Chalk Mark in a Rain Storm Joni Mitchell Artist

Long before {|Frank Sinatra|} made his {|Duets|} album, {|Joni Mitchell|} cast a variety of name singers in prominent roles for the songs on {|Chalk Mark in a Rainstorm|}. {|Peter Gabriel|} sings with her on the leadoff track, {|My Secret Place,|} an... Read more

Long before {|Frank Sinatra|} made his {|Duets|} album, {|Joni Mitchell|} cast a variety of name singers in prominent roles for the songs on {|Chalk Mark in a Rainstorm|}. {|Peter Gabriel|} sings with her on the leadoff track, {|My Secret Place,|} and {|Don Henley|} is heard on Lakota and Snakes and Ladders, {|Billy Idol|} and {|Tom Petty|} have roles in Dancin' Clown, and {|Willie Nelson|} brings his dry phrasing to Cool Water, while ex-{|Cars|} singer {|Benjamin Orr|} and ex-{|Prince|} associates {|Wendy Melvoin|} and {|Lisa Coleman|} also have backup parts. {|Mitchell|} uses the vocal firepower over spare tracks heavy on percussion (by {|Manu Katche|}) and programming to tell stories and comment on social issues. Lakota deals with Native American and environmental matters, Cool Water (a {|Mitchell|} rewrite of the {|Bob Nolan|} original) discusses water pollution, The Tea Leaf Prophecy (Lay Down Your Arms) and The Beat of Black Wings tell war-related tales. But {|Mitchell|}'s main theme, which encompasses those topics, concerns the evils of contemporary culture in which one struggles to be Number One, rises and falls like a game of Snakes and Ladders, and suffers The Reoccurring Dream brought on by advertising. {|Chalk Mark in a Rainstorm|} rarely makes these points personally enough to stir the listener, and the trendy percussion sound (popular with artists like {|Gabriel|} and {|Kate Bush|} in the '80s) is already beginning to sound dated. But the songwriting and {|Mitchell|}'s voice remain impressive, especially when she recalls her past with a revised version of Corrina, Corrina at the end. ~ William Ruhlmann Less