A River To Stream: Joni Mitchell Performing Her Landmark Album ‘Blue’ Live Spotify Playlist
The legendary singer-songwriter recently ended a multi-year boycott of the streaming platform.
By Andy Kahn Mar 27, 2024 • 2:24 pm PDT
Like fellow Canadian singer-songwriter Neil Young, legendary musician Joni Mitchell ended her multi-year boycott of Spotify and allowed her remarkable catalog to return to the streaming platform. Mitchell’s music is now once again available on the popular streaming service, which had been absent for just over two years.
“I’ve decided to remove all my music from Spotify,” Mitchell wrote in January 2022. “Irresponsible people are spreading lies that are costing people their lives. I stand in solidarity with Neil Young and the global scientific and medical communities on this issue.”
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Young’s boycott, and Mitchell’s subsequent similar move in solidarity, started in protest to Spotify formerly holding exclusive rights to host Joe Rogan’s controversy-stirring podcast. Young accused Rogan of promoting misinformation, including about the COVID-19 pandemic, and removed his music from Spotify until recently when Rogan’s exclusivity with Spotify ended.
“My decision comes as music services Apple and Amazon have started serving the same disinformation podcast features I had opposed at Spotify,” Young wrote explaining his justification for ending the boycott. “I cannot just leave Apple and Amazon, like I did Spotify, because my music would have very little streaming outlet to music lovers at all, so I have returned to Spotify, in sincere hopes that Spotify sound quality will improve and people will be able to hear and feel all the music as we made it.”
Soon after Young’s music reappeared on Spotify, Mitchell quietly followed suit and put her catalog back on the platform. Though not as prolific as Young, Mitchell issued a few new releases during the boycott of Spotify, which are now streamable on the service for the first time.
Archival compilations capturing various eras of Mitchell’s career came out over the past two years, including The Asylum Albums (1972–1975) and Joni Mitchell Archives – Vol. 3: The Asylum Years (1972–1975). The latter followed the 2020 release of Joni Mitchell Archives – Vol. 1: The Early Years (1963–1967) and 2021’s Joni Mitchell Archives – Vol. 2: The Reprise Years (1968–1971).
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Each of the Joni Mitchell Archives releases present songs written and recorded by Mitchell for her 1971 album, Blue. Critically acclaimed and beloved by fans, Blue is among Mitchell’s greatest musical achievements, and remains a timeless entry in her massively influential catalog.
On Record Store Day 2023, a limited edition vinyl album entitled Blue Highlights was released. Made up of tracks from Joni Mitchell Archives – Vol. 2: The Reprise Years (1968–1971), the RSD album presented Blue demos on one side and live versions of four of the album’s 10 tracks on the other side.
Digging into Mitchell’s Spotify catalog, listeners can find live versions of all 10 songs on Blue. The record contains such well-known standouts as “River” and “A Case Of You,” the staggeringly personal “Little Green,” equally biographical “Carey” and the somewhat lesser-known opening tracks “All I Want” and “My Own Man.”
Rounding out the record is the outstanding title track, the heartfelt “California,” the romanticizing “The Last Time I Saw Richard” and the potent “The Flight Tonight.”
The Spotify playlist below features live renditions of all 10 songs on Joni Mitchell’s Blue. The live recordings span 1967 to her triumphant “Joni Jam” appearance with Brandi Carlile and others at the 2022 Newport Folk Festival. Presented in the same order as the studio album’s tracklist, also included are collaborations with James Taylor (who contributed to Blue) on “California,” with Herbie Hancock on “River,” with Tom Scott & The L.A. Express on “The Flight Test, and with the Joni Jam on “A Case Of You.”
Listen to a Spotify playlist featuring live performances of the songs on Joni Mitchell’s album Blue, followed by the studio album, below:
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