The Sunday Round-Up: 16th-22nd June (How Joni Mitchell Came Up With Iconic Album, Blue, and The Story Behind Genesis’ Invisible Touch)

Also featuring Shakira, Carole King, and Fleetwood Mac

54 Years of Joni Mitchell’s Blue (released on 22nd June 1971)

Coming in at no.3 on Rolling Stone’s 2023 list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, Joni Mitchell’s Blue has gone down in history as a masterpiece in confessional songwriting and stripped-down sound.

When Mitchell heard Led Zeppelin make reference to her in their 1971 single, ‘Going to California’ (‘Someone told me there’s a girl out there / With love in her eyes and flowers in her hair’ and ‘To find a queen without a king / They say she plays guitar and cries and sings’), she realised ‘Oh my God, a lot of people are listening to me… They better find out who they’re worshipping. Let’s see if they can take it. Let’s get real. So, I wrote Blue.’¹

Blue was partially written against the backdrop of Greek village, Matala, in Crete.

The night is a starry dome
And they’re playin’ that scratchy rock and roll
Beneath the Matala Moon

Carey, Joni Mitchell

I met a redneck on a Grecian isle
Who did the goat dance very well

California, Joni Mitchell

After releasing and touring three successful studio albums, Joni Mitchell was ‘ready for an adventure’. So, in early 1970, Mitchell and her friend, Penelope, set off to visit Hydra, the island home of their mutual pal, Leonard Cohen. Here, in the words of Joni Mitchell herself (compiled from various interviews), is the story behind Blue…

Joni Mitchell:

‘In Hydra, I climbed to the top of a mountain and played among the goats and sheep with my flute. In Athens, we went to this place where the poets hung out […] There was a kind of an apple-crate guitar there that some of the poets played. I bought it off them for $50. I was so missing my guitar. We went into the Athens underground, and I sat on the ground down there, like a busker. I played, and people threw money at me.’²

‘[W]e had to close the doors and lock them while I recorded [Blue], because I was in a state of mind that in this culture would be called a nervous breakdown. In pockets of the Orient it would be considered a shamanic conversion.’³

‘The emphasis on lyrics, I think, began with Dylan […]That's where I picked up the gauntlet. I always wrote poetry, but I never liked poetry! I only wrote it when I was emotionally disturbed. Like, when a friend of mine in high school committed suicide. Or something like that. There were things that would make me go home and write. And then I'd put it in a drawer and, sometimes, when I had to turn them into English class, I would. And it was recognised, in High School, that I was a writer. But I never based my identity in that.’⁴

‘When [Blue] first came out, I played it for Kris Kristofferson, who said, “God, Joan, save something of yourself.” He was embarrassed by it. I think generally at first that people were embarrassed by it, that in a certain way it was shocking, especially in the pop arena. People [usually sing], “I’m bad, I’m bad, I’m great, I’m the greatest.” It’s a phony business, and people accept the phoniness of it. It’s fluff, it’s this week’s flavor and it gets thrown out, and it isn’t supposed to be anything really more than that.’⁵

‘In order to survive in the world, you've got to have defences and mine just went […] Actually, it was a great spiritual opportunity but nobody around me knew what was happening. All I knew is that everything became kind of transparent. I could see through myself so clearly. And I saw others so clearly that I couldn't be around people. I heard every bit of artifice in a voice. Maybe it was brought on by nervous exhaustion. Whatever brought it on, it was a different un-drug-induced consciousness. In order to make that album we had to lock the doors in the studio. Only (engineer) Henry Lewy and I were in there. When the guy from the union came to the studio to take his dues I couldn't look at him. I'd burst into tears. I was so thin-skinned. Just all nerve endings. As a result there was no capacity to fake. I'll never be that way again. And I'll never make an album like that again.’⁶

‘All those songs I wrote the way I did because I had to […] I was emotionally disturbed, again, which brings out the poet in me. I had some hard life changes handed to me. The story is out on the streets now, but what happened was that I had to give up my daughter for adoption. Because of poverty. Not having the money to feed and clothe her and put a roof over her head. [T]he point is that soon after I'd given up my daughter for adoption I had a house and a car and I had the means and I'd become a public figure. The combination of those situations did not sit well. So I kind of withdrew from music and began to go inside. And question who I was. And out of that, Blue evolved. I guess I was being a 'shrink' to myself! And if I, in the process of doing that, found something I thought was universal I was willing to open up at that level.’⁷

