She's not getting any dafter either. Well, actually not so. In 1975, Rolling Stone, in a fit of blather that makes Richard Littlejohn seem shrewd, denounced The Hissing of Summer Lawns, now routinely rated a classic, as worst record of the year. The wing-collared shirts were out in force though in 1994 to shower Grammies on her last album, Turbulent Indigo. Taming Th Tiger finds her in better form.
Jazz still exerts a shaping influence but there are other less easily categorised forces at work.
Witness the introduction to Harlem In Havana where a reassuringly elegant tune emerges from dislocated noises. Lyrically, she's as skilled as ever, although even Mitchell can make too many allusions to cafes, saxophones and raincoats. Moans about the music biz from insiders are rarely essential, but the title track is better than similar efforts as it correctly identifies the 'whining white kids' of modern American music. Facelift, smouldering with righteous anger and sadness, finds a daughter telling a parent that 'happiness is the best facelift'. She's never sung better either, the clear and precise enunciations now gone nicely husky, so she sounds like Elvis Costello's worldly older sister.