It’s super simple, but it’s also super effective – and a lot more complex that it looks. I also think it’s very reflective of Joni and of the album.
The designer was Gary Burden, who you’ve seen here before.
Gary and friend
His goal was to mimic a “ferro cyanotype from the 1880s.” I have no idea what he’s talking about, but it’s a wonderful effect.
I don’t think I mentioned it before, and I don’t think I have any of these as blog posts, but Burden did a ton of stuff for the other guy in that picture. Here are a few of my favorites:
The actual photo was taken by Tim Considine. A former child actor, he was Mike in My Three Sons, as well as Soldier Who Gets Slapped in Patton. Incredibly, this is his only visual credit on discogs.
Equally hard to believe, this is the only album cover that Joni didn’t make herself. Everything else was along the lines of these:
Indeed, she was a very talented person – painter, poet, and musician. She also did a fair amount of covers for her friends:
A couple of critics see her as the greatest female musician of all time. And if you just think of some of her hits – “Clouds,” “Both Sides, Now,” “Woodstock,” “Chelsea Morning” – you’d have to agree. Oh, she’s also won no less than 9 Grammys. I’m pretty sure I had every one of her albums as a teen and 20-something.
The album itself was ranked 30th all-time according to Rolling Stone. As with a lot of Joni’s stuff, it deals primarily with relationships, and is very confessional in nature.
Indeed, her lovers over the years are quite a hall of fame in themselves – Graham Nash, James Taylor, David Crosby, Leonard Cohen, Jackson Browne, John Guerin, Sam Shepard, Jaco Pastorius …
Two of my favorite people
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