‘Sometimes I wonder why [Blue] got all the attention, and not my other “children,” you know? “Court and Spark,” “Hejira.” The writing’s pretty good on “Hejira.” I think they all got pretty good from “Blue” on. Like all of my albums, “Blue” came out of the chute with a whimper. It didn’t really take off until later. Now there’s a lot of fuss being made over it, but there wasn’t initially. The most feedback that I got was that I had gone too far and was exposing too much of myself. I couldn’t tell what I had created, really.’⁸

‘Some of [the album] was written while I was having great adventure. But, you know, I was also feeling a great sense of loss because I’d broken up with Graham Nash. And that was still hanging over me. ’Cause I thought with Graham and I, our relationship was very strong. I thought that it was the last one I’d have. And so I disappointed myself when that wasn’t so, and that’s why I was so sad at that time. I was sad I hadn’t gone the distance.’⁹

Talking about ‘River’…

‘[I]t expresses regret at the end of a relationship. That’s about all. It’s about being lonely at Christmastime, which is one reason for its popularity, I think. So many people are lonely at Christmas. I heard somebody on the radio, or maybe it was in print, but they were ragging on “River.” You know, it has been recorded a lot and called a Christmas song. And they were grumbling about it. “This is not a Christmas song!” And I thought, “It’s absolutely a Christmas song. It’s a Christmas song for people who are lonely at Christmas! We need a song like that.”’¹⁰

Henry Lewy (Sound Engineer on Blue) on working with Joni Mitchell:

‘What I love about her is that she never sits still for a second. She’s always moving forward. She grows with every album, which is, ironically, one of the things that turns some fans off. They get used to her doing one thing, and then she changes. She soaks in things constantly. She has a real appetite for new ideas.’¹¹

‘She’s the only true genius I’ve ever met […] She comes up with the arrangements she does from listening carefully to her own piano or guitar parts. She has a very interesting style -- she’s essentially self-taught and actually invents her own chords frequently -- and she can hear in her own parts the components for the fuller arrangement […] When Joni gets musicians in the studio, the first three or four takes are usually just for listening. She doesn’t want to think too much about them -- she just wants to play -- and frequently you get some real magic happening in those takes.’¹²

What are your favourite songs from Joni Mitchell’s iconic Blue album?

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Celebrating 39 years of Genesis’ Invisible Touch (Genesis scored their 4th UK no.1 with this album on 21st June 1986)

Invisible Touch was released on 6th June 1986. It was Genesis’ 13th studio album, and swiftly became a worldwide success, reaching the top ten in eight countries with global sales estimated at between 7.2 and 8.25 million copies.

While the album did very well commercially, the critical reception was mixed with Rolling Stone praising its solid hooks but the LA Times questioning ‘[w]as this record really necessary?’¹³

The sales would argue that, yes, this album was indeed necessary.

Here, in the words of the Genesis’ Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford, and Tony Banks, plus the album’s producer, Hugh Padgham, is the story behind Invisible Touch…

Phil Collins (Singer and Drummer)

‘Invisible Touch’ is my favourite Genesis song and it came more or less out of nowhere. We would arrive in the studio every day and just start playing. One day, Mike Rutherford played a riff on the guitar, with an echo, and I suddenly sang ‘She seems to have an invisible touch - yeah!’ It came into my head fully formed […] [O]ur writing process was close to jazz. We improvised. We weren’t afraid to make lousy noises.’¹⁴

On writing ‘Invisible Touch’…

‘There was a Sheila E record out at the time. I think it was ‘[The] Glamorous Life’ and I wanted to write my own version of that.’¹⁵

‘The song [‘Invisible Touch’] was pretty well received, but the Invisible Touch album got some bad reviews. We hid in a ditch whenever we had a new record out: we’d been going more than 20 years; and by 1985 everyone had made up their minds about whether they liked us or not. The album cover wasn’t my favourite bit of artwork - it was a decision made by committee - but we did get out first big hit in America.’¹⁶

Mike Rutherford (Guitarist)

‘We toured the Invisible Touch album in 1986 and 1987, playing four nights at Wembley Stadium. It was a beautiful hot summer. As we went out on stage, I remember thinking: ‘This is as good as it gets.’ And I was right. The next album, We Can’t Dance, did pretty well - I think it was worth about £10m - but Invisible Touch was the pinnacle.’¹⁷

‘We really came to life when Hugh Padgham began producing us. The other guys were all great, but it wasn’t until we got with Hugh that we sounded on our own recordings the way we actually sounded in the live room. On every album that we did, Phil did stereo cassette DAT tapes of the band playing, and they always sounded great. Then you recorded it and everything would get small and teeny. With Hugh, we were finally sounding the way that we did in the room.’¹⁸

