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Joni Mitchell: Court and Spark (Asylum)

Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 26 January 1974

OF ALL THE female writers and singers post-dating Joan Baez in pop music, Joni Mitchell seems to me to have arrived at the most complete definition of herself as an artist. True, she's not witty like Dory Previn, nor as sophisticated as Midler and Streisand, nor as stylistically far-ranging as Carole King, but few other rock musicians, male or female, have so refined personal expression that it succeeds as genuine art.

Total word count of piece: 1269

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