Turbulent Indigo
| Turbulent Indigo | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by Joni Mitchell | ||||
| Released | October 25, 1994 | |||
| Recorded | 1993 | |||
| Genre | Adult alternative, folk jazz | |||
| Length | 43:02 | |||
| Label | Reprise | |||
| Producer | Joni Mitchell, Larry Klein | |||
| Joni Mitchell chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   |
| Los Angeles Times | |
| Q | |
| Entertainment Weekly | B+ |
| Rolling Stone | |
| Robert Christgau |  |
Turbulent Indigo is the fifteenth album by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell. Released in 1994, it won a Grammy Award for Pop Album of the Year. John Milward, writing for Rolling Stone, wrote that it was Mitchell's "best album since the mid-'70s".
The album marked her return to Warner Music (formerly WEA) distribution after her previous album, Night Ride Home, was distributed by MCA for its then-newly purchased subsidiary Geffen Records (which, prior to the sale to MCA, had distributed through WEA).
The album takes inspiration from the Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh for Mitchell's self-portrait on the cover. The song "Turbulent Indigo" references Van Gogh, while the song "Magdalene Laundries" recounts the sufferings of Irish women once consigned to Magdalen Asylums run by the Roman Catholic Church and made to work in the asylum's laundries. The song "Not to Blame" was rumored to be about Mitchell's singer-songwriting colleague Jackson Browne who was alleged to have beaten his girlfriend, actress Daryl Hannah; Mitchell denies this.. The song "Sex Kills" referenced a number of late 20th century topical issues, including violence, AIDS, global warming and consumerism.
As of December 2007[update], the album has sold 311,000 copies in the US.
All tracks composed by Joni Mitchell; except where indicated
"A welcome return to the atmospherics and acoustic terrain she's best known for," wrote Q's Tom Doyle. "The majority of the tracks here recall the wafting soundscapes of 1976's Hejira, with gentle, controlled feedback, Pastorius-styled bass, Wayne Shorter's tumbling sax patterns and walls of acoustic guitars providing a dramatic backdrop for Mitchell's bold lyrical imagery."
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Wikipedia