‘The Invisible Touch album, and We Can’t Dance and Genesis; writing wise, we were on a bit of a roll. We got in the studio, we didn’t take any bits in; we just jammed, improvised, and it just kind of came out of the box, and it just worked.’¹⁹

Tony Banks (Keyboardist)

‘The songs all evolve at about the same speed, we don’t complete one and start another. We often leave little breaks where we know things are going to happen later, the obvious one being ‘Invisible Touch’ where there’s an eight bar bit in the middle. That’s another thing about having worked so long with each other - a mutual respect. If a guy says he’s going to do that, you can leave him to it.’²⁰

‘I normally program in step time. I’m not attracted to real time programming. If I want to do something in real time, I’ll just play it. It’s for those machine-like parts that I want sequencers. I’ll use the keyboard to play the notes but write the timing on the QX […] ’Land of Confusion’ […] has a positive middle and bass line going right the way through. There’s no way I could play that. It’s not technically difficult but it’s too tight for human beings to stick to…

The instrumental break in ‘Invisible Touch’ is eight random keyboard parts mixed down to get bigger and bigger.’²¹

‘Invisible Touch was recorded in our own studio in Surrey.’²²

Hugh Padgham (Producer)

‘How [Genesis] used to do their writing was a few weeks before we went into the studio, they would gather but not necessarily with me there. They would jam, and bits would come out. They recorded everything onto cassette. ‘Domino’ came out of a bunch of jams knitted together. They tend to be credited as a band all in one. Those Genesis records I did were generally pieced together.’²³

‘They’re a crazy group, Genesis. Their home studio is better equipped than most proper division one studios and they’ve all got their own 8 track set-ups at home as well.’²⁴

‘In my experience, the best players give you a good sound in the first place, so half the time I just stick up a microphone and it sounds great […] You hear of people spending two or three days in the studio getting a good drum sound. With Phil Collins, it takes me 15 minutes! That’s because he knows his drums so well (I know his drums quite well too) but he’s so good at tuning them…

I like to be quick and spontaneous in recording where things like that Phil Collins sound can happen, and if you stop to think about it, something wasn’t technically right… I love abusing equipment - if it’s there, abuse it, I say. Try and do something that other people haven’t done: overdrive compressors using distortion to your advantage.’²⁵

What do you make of Genesis’ Invisible Touch? Let me know in the comments!

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The Round-Up (16th - 22nd June)

17th June 2006: Shakira scored her first no.1 hit in the US with ‘Hips Don’t Lie’

‘Hips Don’t Lie’ was the lead single from Shakira’s 7th studio album, Oral Fixation Vol. 2. It reached no.1 in nine countries and remains as popular as ever. In 2024, Spotify released their most streamed songs from the 90s and 2000s with ‘Hips Don’t Lie’ scoring top of the most streamed 2000s female song of all time²⁶.

17th June 1971: Carole King went to no.1 on the US Album Chart with Tapestry

Carole King’s Tapestry spent 15 weeks at the top of the US Album Chart upon its release in 1971 and stayed in the charts for five years.

In 2003, Tapestry was added to The Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry, a signifier of its enduring legacy and historical importance. In an essay written on the Library of Congress’ website, Loren Glass described Tapestry as ‘an iconic reminder of the Album Era, of that relatively brief but eventful period between the mid-sixties and the mid-seventies when long-playing records dominated the industry, deeply informing our relationship to popular music.’

She went on ‘Tapestry revolutionised the music business, inaugurating a multi-generational and multicultural cohort of women producers, performers, and purchasers whose solidarity it continues to signify.’²⁷

In a 2018 interview with the Library of Congress, King herself said ‘I had no idea Tapestry would connect with as many people as it has. I’m still slightly incredulous that the songs in Tapestry continue to reach across multiple generations and touch people throughout the world. I’m truly honoured that Tapestry is part of the Library of Congress and also to have been the first woman and fifth recipient of the Gershwin Prize in 2013.’²⁸

18th June 1977: Fleetwood Mac went to no.1 on the US Singles Chart with ‘Dreams’

Stevie Nicks wrote the iconic ‘Dreams’ in early 1976…

‘I took a Fender Rhodes piano and went into another studio that was said to belong to Sly Stone […] It was a black-and-red room with a sunken pit in the middle where there was a piano, and a big black-velvet bed with Victorian drapes. I sat down on the bed with my keyboard in front of me. I found a drum pattern, switched my little cassette player on and wrote ‘Dreams’ in about 10 minutes. Right away, I liked the fact that I was doing something with a dance beat because that made it a little unusual for me.’²⁹

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Some music-related quotes from musicians born this week:

Tupac Shakur (born 16th June 1971)

’When you do rap albums, you got to train yourself. You got to constantly be in character.’

