Joni Mitchell - Painting With Words And Music DVD

 Most Awesome Joni Mitchell concert!
Incredible concert - I don't know how I missed this one the first time around - it was made back in 1998. Beautiful to see Joni's paintings. Her solo performances are stellar, and then to put the icing on the cake the band is awesome. There's cut-away camera shots of paintings during some songs, too - extremely well done. Except for the brief talking intro. by the director its all stellar music with a few very entertaining stories told by Joni herself.5 stars all the way!
Submitted by dakiniconnect (Baltimore, MD) 
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 Joni Mitchell Rules
Don’t get fooled by arrangements that might seem identical on several songs but focus on the excellent interplay between Mitchell and her supporting band – a band that includes Larry Klein, Brian Blade, Mark Isham, Greg Leisz & backup singers Kris Johnson, Paul Starr and Charles Vanlentino on a few songs. Along with Joni Mitchell’s first-rate compositions and her recognizable vocal you’ve got the perfect combination for a good concert. This is a must! A note concerning the sound: Image Entertainment states on the back of the cover that the DVD is a DTS 5.1 surround sound mix. But it’s not. What you hear is a DTS 5.0 surround sound mix, leaving out the LFE-channel. It doesn’t really detract anything from the sound, but an active subwoofer channel could have added more depth to Klein’s bass as well as Mitchell’s custom-built guitar in the lower register.
Submitted by a reviewer (Hvidovre, Denmark) 
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This review is for a different format.

 Grea concert, shame about the transfer
This is a wonderful concert performance in 'intimate mode' (small venue, up close and personal seating, small audience) from Joni Mitchell and her current (1999) band. While Mitchell's vocal range has contracted over the years, her increasingly smoky/raspy delivery of these wonderful songs she's written fills them with a depth of feeling and richness which would be hard for a cover artist to achieve. However, it is clear that Mitchell finds 'full voice' singing a struggle - as is demonstrated when she attempts a cover of 'Why Do Fools Fall in Love' during the concert. The setlist is heavily drawn from Mitchell's 1976 'Hejira' album, generally considered her masterwork, and also incorporates some of her later work from the 1990s. While the current band is competent, they don't have quite the avant-garde jazz feel of Jaco Pastorius, Pat Metheny and Michael Brecker with whom Mitchell worked so effectively in the 1970s. The casual viewer, as opposed to the committed fan, will also likely notice how similar some of the songs are both in harmonic construction and melody line, as well as the fact that many are in the same or very closely related tonal centre. This does get repetitious. Unfortunately the transfer of the master to DVD is below the usual standard we've come to expect, especially considering this is a fairly recent concert. There are cases of audio 'pops' and 'hisses' and the video itself is not what you'd call high definition. Seems as though an inferior master has been used.
Submitted by alexp (Sydney, NSW, Australia) 
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