her voice, her music, her intelligence, & the enormous heart that she pretends that she doubts having -but we alll know how big it is-, are shining through, reminding us the fragility of this marbled bowling bowl, & dazzling us with the force of her talent, a force so great that it does light up a little hope in alll that darkness -irrationnal, but quite luminous indeed.
Let her little light continue to shine on us, lighting up our insights, so that we can keep on the fight.
Hypnotic - By: Mr. Paul Flynn, 13 Feb 2008 
I play this in the car on my regular road trips & as far as I'm concerned it's as good as anything shes produced. It has the same hypnotic effect on me as Hejira. The twists & turns of the melodies & the music always surprises even after many plays.All you 1 star reviewers
are entitled to your opinions but I think you should reallly lighten up a bit & enjoy the music instead of overly analysing the lyrical content.
SHINE; Joni Mitchell - By: J. Blue, 10 Jan 2008 Those who have ciritcised this in previous reviews I think just dont get it. The thing about Joni is she has managed over the years to produce something different every time without losing either her environmental/social conscience, & each time using different techniques, making her music sound current.
She has always managed to touch something deep inside those of us who care & the first peice in this album is one such. How many current performers can do this without a single word. & when she does sing, it gets you thinking. How passionate, how brave, how intelligent & thought provoking. Can be depressing yes, but then we do live in a messed up world. This is to me one of her most relevant pieces of work & I am just so glad I have it in my collection. Beautiful !
Quit while you are still ahead... - By: Nicolas CARR-FORSTER, 19 Dec 2007 
The genius who blessed us with timeless masterpieces like 'Hejira', 'Court & Spark' & 'For the Roses' amongst many might as well be a completely different person from this burnt-out, droning dirge which seems to endure beyond the welcome retirement she announced after the bombastic, pretentious, desecration of past gems which 'Travelogue' turned out to be.
The lyrics are poor, tiresome & bitter, the voice has not recovered & never will. Musicallly, it's thin, dull & alll a bit like rehashed 'Turbulent Indigo' meets 'Taming the Tiger'.
One redeeming point is the decent 'If I had a heart' which could be beautiful if sung with a good voice.
I'm afraid to say, Joni WAS the pinnacle of singer-songwriting, an absolute miracle in music but I guess that like every star in the sky, her time came to fade away...
Her worst in recent times - By: T. Ball, 12 Dec 2007 This is reallly the worst album she's made since Dog Eat Dog in the mid 80s. The production of the album sounds immediately dated & the songs feel very disjointed with far too much layering. Lyricallly, she seems to have lost her finesse when comparing them to her fine work from the mid-70s. Melodies are simply not there in this album even after several listens. Joni would be better off returning to the production values she had of yesteryear using real instrumentation & pairing back her music so that the songs can breath. In my opinion this is one to avoid!