Barry Manilow (born 17th June 1946)

‘I am a musician. My passion for music has obliterated everything in its path for my entire life. Whenever there was a choice between music and anything else, music won hands down every time. No one person or material thing could ever come close to the feeling I get when the music is right.’

Kendrick Lamar (born 17th June 1987)

‘As long as my music is real, it’s no limit to how many ears I can grab.’

Paul McCartney (born 18th June 1942)

‘No one is musically educated until they have heard The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds.’

Lionel Richie (born 20th June 1949)

‘It’s quite interesting that in my growing up, I had several influences. We had gospel music on campus. R&B music was, of course, the community, and radio was country music. So I can kind of see where all the influences came from.’

Ray Davies, The Kinks (born 21st June 1944)

‘[The mid-1960s] was the first time that music had been done on such a scale with lots of bands coming from basically working class origins and making music and not being particularly pretty. You know, the pretty boy image really wasn’t the thing. The Hollies were great to us. They helped me a lot and very supportive and, in a way, I suppose The Beatles were as well.’

Brandon Flowers, The Killers (born 21st June 1981)

‘I’m looking forward to getting older. I look at people like Peter Gabriel and Sting and even Tom Petty, Don Henley. People that didn’t lose it. I’m hopefully going to join that club.’

Cyndi Lauper (born 22nd June 1953)

‘I get the greatest feeling when I’m singing. It’s other-worldly. Your feet are anchored into the Earth and into this energy force that comes up through your feet and goes up the top of your head and maybe you’re holding hands with the angels or the stars, I have no idea.’

1. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-albums-of-all-time-1062063/stevie-wonder-songs-in-the-key-of-life-2-1063229/

2. https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2021-06-20/joni-mitchell-cameron-crowe-50th-anniversary-blue

3. https://www.jeffreypepperrodgers.com/blog/joni-mitchell-songwriting-interview-blue

4. https://www.hotpress.com/music/blue-at-50-revisiting-a-classic-interview-with-joni-mitchell-22858099

5. https://www.jeffreypepperrodgers.com/blog/joni-mitchell-songwriting-interview-blue

6. https://www.hotpress.com/music/blue-at-50-revisiting-a-classic-interview-with-joni-mitchell-22858099

7. https://www.hotpress.com/music/blue-at-50-revisiting-a-classic-interview-with-joni-mitchell-22858099

8. https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2021-06-20/joni-mitchell-cameron-crowe-50th-anniversary-blue

9. https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2021-06-20/joni-mitchell-cameron-crowe-50th-anniversary-blue

10. https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2021-06-20/joni-mitchell-cameron-crowe-50th-anniversary-blue

11. https://insheepsclothinghifi.com/henry-lewy/

12. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-apr-19-me-lewy19-story.html

13. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-06-29-ca-48-story.html

14. https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2014/oct/14/how-we-made-invisible-touch-phil-collins-mike-rutherford-genesis

15. https://americansongwriter.com/the-story-behind-invisible-touch-and-how-sheila-e-and-some-lousy-noises-inspired-genesis-first-and-only-no-1-hit/

16. https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2014/oct/14/how-we-made-invisible-touch-phil-collins-mike-rutherford-genesis

17. https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2014/oct/14/how-we-made-invisible-touch-phil-collins-mike-rutherford-genesis

18. https://tapeop.com/interviews/105/mike-rutherford

19. https://www.eonmusic.co.uk/mike-rutherford-mike--the-mechanics-genesis-eonmusic-interview-march-2019.html

20. https://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/that-genesis-touch/4910

21. https://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/that-genesis-touch/4910

22. https://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/that-genesis-touch/4910

23. https://jdmanagement.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Hugh-Padgham-Blitzed-Interview-2024.pdf

24. https://thegenesisarchive.co.uk/home-studio-recording-hugh-padgham-interview-january/

25. https://thegenesisarchive.co.uk/home-studio-recording-hugh-padgham-interview-january/

26. https://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/spotify-most-streamed-90s-2000s

27. https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-recording-preservation-board/documents/Tapestry_Glass.pdf

28. https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-recording-preservation-board/documents/CaroleKingInterview.pdf

29. https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/fleetwood-mac-stevie-nicks-dreams-story-behind-the-song/