# Miles of Aisles

Professional ratings :
| Review scores ||
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic | |
| Christgau's Record Guide | B− |
| Encyclopedia of Popular Music | |
| MusicHound | |
| Rolling Stone | (not rated) |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | |
| Uncut | 8/10 |
Miles of Aisles is the first live album by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, released in 1974 on Asylum Records. It is a double album documenting her concerts in support of the Court and Spark album with her backing band for the tour, the L.A. Express. It reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and became one of her biggest-selling records, certified a gold record by the RIAA.

## Content

This was Mitchell's first tour with backing musicians; prior to this she had generally performed solo, and had never organized a tour with a band. She hired an already existing group, the jazz fusion band L.A. Express, members of which had appeared on her previous studio album, Court and Spark, the biggest commercial success of her career. The band accompany her on sides one and four; Mitchell performs solo on sides two and three.
A track from this live album, "Big Yellow Taxi", was released as a single. Four years after the studio version had stalled at No. 67 on the Billboard Hot 100 as a single, this live version reached No. 24 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts, becoming Mitchell's fourth Top 40 hit single and third in a row.
The album contains many of her best-known songs up to that time, but only one track derived from her recent album and neither of its two hit singles, "Help Me" and "Free Man in Paris". It also includes two brand new songs "Love Or Money" and "Jericho" – the latter of which she would record a studio version of for her 1977 album Don Juan's Reckless Daughter. There is no known studio version of "Love Or Money" which only ever seems to have been performed live. All tracks except two were recorded at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles, August 14 to 17, 1974. "Cactus Tree" was recorded at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on March 4, and "Real Good for Free" at the Berkeley Community Theater on March 2. The cover photo was taken at the Pine Knob Music Theater in Clarkston, Michigan.
Record World said of the single release of "Jericho" that it is "a solid musical successor to 'Big Yellow Taxi.'"

## Track listing

All tracks are written by Joni Mitchell.
Side one
* "You Turn Me On, I'm a Radio" – 4:09
* "Big Yellow Taxi" – 3:09
* "Rainy Night House" – 4:04
* "Woodstock" – 4:29
Side two
* "Cactus Tree" – 5:01
* "Cold Blue Steel and Sweet Fire" – 5:23
* "Woman of Heart and Mind" – 3:40
* "A Case of You" – 4:42
* "Blue" – 2:49
Side three
* "The Circle Game" – 6:29
* "People's Parties" – 2:42
* "All I Want" – 3:21
* "Real Good for Free" – 4:27
* "Both Sides Now" – 4:14

### Side four

* "Carey" – 3:30
* "The Last Time I Saw Richard" – 3:35
* "Jericho" – 3:26
* "Love or Money" – 4:50

## Personnel

* Joni Mitchell – vocals, guitar, piano, dulcimer, cover photograph and graphics
The L.A. Express
* Tom Scott – woodwind instruments, harmonica
* Robben Ford – electric guitar
* Larry Nash – piano
* Max Bennett – bass
* John Guerin – drums, percussion
Technical
* Henry Lewy – sound engineer, mixing
* Ken Caillat – Live Tracking engineer (for Wally Heiders)
* Anthony Hudson – art direction
* Mobile Recording: Wally Heider Recording, Ken Caillat
* with Jack Crymes, Biff Dawes