Hi, gang,
After the Christmas from Hell (well, not really, but we had to put my
domestic partner's mom in a home -- she couldn't live alone any more, and we
couldn't live with her, yadayadayadayada, but it's been a rough few days, and
I'm glad it's over.
I've decided I deserve to buy myself a Joni-related christmas present, and
here's where I need your advice.
This is what I see available at Amazon.com, here in the US:
(1) Hits -- obviously the sheet music to the songs on the Hits album. Fine,
but I'm more interested in getting something more complete. In fact, I'd
probably prefer Misses, but they don't seem to offer it.
(2) Anthology -- The cover looks like C&S, it was published in '99 -- can
anyone tell me what songs are in it? How complete is it? What *isn't* in it?
(3) Voices: The Works of J.M., by G. Hebert. I think it was Bob in SC who
told me this was the book that went with one of her art showings. It's
$39.95 for the hardcover, and if it is indeed a good collection of her
artwork, I'll definitely get this. I was surprised to see it was available.
(4) The Joni Mitchell Companion: Four Decades of Commentary (The Companion
Series). Is this worth it, or can I get most of this from the wonderful
archives at jmdl.com/Jonimitchell.com? What do you guys think?
(5) The New Best of Joni Mitchell, by Carol Cuellar. Okay, how does this
compare to the Anthology, (2) in this list. How do they differ? Which is
the one to have, or should I wait for the really, honest-to-god complete
volumes that are supposed to come out (soon I hope)? Which brings me to:
(6) Joni Mitchell Complete, Vols. 1 and 2. NOT YET PUBLISHED. Are these
really gonna be complete, as in *all* of her songs through TtT, and maybe
even containing some of her earlier, unpublished songs? Anybody know
anything about this -- like when *will* they be out, and is it safe/worth it
to pre-order them so you can be one of the first to get them, or is that
madness, and should I wait until they really exist? Arggh.
(7) To further confuse me: There seems to have been an earlier "Joni
Mitchell Complete", out a few years ago but "now out of print/limited
avialblity", according to Amazon. What was this? Any of you have it? How
does it compare to (2) and (5) above?
I really appreciate any advice you can give me. I'm almost certainly going
to purchace (3) Voices, since I so love her art. Buth I don't know what else
I should get -- I used to have each of her albums in sheet form for piano, up
to and inculding Mingus, and even (thanks to a Canadian friend) including six
pulbished songs that never appeared on any album ("Jeremy" was one of them)
-- I lost everything (long story), and so I'm just starting over again. I
recently bought TtT in sheet form, and am loving it.
Help me, I'm falling in love with playing Joni again,
thanks, my friends,
walt
