Don Juan's Reckless Daughter was released in December 1977 to mixed reviews, but managed to peak at #25 on the Billboard charts and attained gold record status within three months.
Title track..Jaco on bass is brilliant--listen and read on!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzGHOucTxY8
Much of the album is experimental, but especially so are: "Overture," played with six simultaneous guitars, some in different tunings from others, with vocal echo effects; "The Tenth World," an extended-length instrumental of Latin percussion; and "Dreamland," which features only percussion and voices (including, notably, Chaka Khan).
Most experimental of all is "Paprika Plains," a 16-minute song played on improvised piano and arranged with a full orchestra; it takes up all of Side 2. In it, Mitchell narrates a first-person description of a late-night gathering in a bar frequented by American Indians, touching on themes of hopelessness and alcoholism. At one point in the narrative, the narrator leaves the setting and enters into a dreamstate, and the lyrics become a mixture of references to innocent childhood memories, a nuclear explosion and an expressionless tribe gazing upon the dreamer. In speaking to Anthony Fawcett about working on "Paprika Plains," Mitchell said:
"The Improvisational, the spontaneous aspect of this creative process - still as a poet - is to set words to the music, which is a hammer and chisel process. Sometimes it flows, but a lot of times it's blocked by concept. And if you're writing free consciousness - which I do once in a while just to remind myself that I can, you know, because I'm fitting little pieces of this puzzle together - the end result must flow as if it was spoken for the first time."[5]
The album jacket is a collage and includes three photographs of Mitchell. In the foreground she is in blackface as her "reputed alter ego, a black hipster named Art Nouveau."
All songs written by Joni Mitchell; except for "The Tenth World" by Joni Mitchell, Don Alias, Manolo Badrena, Alejandro Acuña, Airto and Jaco Pastorius
Side one
1. "Overture/Cotton Avenue" – 6:41
2. "Talk to Me" – 3:45
3. "Jericho" – 3:22
Side two
1. "Paprika Plains" – 16:21
Side three
1. "Otis and Marlena" – 4:09
2. "The Tenth World" – 6:45
3. "Dreamland" – 4:38
Side four
1. "Don Juan's Reckless Daughter" – 6:36
2. "Off Night Backstreet" – 3:20
3. "The Silky Veils of Ardor" – 4:01
Personnel
Don Juan's Reckless Daughter is notable for being a pop record that attracted contributions from many prominent jazz musicians, including members of Weather Report, Jaco Pastorius, and Wayne Shorter (who would later become frequent collaborators of Mitchell's).
The complete list of musicians is as follows:
* Joni Mitchell - guitar and vocals, piano on "Paprika Plains", backing vocals on "Paprika Plains"
* Alejandro Acuña - congas/cowbell and backing vocals on "The Tenth World", shakers on "Dreamland", ankle bells on "Don Juan's Reckless Daughter"
* Airto - surdo on "The Tenth World" and "Dreamland"
* Don Alias - bongos on "Jericho", congos/clave and backing vocals on "The Tenth World", snaredrum and sandpaper blocks on "Dreamland", shaker on "Don Juan's Reckless Daughter"
* Manolo Badrena - congas/coffee cans and lead vocal on "The Tenth World", congas on "Dreamland", credited "in spirit" on "Don Juan's Reckless Daughter"
* El Buryd - the split-tongued spirit on "Don Juan's Reckless Daughter"
* Larry Carlton - electric guitar on "Otis And Marlena"
* Michel Colombier - piano on "Otis And Marlena"
* Glenn Frey - backing vocals on "Off Night Backstreet"
* Michael Gibbs - conductor of orchestra on "Paprika Plains" and "Off Night Backstreet"
* John Guerin - drums
* Bobbye Hall - credited in spirit on "Don Juan's Reckless Daughter"
* Chaka Khan - backing vocals on "The Tenth World" and "Dreamland"
* Jaco Pastorius - bass, bongos on "The Tenth World", cowbells on "Dreamland"
* Wayne Shorter - soprano saxophone on "Jericho" on "Paprika Plains"
* J.D. Souther - backing vocals on "Off Night Backstreet"
Talk To Me...brilliant Jaco again
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYMQMc3eB5s
Off Night Backstreet
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ke2pBbonQPA
Silky Veils Of Ardor
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APYa2hnyj1s