Joni Mitchell to release new vinyl box set with essay by Meryl Streep
The material will include albums Hejira, Don Juan's Reckless Daughter, Mingus and Shadows and Light
Just in time for the first day of summer, Joni Mitchell will release a new box set that spans her work from 1976-1980.
The Asylum Albums (1976-1980) will bring together remastered versions of Mitchell's albums Hejira (1976), Don Juan's Reckless Daughter (1977), Mingus (1979) and the 1980 live album Shadows and Light. The set will be available on June 21 through Rhino.
Oscar-winner Meryl Streep, who paid tribute to Mitchell when she was awarded as MusiCares Person of the Year in 2022, has written an accompanying essay for the box set, which will be available as a five-CD set, a limited edition six-LP version, and digitally.
"It's not just the artifact — music and lyrics — that Joni gives us," wrote Streep. "Her artistry leaves us, ourselves, changed. She has shifted things around inside us. And that's how artists change the world."
The Asylum Albums (1976-1980) starts the leadup to Joni Mitchell Archives Vol. 4, which is the next instalment of the archival series announced in 2020, and which dives into unreleased studio and live recordings of Mitchell's. The cover art for the set also features part of one of Mitchell's original paintings.
A rare chance to see Mitchell perform is also on the horizon: the singer will take the stage with the Joni Jam ensemble at the Hollywood Bowl on Oct. 19 and 20 for two sold-out shows — her first headlining sets in Los Angeles in more than two decades.